Now that I've gotten online registration up and running, I strongly recommend you take a look at it and give it a try. If you have suggestions, let me know and I'll see what I can do. I just ask for patience. Unfortunately, it kept me from blogging, but I wanted to get back on board a let people know some of my thoughts for the site. I was asked to write up some notes for the board meeting over the weekend, so I'll just post some of the highlights here to let you know where I see the site going. Please let me know what you think with comments or email. As always, I'm not an official voice of the conference, just the guy who works on the website.
NWMCmission.org has been transitioning slowly but steadily
this past year. People are also beginning
to explore the site more extensively. We’ve finally made the significant
step of landing on the first page of results on Google for the term mission conference that we’ve been targeting. Online registration is finally
available. Registration forms have been downloaded 300 times and Spot
videos have been viewed nearly 1400 times. We are beginning to carve a
niche for ourselves online. With continued efforts, I believe
NWMCmission.org can become the place to go online for Presbyterian mission.
Leading up to this year’s conference, my next goal is to
begin creating a NWMC “widget” that people could include in their personal or
church web pages and possibly even on their desktop. It will probably
start with just a conference countdown, but I’d like to make it configurable so
people can display new pictures, blog or forum posts, announcements podcasts
and/or any other ideas people have. People, churches and organizations
will use it to put NWMC information on their sites and link to it from theirs,
raising awareness of those who don’t even visit the site. Like
registration, it will take some time and effort, but I think it’s doable and
worthwhile.
At conference, I have a couple goals. For one thing,
I’m going to try to blog my experience. I’m not the greatest writer, so
it’s probably a good idea to try to get at least one or two others who would be
interested in sharing their experiences online throughout the week (Contact me if you're interested). I
want to post pictures throughout each day and post podcasts to the website within the hour. Next year, I hope to add the ability to purchase bricks,
register for the golf tournament, and sell other supporting items to
registration and online payments next year.
There are a few ways we can all work to strengthen our
online presence. Tell people about the site through conversations, links
and adding the widget to your site in the near future. We need to update
links to use the new name or at least the term “mission conference” inside of
the link so search engines have a better understanding of what
we’re really about. Finally, there is nothing more powerful than
prayer. Pray that we will be discerning with our limited resources and
that we’ll present valuable mission resources and a wholesome and desirable
destination for youth.
Moving forward, I am extremely excited by the ways conference
can use the web to serve the Lord, but don’t want to pretend I have all the
answers. Our site targets a unique and challenging pair of audiences:
youth and missional-focused Christians, so please contact me with questions or
suggestions.
I’m energized by new ideas. I just ask for patience as I only have nights
and weekends to work on the site. Finally, I want to thank my wife Jill, the Courtneys
and the others who have struggled with me over the past year to improve the
site. It has not been easy, but I fully believe our labors have made the
site better than any of us could have on our own. There is much work to
be done, but I trust the harvest will be plentiful.
