086 – How To Synod Convention

This week on the WELSTech podcast the discussion centers on the technology behind this year’s Synod Convention.

The discussion:

Pack your bags – If you can’t be in Saginaw, MI next week for WELS 2009 Convention, you can enjoy the next best thing, a virtual convention experience complete with live video and audio streams, images, blogs, online resolutions, daily news and more.  Martin and Sallie discuss the technology of convention and how your congregation and school might capitalize on some of the same “tech”niques.

• WELS.net/convention

New Technology Showcase:

• (23:57) Microsoft Office 2010

Picks of the week:

• (28:20) Follow Google on Twitter
• Google Voice

Community feedback:

• (40:23) Discussion around our recent BWTG episode on Facebook Pages continues:
  • Pastor Jeremiah Gumm of Cross of Christ in Liverpool, NY  shared a link to their new Facebook page
  • Nancy Thompson from Victory of the Lamb in Franklin, WI shared more details about their use of ChurchCommunityBuilder.com.
  • Perry Lund of Grace in Oskaloosa, IA suggested a future podcast discussion topic around preparing teachers to teach tech savvy kids
  • WELTech fans on Facebook are 71% male and 59% fall between the ages of 35 and 54. Help us reach 100 fans (go girls)!
• On our Facebook group page we heard from Dave Scharrer of St. John’s in Hemlock, MI, including a request for links to Sallie’s summer education sites.
  • Tuesday Tech Time – Adult Computer Education
  • WhizKidz Summer Computer Camp
• WELSTech listserve discussion topics include
  • Open source grading software
  • Classroom collaboration
• Jason Schmidt from Gethsemane in Omaha, NE tweeted a link to Epson’s “Brighter Futures” projector, printer and scanner deals for school
• Marilyn Sherod shared a link to closed caption sermons from Zion in Torrance, CA – hosted on dotsub.com
  • Check out our past WELSTech interview with John Shoosmith for tips to get started creating closed captioning videos

Coming up on WELSTech:

(50:25) WELSTech double-duty continues next week

• Episode 087 – Increase your productivity and communication by emptying your inbox, the topic of the next Bonus WELSTech Goodness (BWTG) episode. (Release date 07/27/09)
• Episode 088 – Get things done with a new crop of Web 2.0 mind mapping and collaboration tools. (Release date 07/29/09)

The featured artist:

(52:20) This week we close with the beautiful piano music of Dawn Gehlhar – All Through the Night from her CD titled ”Inspirations”

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