Cong Village in County Mayo will host the second Congregation Social and Digital Media Un-conference (www.congregation.ie ) that takes place on Saturday November 29. Based on a model of peer sharing, more than 50 Irish and international social media thinkers will descend on the village to discuss digital media and its impact on life and work.
The one day un-conference will see each of the attendees present on a wide variety of topics from creativity, creating content, crisis management, building communities, and hints/tips in using social and digital technology.
Attendees range from business owners, academics, consultants, marketers, and the curious. The event will use a variety of venues in the village including coffee shops, exhibition spaces, restaurants, and bars.
In order to get a place attendees must produce a blog post, which is posted in advance on www.congregation.ie On the day groups of 10 people will gather at each of the six venues with three people speaking at each until everyone has presented his/her thoughts and ideas. Groups rotate four times during the day to different venues to ensure attendees all connect with each other.
Eoin Kennedy, organiser, said: “This is the second year of Congregation.ie which fostered really strong connections between attendees and resulted in in-depth discussion of the wide variety of topics. This year we have attendees coming from as far away as Italy and some world renowned speakers, but the focus is to give a platform to people who have something of value to share with others. Presentations are designed to be very informal as people cluster around tables in each of the locations.
“Most events of this type take place in major urban locations and large conference centres. Congregation also aims to show that rural locations can run sustainable events without the need for large infrastucture.”
Submissions are still being accepted and interested attendees are invited to submit their blog paper through 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 27 and spaces will be allocated on a first come basis.
