#CTCDallas
3:40 PM
I got up this morning, excited and looking forward to attending Church Tech Camp, #ctcdallas. I loaded up my “pc” laptop…pen and journal…threw it all in a backpack and headed to Irving Bible Church. I love technology and I love the possibility that it allows us in accelerating the gospel to people. With that being said…forgive me, my geek friends and digital gurus for what I am about to say.
Reflection: #ctcdallas
The Good…
I love the hearts of those putting this thing together. It was free…easily accessible…and digitally broadcasted. I love it. I love that they had set up chat rooms and other forms of media by which to interact with the conference. Also this conference had an awesome collaboration of minds as well. There was literally a room full of guys I follow on the web. The topical questions were applicable as well as interesting.
The Bad…
While I dug the whole concept of an “unconference”, I was thoroughly disappointed in the fact that it really was just another way of saying there are no answers…because no one offered any if they had them. It was more or less just conversation based off of frustrations. The whole thing, IMO, seemed more therapeutic for some of the people that attended. Many seemed to take the opportunity to air their opinions, share their frustrations as an educator, advocate their agenda, and the list goes on. I flat out didn’t like it. I enjoy leadership. I enjoy answers. I enjoy people. I heard good questions asked that were relevant but were ignored…for what? To ask more questions…ridiculous.
Last but not least…I am all for twittering, facebook, blogging, etc…but at what point do you actually pay attention and participate in the conference or unconference at hand. It seemed as if half the class didn’t participate mainly because they were twittering back and forth in the room about other things…or like the guy in front of me who downloaded Pro Presenter and did a mock worship run thru. That isn’t a joke...that is how much this thing had his attention.
All that being said…here are a few things I wrote in my journal…
“How are you going to use technology to accelerate the gospel?” [Great question…don’t know if anyone could answer this one…mainly because demographics and geographic can dictate this.]
“All technology is fallen…just like people.” [Love this quote. It’s a great reminder of truth. There are always going to be issues and problems in anything we create…because we are flawed.]
“Technology is not the ultimate solution to our answers…Jesus is!” [This was a great reminder to everyone in there that if they think technology is going to change people they are out of there minds…Jesus changes people…not technology.]
“I get and understand Twitter, Facebook, and blogging…how do I convert that into a hug? [This to me was the best question asked. I was so sad that the conversation was so introverted that they just moved on to more self centered questions…I was sad and embarrassed for my brothers.]
Again…I loved the idea…I did. I just think that without any real focus and guidelines…it is just too open to misdirection…
January 8, 2009 at 7:11 PM
Thanks for your candid comments here; jealous that you made it out to #ctcdallas. The beauty of an unconference is the participants can make it what they want.
Some unconferences actually build the agenda as when they first convene, and for those who are more answer-oriented, they can have a breakout for that; for those that are more discussion-oriented, they can have a breakout for that.
Leadership in an unconference context is going to be more organic, fluid, and unstructured, whereas leadership in an traditional conference context is going to be structured and highly controlled by a few, e.g. planning team. Different context call for different leadership.
January 8, 2009 at 8:43 PM
The part that I enjoyed most was the discussion in the morning (of course, I was paying attention). I enjoyed hearing what was working for people in different contexts, and what they had tried that didn't work.
I also heard a lot of questions that I hadn't thought of, and I thought @rick_smith was pretty profound when he said he'd "rather give someone a hug." And I thought it was cool that the questions posted by people watching online were getting attention from people on-site.
I sat in on John's Wordpress/Blogging breakout, which was all answers, all the time, so I didn't experience the venting. I did get a little annoyed with the lack of solutions in the first half, but I was expecting them to come later, so I didn't think much about it.
I thought it was pretty good, overall. My thoughts are at ChurchTechCamp
January 8, 2009 at 9:26 PM
@Charles…
Probably should’ve spent some time networking. I let myself get frustrated as I heard question after question…with what seemed as if no answer would ever come. Maybe I’m still a bit frustrated. I totally liked the venue and I like the idea of an “un-conference”. However, I think more like the Manhattan Project…if we are going to have such a large collaboration in one room…you’d think we could really develop something creative…innovative…right?
@djchuang…
Maybe an unconference isn’t for me. Or maybe this style of unconference wasn’t for me. I don’t know. I know what it seemed like. It seemed unhealthy. It seemed like there were some people that took advantage of the platform to express different views that would have seemed anti-leadership and arrogant.
Let me say again...I had a bunch of cyber heroes of mine in the room. Tech guys are my people. However, what I witness today was a good case at why senior pastors don’t listen to us. That is frustrating.
Thanks for checking my blog out guys…I appreciate your input and opinion.