Chipo Muwowo writes of his experience at the Premier Digital Conference earlier in November. You can find my own personal highlights here.

Earlier this month, I was in London attending the 2016 Premier Digital Conference. It was my first time attending the event and I’m glad to report that it didn’t disappoint! It was a day filled with rich content, inspiring people and some good banter (check out #BackwardsBible).

I arrived at the conference venue, The Brewery, not really knowing what to expect. To be honest, I’d had a bit of a crazy week leading up to the event so the first time I actually sat down to think about the day was on the train up to London. The conference Twitter hashtag – #PremDAC16 – was a good place to start.

Between nodding off and reading articles online, I scrolled through tweets by people also travelling to the conference. That gave me a sense of who was going to be there as well as some much-needed cheer on what was a wet and depressingly grey morning.

 

https://twitter.com/ChipoMuwowo/status/797357179460272128/

 

Soon after arriving, I headed straight to the exhibition room where teas and coffees were being served. While prepping myself for my first caffeine hit of the day, I turned round to greet the person behind me. Turns out he knew me though I didn’t recognise him! Thankfully, that was because we’d never actually met before. The relief!

Interestingly, he recognised me from the virtual world – my wife’s Facebook photos. He’d met my wife through her work with university Christian Unions a few years ago. Initially, I thought it was a bit bold to own up to recognising someone from the Internet but I figured that making such a confession at a digital conference was probably the best place to do it. I had a similar experience later in the day as did others!

 

When @AmarisCole Invites questions and the first guy looks familiar… But from the digital world or the real world?? ? #PremDAC16 #confused

— Steph Gutmann (@StephGutmann) November 12, 2016

 

The theme of the day – “Reach” – was geared towards helping individual Christians, churches, and organisations think about how our faith interacts with the digital world; how we can harness this incredible resource to honour Christ. The organisers – Premier Media and CoDEC – put together a varied programme covering themes such as: reaching the apathetic, online campaigning and activism, death in the digital age, youthwork and digital, etc.

Lucy Peppiatt, Principal of Westminster Theological College, kicked the day off with an intellectually stimulating talk on theology and the digital world. Lucy helpfully reminded us that “the connections we make on the internet aren’t less real than physical ones.” We were reminded that God is still able to work, by his Spirit, in what is now His digital world, a recent development that never caught him unawares – surprise, surprise! To echo another delegate’s comments, I could have listened to much more from Lucy. There is much to be explored in this area.

After the first coffee break, I attended Joe Gallant’s break out session on Social Media for beginners (not in exchange for a guest blogging opportunity, I promise!).

Joe explained to the audience how to use social media for churches and Christian organisations. He talked about different social media platforms, their differentiators and why you would choose one over another. I enjoyed the talk – as well as being his photographer!

I later attended a seminar on blogging strategy by Amaris Cole, Editor of the Evangelical Alliance. This particular discussion really resonated with me because blogging strategy is something I’ve struggled to implement. I took it as a healthy rebuke. Amaris helpfully got us thinking about why our blogs exist in the first place. She gave us seven pointers for designing a blog strategy: Purpose, Audience, Competition, Promotion, Team Roles, Rhythm (regularity) and Targets.

 

'KNOW your target audience & be RUTHLESS with ensuring that your content is relevant to them' – @AmarisCole on blogging strategy #PremDAC16

— Chipo Muwowo (@ChipoMuwowo) November 12, 2016

 

There were four breakout sessions during the day. At one point, it felt like I was going from one thing to the next without much space to process what I’d been hearing. I guess that’s the nature of many conferences. It also points to the depth of the content provided.

Later, I joined a session on the dark side of digital (pornography and sexting) and church. This talk by Abbie Gillgan of NSPCC hit me the hardest. I was impressed by Abbie (her clarity and heart for this area were inspiring) but also I had my eyes opened to how easy it is for young people especially to fall into online traps. We had good discussions in groups then fed back to the rest. I’m neither a youth worker nor a parent so it was great to hear, first-hand, from those who are about how they are dealing with these issues in their youth groups, schools and homes.

Apart from a couple of sweets (boring I know), I was slow on the ‘conference freebies’. However, I enjoyed the free magazine from Premier. [Editor’s note: check out the cover feature in the December issue, featuring a column from ChurchTrain with some Christmas Communication Tips!]

 

@Christianitymag Thanks! I read a few articles on the train home. Great content.

— Chipo Muwowo (@ChipoMuwowo) November 12, 2016

 

We are so accustomed to having the internet with us, and the ever-expanding world of digital, that we forget that it’s all relatively new. The Premier Digital Conference is vital for helping Christians in the digital age understand and wisely steward what is a gift from God.

Very soon, I’ll be signing up to the 2017 Premier event. Do join me!

Chipo Muwowo is a freelance journalist based on the south coast of England.

[Editor’s note: Did you attend this year? Comment your highlights below! Thanks, Chipo!]