Who, if anyone, will be providing postings/comments/news about GenCon 2004 similar to what was done by Pastor John in 2000?

It was really nice to have the daily reports and updates which helped to provide a sense of "being there".

Incidentally, if you are not aware, there is a candidates roster on the www.ame-church.com website. Did you know there are 61 folks running for bishop? And yet, for some offices, there is no opposition. Also, the full agenda is on the site. It will be intersting to know how closely it is followed.

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2004

Answers

The AME Herald will have online reporting. You can find it at www.ameherald.com.

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2004

Online reporting is basically what our late publisher and friend Rev. John Fisher provided for this BB for Gen Con 2000. It was a valuable tool for those who were not in Cincinatti, OH. It's OK but it has limitaations, most importantly, the delay in posting information on the site. Furthermore, that's not what Clement Fugh was referring to when he indicated to me earlier this year that the Gen Con would have webcasting capabilities through the official AME website. Webcasting is the only technology which will allow those who will not be in Indy an opportunity to have a true virtual experience. I hope the official AME website has a link with information about this option. It will be a shame if this year's General Conference is not available via webcast considering the wide range of important issues which will be discussed. QED

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2004

We talked about webcasting in a previous thread.

There are enough of us geeks on this board to set it up, but who would pay for it? Bandwidth and hosting wouldn't be cheap for this event.

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2004

I sent an email to Dr. Fugh asking him if the General Conference would be Web Cast.

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2004

Larry,

THanks for the notification about the offical ballot roster. I have added a link to it to the table that I maintain. I was missing about 8 candidates, and they have been added.

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2004

I had not heard about a webcasting option. This would be great; especially if the webcasts are archived for some period of time for those who may not be able to view it live. I can ill afford the time to view entire sessions live, but some of the worship services would be interesting. It's also a sure bet that some of the "best" (?) action would take place off the floor and out of view of the cameras.

Would this be an open webcast or one for which a password is necessary?

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2004

I also asked Dr. Fugh could the conference be broadcast over the internet. The United Methodists did it.

-- Anonymous, June 17, 2004

CIO, Dr. Fugh's response:

"I proposed the idea to the General Conference Commission. Their response was that no business session could be webcast and that Worship Services should be edited. That stopped it for me."

-- Anonymous, June 17, 2004

The million dollar question is why won't they allow the business sessions or even the worship services to be webcasted? Are they planning on selling videos of the services afterwards?

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2004

I am profoundly disappointed at this decision. The decision by the General Conference Commission to reject webcasting the business session of GenCon 2004 represents a flawed decision of monumental proportions. It betrays our public position about the AMEC as a Connectional Body. It reinforces the idea that the only way you can stay in the loop is to incur the exorbitant costs of travel, hotel stay and paying the perfunctory "observer fee". Furthermore, it perpetuates the idea that some things we do in our "church business" work should only take place in a surreptitous setting, concealed from public viewing. When the topic of webacasting the 2004 GenCon was discussed on this BB in late 2003 I proposed that the AMEC could charge a $25.00 pay per view fee for the service to help recover production cost. In an email exchange with Dr. Fugh I explained how 100,000 subscribers would gross $2.5 million dollars. He acted on my modest proposal and moved it up the chain of command where it apparently was met with unwarrented resistance and rejection. Now here we sit on the eve of the 2004 GenCon and the cruel reality is that 95% of AMEs not traveling to Indy will be out of the loop. The webcast option could have assisted those who were willing and able to pay the viewing charge and have access to the Internet. A golden opportunity to embrace creative technology to show our 18-35 year old missing members we are serious about their well-being, has been effectively squandered. QED

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2004