The Future Of the GA Zette

On to the one part of the Annual Meetings I actually organised! We had a very encouraging response rate of over 50 responses to the survey about the future of the GA Zette, and from 2pm onwards, people steadily joined the table myself and David Warhurst commandeered in the bar (thanks to the bar staff for their generosity in letting us do this!). We had over 15 of us present, all with suggestions, which was most encouraging. I will be doing a full article on this shortly, so this is a short summary.

Essentially, the resources to sustain the traditional ‘produce the paper copies overnight’ model are no longer there, but both the survey and the discussion clearly indicated that people really appreciate the ‘real-time reporting’, especially given that the shorter time of modern Annual Meetings means that we inevitably miss some workshops and gatherings we would love to see. Ideas for keeping this including moving more online and to different formats including, ahem, live-blogging, but short videos, interviews, photos – perhaps even a podcast! were put forwards. We agreed that would still be a need for print format information for accessibility, and also that editorial oversight is crucial. A full report will follow, and we’ll pick this up next year, with the caveat that I will not be the editor myself – anyone willing to give it a try or contribute is welcome to get in touch: louise.reeve@newcastleunitarians.org.uk.

Workshop V – Facilitators

Lizzie Kingston-Harrison and Dr. Jane Blackall led this excellent workshop on Small Group Engagement and setting up a facilitators’ network. Energetic group discussions on what has and hasn’t worked for us all in the past ensued, including an emerging focus on behaviour covenants, or at least the need to be explicit about agreeing the terms of discussion and attendance at the start. It was a great discussion, and a lot of fun. I feel this is a good start; Unitarian worship is going to need to move away from having only or mainly Sunday services if we are to broaden our reach, and this has appeal for those who “don’t do church”, but who do do spirituality. There seems to me to be an air of change and renewal at this year’s Annual Meeting. (And, apparently, a lot of interest in mushrooms.)