Tag: sacramento

  • I rode the magic unicorn

    Talk about a string of words I never thought I’d string together? So there was a camp here at NYWC that has a mechanical unicorn one can ride.

    Well, with a little coaxing I actually got on the thing. I have to tell you… riding a mechanical anything isn’t nearly as fun as I had thought it would be. I fell of two times quickly.

    The worst part about it was that the second time I fell off I actually got hurt. I think the back of my leg scraped across the handle part or something. All I know is that I have a massive bruise on the back of my leg.

    Don’t worry, you’ll get to catch this moment on video!

  • Sacramento Day 1

    I’m here. Being on this side of things is great. At the same time the next 24 hours are the most stressful of the 3 conventions.

    The live blogging kicks off at 1 PM PST. Make sure you check that out. nywc.com/live

  • NYWC Sacramento: Wednesday

    I’m one of the few folks still in the El Cajon offices this morning. The primary convention staff went up Sunday while the rest who are going up are trickling in the rest of the week… some arriving as late as Friday. My flight is early Thursday morning as I still have to help get the YMX booth set up in the exhibit hall.

    What am I doing at NYWC Sacramento? Lots!

    Job #1 I’m live blogging, twittering, and making a daily video blog. This includes overseeing a fun group that I put together of three other youth ministry bloggers. You can watch our live blogging craziness at NYWC.com/live.

    Job #2 I’m a social butterfly. Is that a job? Yes, it really is! 350 days per year my job is to use non-personal means to reach out and encourage thousands of youth workers like email and internet stuff. But 15 days per year I get to do this in person. So I will be talking up a storm. Listening to people’s stories. And basically a ton under the umbrella of “connecting.” Think about it like a PGA Tour event. There, most of the players can stay “inside the ropes” where the public doesn’t go. While I do go there as well, I try to be “outside the ropes” as much as I can. (Honestly, YS staff rarely stay inside the ropes… we’re all social butterflies!) So if you see me at a seminar taking notes or in the hallway or walking around the convention center, please stop and say hello!

    Job #3 The YMX Booth. Last year YMX made its debut at NYWC Atlanta. We were a tiny little company in a big huge room of 400 exhibitors. We had a small booth and most people probably missed us. This year, you won’t be able to miss us! Right when you walk in you’ll see our sexy new logo and be invited to sit down and connect in our “bigger-er” booth. Bring your laptop and enjoy some free internet too. Get ready to learn about ymwomen.com as well… Register for an account at YMX/ymwomen (free) and enjoy the loudest giveaway I’ve ever seen.

    Job #4 Facilitate the small church youth worker discussion. I’m super excited about this! Obviously, I’ve been in a small church for the last “forever.” Together we’ll talk about what’s going on in your church, encourage one another, and just have a blast. Trust me, it’ll be great.

    Job #5 Bringing the energy. Yesterday, in the podcast Marko talked about being weary. I gotta say, that is not me. (right now) I’m exuberant about the conventions this fall. I know some of that is that I’m the new guy on staff. But a big chunk is that I feel like I’m right where God wants me for this season of life. I can’t wait to connect with others and I hope to be a part of the energy on site.

  • The next few weeks

    ahhhh!
    ahhhh!

    My fall travel season has arrived. When I took my job at YS I knew that this time of year would happen. In fact, one of the reasons why there are some really soft times in my year-round schedule is to make up for this time of year. Here’s the rundown, pray for Kristen and I.

    October 9-13, NYWC Sacramento. Live blogging the convention and overseeing the smoking YMX booth at all three locations.

    October 16-19, Planet Wisdom Chicago. No official role, but I’ve never been to one and I really need to grasp what goes on.

    October 30-November 3, NYWC Pittsburgh. Same as Sacramento.

    November 20-24, NYWC Nashville. Same as Pitt & Sacramento.

    OK, so now that I wrote it out like this it doesn’t look that bad again. I think the stress comes from realizing I’ll be gone for about 2 weeks straight starting this week.

    By the way, I’m totally looking forward to being on site at these events. It’s going to be super awesome fun exhaustion encouragement time.

  • What am I working on?

    Here’s a quick rundown of the things I’m up to over at YS.

    #1 I post regularly at the new YS blog.  Here are 3 posts you should check out. Big vision for Cabot. Youth Workers Who Twitter. Carrie Clausen and Her Youth Group. I’m loving the blog. It’s really a fun way to connect people together.

    #2 The big 3 of social networking. I spend some time each day talking with people on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. If you want to friend us, follow us, or join our group just click on the links. 

    #3 Custom social networks for our events. This is very unique to YS. We’ve created full-blown custom social networks for people coming to our flagship event, National Youth Workers Convention. Here’s the one for folks headed to Sacramento in October. So far there are a total of seven websites associated with NYWC this fall. I’m helping the YS convention get web-o-riffic in a hurry. 

    #4 Relaunching the podcast. Starting very soon is a brand new format to the YS podcast. I’ll bring some of the flavor of the YMX podcast to YS as well as some other cool features. Keep an eye on this page. We’ve got the first few episodes ready to go… great content in the new format!

    #5 YMX stuff. Since YS purchased YMX back in June things have changed only slightly. Seriously, I think the only thing that got changed was the privacy policy and about us pages. The first change is coming soon as YMX will host the next generation of the website, YM Women. There will be a special section of the website dedicated to women in youth ministry. I think this is a cool compliment to the HERstory conference that meets at NYWC. Looking forward to YMX going to “generation two” of its existence.

    #6 Experimental stuff. Just think of my office as Area 51 for YS. OK, not really. But I’m always playing with new ideas and seeing what will work or not work on the social media front. When I first started I talked to the internet team about “Adam’s sandbox.” I said, “Just give me some place I can create things, try out things, play with ideas and strategies, and basically do things with no fear of failure.” So I’ve got room to do that! I love knowing that everything I try has to be safe enough to succeed. Think of a lot of what I do as Google Labs. Some experiments make it past beta testing and some don’t. 

    What about you? What are you up to at the job these days?