On Saturday 4 May in Melbourne the young writer’s Brain’s Trust met - led by chair Sam Gillespie, a gathering that has met since 2015 as a consultancy body for Press Service International and Christian Today.
2019 Brain’s Trust who met were –
Melbourne’s Capt. Peter Brookshaw of Craigieburn Salvation Army and Rev Mark Rusic; Sunshine Coast’s Rebecca Moore; Sydney’s Sam Gilliespie; Wes Tronson from Brisbane; and the two in-house video producers Amy Manners Adelaide and Cartia Moore Sunshine Coast.
Mark Tronson, Rebecca Moore
PSI Videos
First up, after self introductions, the two in-house video producers Cartia Moore and Amy Manners initially spoke of their roles and the value of such videos. Cartia does the PSI News while Amy does the ‘newsy bits’ - both are usually 5-7 weeks apart and published in the young writers weekly Thursday memo and the closed facebook page.
The discussion went further afield. Issues such as additional videographers, the value of videos to inspire, uplift and encourage young writer peers, keeping videos as a special item, to aid the program. An in-house style guide for video production, creating a public vimeo for bespoke videos made by PSI writers for use in their articles.
Many other ideas came forward, with a segment of the annual young writer conference in the afternoon session devoted to an explanation on video production for use in young writer articles.
Annual conference – 10 August
Capt. Peter Brookshaw led the meeting to the logistics of the 2019 young writers conference combined with the annual One Day in Melbourne conf at Craigieburn Salvation Amy (Melbourne).
Peter and his wife Jo in ministry, who is a graphic artist are working on the existing One Day in Melbourne flyer with Peter and Jo along with Mark Rusic leading the two morning plenaries for both the young writers and the mission delegates for One Day in Melbourne.
The young writers afternoon session will include
a video session,
Josh Hinds the web master of the PSI web site and
a small-group discussion time.
A billet arrangement is just not available for the young writers conference on 10 August, but a list of local motels and accommodation options will be provided. Interstate young writers will be provided a list of similar arrival time so as to share Uber / Taxi to Craigieburn. In May 2018 the cost with Uber was quite reasonable from the airport – shared cost be very fair.
writers conf and One Day in Melbourne conf.
PSI young writer program
Discussion arose on the Mail chimp option for the weekly E-Blast making it easier for people to view media in the body of the email.
There was discussion on the Weekly system and the drain on everyone behind the scenes with late articles and the idea of revamping the mission statement so as to sell this young writer writing program as a mission and a calling.
The current communication with new young writers focuses on structure and logistics. There was a discussion on Christian Today who are keen to see the young writers continuing after they turn 30 into the Over 31s writing ministry.
There was an explanation to place the -
- two international weeks currently (18-30 Week 1) and the (Over 31s Week 5)
- in 2020 as Weeks 4 and 5, placing them together
- therefore sharing the numerical numbers between Weeks 4 and 5.
The New Zealand Over 31s would then be placed in Weeks 1-3 to build the current Kiwi young writer numbers in those weeks. The Australian Over 31s would likewise be placed in Weeks 1-4 and then collated for those separate Panellists who mark the Australian Over 31s.
The Brain’s Trust has agreed to meet in May 2020 at the same convenient venue, The Melbourne Airport ParkRoyal.
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html