We are knee deep and getting deeper every day into our preparations for THE NINES.
Don’t know what that is? That’s fine.
Last year we at Leadership Network decided to try a grand experiment. What if we had a totally online conference? The recession had hit a bunch of our friends hard and they were unable to travel off and we figured we could cobble together some of the internet technologies so that people could:
- Listen to some good speakers.
- Interact with each other using twitter and other tools we had on the screen.
We dreamed up a list of speakers from our staff and sent invites to them. A lot of them actually said yes and sent in a short video. We distributed it all for FREE.
We only did promotion via social networking and email. We totally got surprised by the enthusiasm. In the days leading up to the actual event we crashed the servers handling the registration. We had to scramble on the day to make the tech work but low and behold a lot of people (in the neighborhood of 30-40,000), from 35 countries joined in for the fun.
It was a 13 hour marathon and we learned a bunch about what to do and what not to do.
We sent a survey out to as many people as we had emails for to get input on doing it again. We knew from our streaming provider (Lightcast media) how many streams hit the conference and how long they stayed with us. We asked how many watched in groups and were blown away by how churches used this as a continuing ed day at least until they gave out of energy.
We also asked in the surveys for people to suggest other speakers for future events. What we got back was sort of disappointing. We got back many of the same people we had already heard on THE NINES. We got people that you can hear at lots of other Christian conferences. (Sure, we got a few that said – “you need to have me on” – but surprisingly few)
So we worked very hard for our online conferences we did this year to focus on some “new voices” as well as some “sages” that we felt had good things to say but never had opportunity. You can find those videos at http://aha.leadnet.org and http://sage.leadnet.org.
We have adjusted and tried a few new tricks each time like our option to purchase a full color program book with notes from each speaker. We have tried some new filters to keep the spam out of the twitter stream. We keep learning each time.
And we keep having fun. Fun enough to try it again this year.
All of this is made possible by our Leadership Network digital guru, sage Todd Rhoades. Todd keeps dreaming up new wrinkles for us to try.
We had decided to do another Nines this year (Mark your calendars 09.09.10) and we were building lists of potential speakers and new tricks to try.
We are going to hold it to 9 hours this year and speakers will be limited to 6 minutes each. It will again feature a broad breadth of speakers. Some you will like. Some you won’t. Some you just won’t know what to do with, but we hope it all makes you think creatively about accelerating your impact.
We are going to have a free Group Kit where we encourage leaders to invite friends and leaders from other churches to enjoy the experience together and to think creatively about their community impact.
While anyone will be able to watch and enjoy for free, we will have a few premium options for extra materials to add to the experience.
And a few more wrinkles we are not ready to announce just yet.
Now to the kerfuffle:
A few weeks ago a new web site technology went live that allows you to post a list to get opinions. Todd decided to try it to stir up some interest in THE NINES.
We seeded the list with 20-25 names and encouraged folks to add to the list.
We did this to get some suggestions on who we might need to invite to speak this year. We knew that via social media connections we would cast a much wider net to see who is suggested.
Now the site (http://twtpick.in/4k) has its limitations. That is how that service works.
It doesn’t allow you to put any explanatory text on the page.
It only allows the “like” or “dislike” which are unfortunate word choices. Our preference would have been different for word choice.
It does allow people to freely add people as suggested speakers though for lots of others to see. And we liked that.
It does mean you have to sign in with your twitter account so we can see who you like. It’s not an anonymous service.
Sometimes there is a good leader who is overexposed. They speak everywhere and they are good at it. There is a place for that and a place at THE NINES for that. I think some hit the “dislike” button because they have heard a person too many times.
There are some leaders who are great writers, but not very good a speaking. We have learned that the hard way.
Sometimes even a person who is great communicating to a large, live crowd doesn’t do too well with a small web cam speaking as if to one person in a conversational style. We have learned that too. So they may generate some “dislikes”.
The CEO of the twtpick company emailed Todd and asked for suggestions on how to improve his service and we have given him some ideas.
So far over 30,000 people have viewed the site. We are up to about 11,000 comments and over 350 speakers suggested. All of that is way, way more than we ever figured would see the list much less respond. Let’s us know that our event this year could be really BIG.
So in that way it has worked well to suggest some speakers that quite frankly, we would have never considered. (and I told Todd we should be charging the CEO for driving traffic to his site)
It has been funny to us to follow the twitter tags to see how people are reacting to the site.
Some assumed it was a popularity contest to see who would get to speak during this year’s THE NINES. Nope, we already had several lists of people we wanted to invite and will be doing so no matter where they would end up on the list. In fact many of the people on our list to speak aren’t on the big list. And on the page or in our twitters we have never positioned the list that way.
Some started campaigns via their blogs and other social media to increase their “likes”. And some have led campaigns the other way to dislike folks.
It looked like multiple people created twitter accounts with no followers in order to “dislike” about 50 people. Sort of a campaign to get someone disinvited to speak.
In fact some blogger said that he knew his list would never be popular that he wrote that he will be starting a competing event on the same day to get his suggestions on his program. Fine with us.
The top part of the list tends to be people with big names for a variety of reasons. They either speak a lot, they write books, and magazines feature them and the like. That’s fine.
We were more interested in some of the people we didn’t know. And a high dislike is not such a bad thing.
We look at some of that and think, hmmm, perhaps that would help leaders to think clearer even if they disagree with them.
Skye Jethani over at Outofur.com was one of those who posted a blog about the list. He didn’t like it. (But it had a really neat photo on it)
I consider Skye a good guy. He was a great speaker for us last year for THE NINES. He is on the list to invite again this year. I loved his book Divine Commodity too for the record. And we have been partners and friends with Leadership Journal and Christianity Today for years.
The list didn’t sit well with him and he explains himself in his post. He is a much better writer than I will ever be and comes straight to the point. I think I still win in the hair department though.
After an email from me he called and we talked. I explained more about the list and while I still don’t think he likes the technology of the list, I think he did understand better the nuance behind it.
It was a good conversation. He counseled us to post something to explain some of the things I have shared with him and that was good counsel. I appreciate good counsel.
So I thanked him for his call and kind words.
Part of our strategy at Leadership Network is to have Exploring Conversations and Establish Connections. While this list tool is a little crude, it has stirred up some conversations and through the twitter function has allowed some people with similar opinions to connect.
If you join us for THE NINES on September 9th we hope to stir up some more conversations, provide you some great ideas, expose you to some leaders you may not know, find new friends and colleagues online, and hopefully advance the gospel cause.
When registration is opened we hope many of you will register and sign up to host a viewing party to invite other leaders to share the experience.
Like I said above we have a few other wrinkles yet to be revealed that we hope will add value to the whole experience that will be revealed soon.
I learned a long time ago that some people really don’t “like” Leadership Network. And while that sometimes irritates me, I get over it and go on.
Any organization that is trying to help pastors and church leaders is usually on my “like” list but I too have favorites of even that bunch. So I get the discomfort people have with this list.
Hang with us. We are working on it. If we can find an easier technology without some of the baggage we may use it next time. In fact, why don’t you go develop one and tell us about it?
That is the beauty of the new tools. Lots of downsides but upsides too.
Dave Travis
Managing Director
Leadership Network
You can send a twitter to me at www.twitter.com/davetravis or connect with me at www.leadnet.org/davetravis.
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