Church Marketing Sucks

Yesterday concluded the Buzz Conference in Washington, D.C. The day’s events included a morning bloggers’s breakfast, a session on sermon branding from event organizer Mark Batterson, our very own Brad Abare and a panel on branding. As more and more bloggers return home and give us their take, us non-conference attenders can continue living vicariously. You can start with the new Buzz store where you can pick up audio of the sessions and feel like you were there.

And I’m not the only one wishing I was there, Brenton Balvin tried to score some free swag from a thousand miles away (and coincidentally, a few miles from me). Why didn’t I think of that?

• Travis Johnson gave us vicarious folks a shout out and went on to call our own Brad Abare a stud. You can’t make this stuff up.
  
• Dan Ohlerking is a networking maniac and has the photos to back it up. No vicarious experience is complete without networking, or a fuzzy photo of Brad in a sports coat, doing us proud. We also missed Dan’s overview of day one.
• Mark Rodriguez called it “the best conference experience I’ve ever had,” though he wasn’t as proud of Brad as we were. Here’s his coverage of day one.
• Bob Franquiz offers some more vicarious networking. And check out his thoughts on day one (I guess for the real vicarious experience I should have stayed up until 1 a.m. and then blogged so I didn’t miss all these other day one recaps).
• Ken Yarmosh talks about hanging out at wells.
• David Russell is the digital pastor at National Community Church and gives some quick thoughts. But he makes up for the brevity with a post on buzz swag. Because no vicarious Buzz blogging is complete with out your very own lanyard pass. I think I’ll print one out and wear it around the house today.
• Lance LeBlanc gives us more pictures (Mmm… vicarious steak.)
• Tony from Rochester, Minn. regretted that Joel Osteen couldn’t make it.
• Heather Zempel blogged about if buzz is what compels people to come, what compels them to stay? Good stuff, but I couldn’t help wondering where are all the other female Buzz bloggers?
• Tally Wilgis gives an overview (OK, it’s from day one), but he also had an outside the convention close encounter, which is another vicarious experience to check off the list. Updated: Notes on theater church forum and Q&A.
• Ben Arment had a buzz [conference] hangover but still offers a thorough overview. He also has quick thoughts on day one, complete with pictures.
• Tim Elzea, personal assistant to Mark Batterson (hey, I need one of those!), gives some as they happen updates, including this tidbit from Brad’s talk: “Be who you are–Don’t be who you aren’t.”
• Bruce Chant offers the international perspective.
• Tom Buckley writes about the film festival and wishes more church work was shared.
• Michael from Oak Leaf gave a good overview of Mark Batterson’s talk on sermon branding but called day two “just okay” and says he’s conferenced out for the next six months. He finally concluded that Buzz didn’t rock his world, though he does say that’s hard to do.
• Steve Wilson has a big overview of lessons from day two, including my favorite: “Don’t teach with half your brain tied behind your back!”
• Tony Morgan gives his take on day two, including a nice quote from Brad: “The audience is always right. If they’re not getting the message, it’s your fault not their fault.”
• For the non-blogger perspective, you can turn to the Christian Post.
• And finally, Mark Batterson reflects on Buzz 2006 and looks forward to how things can improve for Buzz 2007.

Don’t forget to check our recap of day one. I don’t know about you, but I could use a vicarious nap about now.

Update:

• Gary Lamb offers 22 random thoughts on Buzz.
• Tadd Grandstaff met 13 cool people.
• Jason Sheffstall blogged about leaders in action.
• Russell Knight offered this tidbit from Mark Batterson: “The church should be the most creative institution on the planet.” Plus the bonus fact that 15 chapters in Exodus deal with aesthetics.