1. No experience necessary (but still welcome).
The Catholic New Media Celebration is for newbies and veterans alike. We want people from many dioceses to come and learn the potential here. No experience necessary. Come, watch, and learn.
On the other hand, this is a chance to share your experience if you have it (and let’s face it, we all have experience of some sort!).
2. Put faces with names.
Meet the SQPN line-up in person! Meet a cardinal who blogs! Meet bloggers (like me!) who are changing the world one keystroke at time!
The Meet & Greet on Friday, August 6 is held at the historic Omni Parker House Hotel, where Boston Cream pie and Parker House rolls were invented. For those of you who care about politics and recent history, this is where JFK proposed to Jackie and later announced his candidacy for public office.
But, really, this is where virtual becomes real, where reality gets grounded, where dreams become possible. Three years ago, when I went to my first CNMC (what a road trip that was!), I was only sort of hoping to be a writer when I grew up. I credit that trip, and the people I got to know better because of it, for giving me the confidence I needed to jump in the waters.
3. Enjoy a weekend away.
Enjoy a weekend in New England. Boston is close to shoreline, and has just the right mix of great seafood, great sports, and great colleges for those who are looking! Though the Red Sox are away that weekend, there’s no shortage of things to do, even if you just cozy up in a hotel room or by that shoreline with your favorite book.
4. Revel at the mecca of shopping.
Boston is a shopping mecca: Newbury Street, Prudential Center, and Copley Place for starters. Then there’s the North End, Boston’s “Little Italy,” for great Italian food and Boston memorabilia.
(A note to my husband: No worries, honey, as long as I don’t find any quaint little bookstores…)
5. Immerse yourself in history all around.
Walk the famous “Freedom Trail.” See Paul Revere’s house, the Old North Church (“one if by land, two if by sea…”), the Boston Common, the Old State House (the site of the Boston Massacre), and Bunker Hill. You’ll have a chance to see “Old Ironsides” and the Old Granary burial ground where John Hancock and others are buried.
Oh, and there’s more. So much more.
6. Can you say “family friendly”?
This year’s CNMC is featuring, for the first time, a children’s track. You’ll also want to check out the Boston Public Gardens where you can ride on the famous Swan Boats, and see the “Make Way for Ducklings” sculpture from the classic book of the same name. Plus there is the New England Aquarium, the Children’s Museum, and the wonderful Museum of Science with its Omni Theatre and Planetarium. Oh, and you can tour Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, during the day too.
7. Better than candid!
Get on camera, whether on the SQPN UStream feed or interviewed by new media folks with microphones (or notebooks, in the case of those of us who aren’t podcasters)!
So…what are you waiting for? Get registered while there’s still time!
Thanks to Pat Gohn for her help compiling this list. Thanks, too, to Jen from Conversion Diary for hosting Quick Takes each week. Be sure to check out this week’s round-up.
