|PIC1|A Baptist minister of 31 years, M V Tronson's Internet communication and his web site have been great boosts to his ministry. With the technical help of his friend Peter Scotland of 37 years (former Channel 7 engineer), he has been able to extend his mission to a much wider readership.
"We had already decided on refreshing our Internet and web site; so this conference was timely as it illustrated some gaping holes in our former layouts, and we are specifically working on those identified weaknesses as I speak," M V Tronson explained.
"These workshops were specific for our interest and needs, particularly the superb presentation by Journalism lecturer Dr John Harrison. He gave us many new insights into what we are engaged in."
"Dr Harrison, now of the University of Queensland, was the founding editor of the Queensland Uniting Church's publication, 'Journey', in the early 1980s. He is therefore quite in tune with philosophies required for religious press outlets," M V Tronson noted.
The message was clear; we need to focus on the important factors of relevant photographs, understanding how readers use web, knowing our audience and concentrate on writing succinctly so that a first-year high school student can understand. Along with this, we need to continually be finding news angles, and remember to include emotion (in that there is both good and bad controversy).
"We discovered that we 'oldies' need to understand that the web and iphones are today's communication methodolgoies. People using these media only watch short videos, and don't want duplication of what is sent by snail-mail (monthly newsletter). Using the Internet provides us an opportunity to use a different type of presentation, which is both shorter and catchy," M V Tronson mused.
Reflecting on the seminar presentations, Mark and Delma set to work with the assistance of Peter Scotland in order to replace, over time, some strategic static web pages with one-minute videos.
"One important step we intend to take is a monthly 'one minute' video for our Email family rather than replicating the monthly snail mail newsletter for that audience," M V Tronson noted.
"In the current climate of 'instant messaging' and 'current worldwide news coverage', we are mindful of needing to refresh our presentations using the latest technological advantages in order to present the message of Jesus to a wider audience," M V Tronson concluded.