The Raleigh Convention Center (RCC) is a beautiful facility. We were used to filling the entire building where our conference was held in the past. This building however, was so large that it dominated us! We could have easily fit two or three more conferences our size into the same facility. That in and of itself was quite an adjustment!

Raleigh Convention Center Shimmer Wall

The RCC has a much more formalized Information Technology (IT) infrastructure than I am used to working with. They had their own internal IT staff that worked with us all week. There was plenty of bandwidth for all of our attendees as well as the video streaming application and internal staff needs. I worked with the Minutes Room staff this year due to personnel changes resulting from the death of one of our staff members (and personal friend). All of the minutes for the 2011 Annual Conference were recorded using Google Docs and Spreadsheets. The system served us well and the minutes folks were able to complete their work for the week on time.

Everything is better with balloons!

There are several different ministries that take place during the week of our conference. One of these was done in partnership with Stop Hunger Now. Volunteers gathered during the dinner break one day to assemble food packets that will eventually become meals for hungry families in North Carolina. The small (smaller than you would think!) group managed to assemble 150,000 packets that will eventually become 90,000 meals! My friend, Steve Taylor, wrote an excellent blog post on this event.

Where the rubber meets the road!

One of the big parts of annual conference is the business sessions. There are at times quick votes and at others seemingly endless debate. Resolutions are offered, discussed and voted upon. Rules are changed, removed and created. People are generally civil with each other as large and small theological issues are debated.

One of the many business sessions.

Through all of this I am responsible for setting up the initial staff IT operations including the News Room, Minutes Room, E-mail Station, Registration area and all of the staff members scattered across the building. Once everything is set up and running I sit in the News Room and help out with the various social network feeds that are covering the event. I enjoy the work but using the social networks to communicate with people out in the conference is the most fun part of the week. Who is looking forward to next year already?

It’s been a very busy month at the office. I can usually guage how busy I am by looking at how high the credit card bills and invoices pile up. Yes, even the IT Office generates paper sometimes. I spent most of today catching up. I hope this brings me back into the good graces of the Treasurer’s Office! The next project is tackling the out of control Inbox!

Mr. Jones (name changed to protect the innocent) owned his own construction business. One day his son stopped by for a visit. As he (the son) stepped out of his car he saw a large tornado coming towards the house. He ran towards the house to warn his parents to take shelter. The tornado was moving so fast that, unfortunately, the house collapsed as he was trying to enter. The roof of the house landed on Mr. Jones’ son, breaking his neck. Mr. Jones and his wife were upstairs at the time and were standing at the top of the stairs when the roof was ripped off. They stood together while they watched nearly everything in the house get sucked out of the hole ripped in the roof. Somehow, they weren’t moved from their spot (or injured). After the tornado passed Mr. Jones ran downstairs to find his son pinned underneath the debris. He picked up the section of roof while his son was pulled out. His face was blue and they were convinced he was dead. Help quickly arrived to resuscitate his son and he is recovering now. Mr. Jones lost everything in his house and nearby business. Nearly all of the heavy construction equipment he owned was destroyed. A heavy lifting crane was picked up and thrown hundreds of feet like it was a piece of discarded trash. The dump truck that he drove up in was blown over on its side. It had to be righted before he could drive it to the warehouse, looking for any spare building materials. He needed them to help rebuild his shattered life. Mr. Jones’ daughter is on a list waiting for a heart transplant. His mother died a few weeks after the tornado. He has no insurance.

Thank you, Jesus, for the ability to offer him some critically needed building supplies. Thank you for the smile that it brought to his face. Thank you for being with him during this time of tremendous suffering. Thank you for the people of The United Methodist Church who helped provide the assistance he so desperately needed. Thank you for my friend, Steve Taylor, who is always there without fail when someone needs him. Thank you for protecting my family from our own tornado. Please forgive me for not doing more to help during this desperate hour. There are families all over North Carolina whose lives were shattered by this violent storm. Until now all I have done is driven by and felt sorry for them. That changes today.

I hope everyone who reads this story will donate to this worthy cause like I just did. The money is desperately needed. I think we could all sacrifice something to help these people that have had their lives literally blown apart in a single day. Please consider helping, no matter how small the gift may be. I believe Jesus would appreciate your help. I know my friend Steve and I sure would.

One of the ministries that I hear a lot about at work is the Race of Grace and I knew that the 5k race was coming up soon. I checked the website and found out that it was in the next four days! I’m in pretty good decent shape so after talking about it with my wife I decided to go for it! There wasn’t much time to train but with the last few months of jogging I was as ready as I’d ever be. I decided to rest up my legs for a few days before the start of the race. That turned out to be an excellent decision.

Can we really trust Windows for something this important?

This was my first real race so I was a bit nervous. I was used to running 5.25 miles or so at home so I figured this would be no problem. Turns out it was a bit harder than I had planned for. I ran a much faster pace for a lot farther. The hills were a lot bigger too! I survived the race though in fine fashion. My family was waiting for me at the finish line to cheer me on the last few hundred feet. I think they were more excited than I was!

My official time came in at 32:09. That’s by far the best time I have run in the four (now five) months I have been exercising. It really was a lot of fun to go out and run with a big group of people. The water stations and live music along the race route was a particularly nice touch. It was obvious that this was a painstakingly planned and organized event.

Official Time For The Race of Grace

The end of the event was the best part. My daughters held up a sign and cheered me on for the last few hundred feet. I could see them jumping up and down with excitement from a distance. It really helped motivate me to finish up a difficult race. I can’t wait for the next one!

Go Daddy Go!

Conference Staff Attending The Leadership Summit

The event was nicely done from a technology standpoint. It was an interesting experience to know that we were participating in the same event with United Methodists in the Congo, Germany, Zimbabwe, Liberia and elsewhere all over the world. We all sang the same hymn and prayed the same prayer, regardless of timezones. It was a great experience. I hope we do more presentations like this in the future.

This is one of the reasons why I think that all of our churches should create a technology budget for their leadership. All of our pastors need access to modern computer equipment and smart phones. These devices will help our clergy become more connected with each other, the annual conferences and the general boards and agencies.

Since we have all been wearing pedometers (and exercising this year) this would be an excellent time for fellowship. You can pick up around 4,500 steps or so as well as enjoy some time outside with your peers.  The Information Technology Office would like to invite everyone to meet up with us at the Conference Office at 4:45 PM on Wednesday April 6th, 2011.  We will leave from the front of the building at 5 PM and walk twice around the block (map of the route below).  Twice around this loop is approximately 3.5 miles.  You should budget about an hour to complete the track if you are walking.  It’s a little further than a 5k but what’s a few tenths of a mile amongst friends?

Walking With WordPress 5k Route

Some things to note:

• We will be taking a group photograph before we leave.
• You do not have to walk with us during the event but you do have to move at least 3.1 miles on that day.
• Even if you are exercising elsewhere please consider showing up for the group photo.
• You can perform any type of exercise as long as you complete the 5k.  You can run on a treadmill, bike indoors or outdoors, swim laps, run or jog or walk as long as you hit the mileage requirement.  If you decide to exercise elsewhere be sure to let me know so I can keep track of how many people are participating.
• ALL are welcome!  I’m sure there will be enough adults to help watch any children that want to participate.
• You do not have to walk with the group around the track.  If you choose to run or bike the track we will happily wave as you lap us.  Photographic evidence of your exercise and/or a description of your individual exercise would make the blog very happy.
• Rain out day will be Friday April 8th.
• We need a volunteer time keeper to hand out times as people finish the course.  I am currently accepting applications for this position.  Please send references and salary requirements to me directly.

If you plan to attend please fill out this registration form:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEJlRC12em9SSlAzc212Z0FVQ3B3eVE6MQ

You can find out more here: http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/automattic%E2%80%99s-worldwide-wp-5k/.

Next week I will be traveling to San Francisco to attend the 2010 annual meeting of the United Methodist Information Technology Association (UMITA).  Representatives from the IT staff of many of our Annual Conferences will be meeting for a week to discuss the latest technology trends, share insights and fellowship with each other.  Unlike previous years we are coordinating our meeting with the United Methodist Association of Communicators (UMAC).  My presentation this year will be on migrating our e-mail infrastructure to Google Apps.  Last year I presented on the Google Apps system in general.  This year I will be discussing where we are in the overall migration along with lessons learned.  I’ll have to keep in mind during my presentation that the room isn’t just full of other IT folks.

The conference this year takes place in San Francisco!  I am particularly excited about this trip as it is the second time I have been able to visit the west coast.  These opportunities don’t come along very often.  I doubt I will have much time for touring the city since our schedule is full of action packed meetings and social events.  Since the Giants beat my beloved Braves in the NLDS maybe I’ll be able to catch a baseball game?  I wouldn’t mind visiting Alcatraz if time permits.  Ah well, meetings come first!