We like to describe Echo Conference as an event for artists, geeks, and storytellers. But what does that mean and why should you attend Echo? I’ll do my best to explain.
Most Echo attendees work for churches or ministries, but they’re not senior pastors. And even though they don’t regularly preach in a traditional sense, Echo attendees are constantly communicating. Instead of a pulpit, their platforms include film, graphic design, motion design, web design, blogging, social media, photography, visual worship, and worship service programming. It’s a lengthy and ever-growing list, which is why we prefer “artists, geeks, and storytellers” — three personas that transcend technological specifics and capture the creative spirit that unites us.
If that’s the tribe you belong to, Echo is for you.
Now that we’ve established whether or not you’re the Echo audience, let’s talk about why you ought to join us for Echo 2012 (July 25-27 in Dallas, Texas). At Echo, you’ll have the opportunity to do three things:
- LEARN – We do our best to assemble a lineup of speakers and teachers who are knowledgeable, helpful, and engaging practitioners and communicators. They present Echo attendees with ideas, information, experiences, methods, and research designed to help you fulfill your creative calling. We hope you leave with a journal full of notes, quotes, and sketches.
- CONNECT — Perhaps you, and you alone, comprise the “Media Department” at your church. Or perhaps you’re part of a large, specialized team. Either way, Echo represents an opportunity to spend time with church communicators from a variety of context and geographic locations. Meet people you’ve seen on Twitter, swap stories from the trenches, and sow seeds of community and collaboration. Be affirmed.
- REST — For a lot of our attendees, church is a place to be “on.” Whenever two or more are gathered, our attendees tend to have roles and responsibilities, but this isn’t the case at Echo. Participate in corporate worship without worrying about the slides or the run sheet. Enjoy a long lunch because it’s not your job to clean up, stack chairs, wrap mic cables, and set up for the next session. You might be physically tired when Echo is over, but at the same time, you’ll be rested and re-energized.
From year to year, things change at Echo — the speakers, the dates, and occasionally the venue — but the characteristics I’ve outlined in this post remain the same. If after reading this post you get the sense that Echo is for you, well, we’d love to have you. We’ll have a lot more information about Echo 2012 available soon, so stay tuned here at Echo Hub for that.
Thanks for reading.
Scott McClellan, Director
Echo Conference