Best of Social Media Summit

“Who you hang out with determines what you dream about and what you collide with.” –Seth Godin

This past week, I traveled to Orange County, California for the “Best of Social Media Summit,” a meeting of about 30 of the top social media managers in the country working at Christian nonprofits and church denominations. I somehow snuck into this small and amazing group.

Over the course of a few days, we dove into content management and strategy, crisis communication, creating magic moments for your fans, the power of storytelling, teen engagement in the digital space, and many more topics.

There were several amazing guest speakers including Jeramie McPeek (VP of Digital for Phoenix Suns), Justina Chen (Microsoft executive speechwriter), Mark Burnett & Roma Downey (TV Producers and The Bible Mini-series), and Naghmeh Abedini (#SaveSaeed campaign, fighting for husband’s release from Iranian prison for preaching Gospel). The lineup blew me away.

One thing that gets tiring about social media groups is all the cliché buzzwords and echo-chamber ideas. I thankfully didn’t find that here. We dove deep, tackled our problem areas, challenged each other in big ways, and spoke from personal experience. We also laughed and had fun. It was like meeting old friends.

There’s lots more I could tell you (and probably will in future posts), but let me end with one idea. I met every single one of these people on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Enriching relationships started online. This community communicates online and met offline to build things together. To strengthen friendships and strategic partnerships. To dream about the future. We live in a day when geography doesn’t have to limit growth or community.

To see more from the Best of SMS, check out our hashtag: #BestofSMS