This was my second year attending Echo, a three-day gathering of artists, geeks, and storytellers who serve the Church. I have fond memories of last year, including listening to Tony Hale (aka Buster from Arrested Development) speak about his experience being a Christian in the showbiz industry.  

But this year was a different experience for me. 

I spent almost all of my time at our MonkDev booth meeting and talking to conference attendees. 

Some of the people I spoke to were familiar friends of Monk, some were new. Building relationships is why I love attending Echo. Sure, the speakers and breakout session are top-notch, but nothing beats catching up with friends and getting to meet new faces that live and breath bringing the Kingdom of God to the world. 

You work tirelessly for your community and we LOVE getting the chance to hear from you. 

We invested more at Echo this year by putting together a new booth,  sponsoring a snack, giving away the "2013 State of the Church Online Report" on the thinnest memory stick card in the world. It was a lot of planning, but it was all worth it! 

Why? Because we got to meet a group of artists, geeks, storytellers. The people that we work with every day. We got to hear stories, struggles, and discuss the future of the church online. It was more than trying to capture leads, it was capturing the story of what you're experiencing every day and dreaming about how we can fill whatever gap you might have. 

As a marketer, I get to connect a solution (MonkDev) with a real need. And this need isn't something superficial, the need has eternity implementations… not something to take lightly.

If we met you at Echo, thank you. It was truly an encouraging experience. 

If you weren't able to be at Echo this year, what conferences do you like to attend? Let us know in the comments section below. 

P.S. Help us send congrats to our iPad mini winner Jaret and Catalyst Atlanta ticket winner Hector!