More than 100 Irish and international social media thinkers are poised to take over Cong village in Mayo on November 30 at a free social media ‘un-conference’ called Congregation.ie Over the course of one day, all attendees will present on a wide variety of social media topics including research, how-to guides, social business stories, and social media rants. The event will use a variety of venues in the town including coffee shops, exhibition spaces, restaurant, and bars. Congregation.ie uses a huddles structure where groups of 10 people will gather at each of the venues with three people speaking at each until everyone has presented his/her thoughts and ideas. Tickets cannot be bought for Congregation.ie, instead a place must be earned by producing a blog paper in advance and posting it on the Congregation.ie website.
Commenting on the background to the event, organiser Eoin Kennedy said, “Congregation.ie was born out of experience with standard conferences where the attendees don’t have a voice but have lots of insights and experience that they would freely share if given the opportunity. Congregation.ie aims to harness peer to peer sharing and enable deeper connection between attendees, as everyone is a stakeholder. By earning their way into this free event, contributing to the conversation and sharing their insights, attendees are all equal. They are also will increasing their own and everyone’s knowledge base. Their insights will be rewarded with a platform to share their knowledge, the opportunity to connect with like-minded people from all around Ireland, and a truly social event in a beautiful Irish village. Congregation also aims to show that rural locations can run sustainable events without the need for large infrastructure.” Interested attendees are invited to submit their blog paper on the congregation.ie website. Blog papers need to be 600 words in length maximum and accompanied by a synopsis, four takeaways points, a biography and contact details. Submissions will be taken until November 20 and spaces will be allocated on a first come basis.
