David Russell

Over the past few months, a group of church IT professionals have gathered intermittently for an interactive conversation about the world of technology. Jason Powell, the Technology Director at Granger Community Church, is responsible for organizing and guiding the discussions. He’s also the reason these meetings exist. After he pitched the idea to several folks on his blog, Church IT and Other Musings, the first interactive “talkcast” for church IT geeks was born. On the first and third Friday of each month, we gather our digital selves together for about an hour to discuss news, events, tools and resources, gadgets and gizmos, as well as high profile issues relating to security, technology management and senior pastors—I mean, budgeting.

If you are involved in technology at any level within a church, parachurch or nonprofit Christian organization, or even if you work elsewhere and are keen on the idea of gathering with some very, very, very, very cool dudes to talk shop, you are welcome to join the fray at our next discussion. We’re meeting again Friday, February 2nd at 2:00 p.m./1400 EST (1900 UTC/GMT) using the Talkshoe network and client. You’ll have to register at Talkshoe: create a username, password and PIN. Then, download the Talkshoe client. You might want to do this well before the event starts because you may need to update Java, depending on your setup. Once you have Talkshoe running, you’ll dial in to the Talkshoe number (724-444-7444) using any phone, enter your PIN and the show ID and you’ll be connected to the conversation.

Also, you don’t have to interact. You are welcome to just listen. But we do encourage participation. Trust me, I’m not even good enough to shine most of these guys shoes and I still chat it up. It’s the only way to learn. Plus, I’m often able to assist with web-related discussion that pops up. You never know when you might be the expert-on-hand when something is discussed. So jump in, if you would like to.

If you don’t have a PC, or if you simply don’t want to run the Talkshoe client, you can just call in to the Talkshoe number (724-444-7444) and enter your PIN and then the ID of the show and you’ll be connected. (You will have to be registered at Talkshoe.com for this, but you won’t need to download anything.) It’s just like a conference call.

For all participants, toll charges may apply, depending on your service agreement or phone system. It’s a standard U.S. number. Cell phones are fine, but be wary of “road noise” and other environmental oddities that can occur. The moderator, Jason, may mute your channel if there is too much happening on your line, especially if it is distracting. So mute yourself if you think it’s a problem, then unmute when you want to add to the discussion. Just be mindful. And remember that without the Talkshoe client, you will not be able to view the text conversation that often accompanies the audio.

Skype users without headsets should also be mindful of noisy audio conditions. Feel free to use Skype to call in to the number—you can still use the Talkshoe client to watch the text conversation and view the participant profiles while dialed into the audio on Skype. I’ve used this method and the phone method and both are fine. Just make sure your Skype connection is optimized so your voice and your reception of others is clear.

Dial in early for the pre-show chat and stay late for the afterglow. The audio from 1400-1500 EST is recorded and made available via podcast (RSS | iTunes 1-click) or direct download. For all of us in the church IT community, we look forward to you joining the discussion.

Church IT Discussions

Jason Powell

Talkshoe

[tags]church, it, discussion, talkcast, interactive, podcast, technology, security, talkshoe[/tags]