From Kim Wilkinson, COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER, Hope 103.2

CMA 09 was by far the best Christian Media conference I have ever attended.  Michael McQueen's talk on Generations was a major highlight for me, as was meeting Debra Byrne and hearing her personal journey.  I was so impressed at the overall organisation of the Conference - it's a true reflection of the amazing talents and passion of David Turrell and his team.

From Andrew Pitchford, Chief Operations Officer, United Christian Broadcasters:
This conference has to be one of the best yet. Not only did we get great input on the Broadcast side of enhancing our station or programming but we also had great 'iron sharpens iron' moments meeting with our fellow broadcasters.
 
A highlight for me was Michael McQueens entertaining but enlightening look at the generations. It was good for broadcasters to understand their audience, for managers to understand their Gen Y staff but also good for me to get a grip on understanding my kids!
 
Aside from great speakers and artists the real heroes of the conference are the Station managers who have been keeping their broadcast ships afloat on the high seas of Community broadcasting for ten years or more. I get inspired by people like Vicki Buchannan (Gladstone), Mark Spencer (Manning Great Lakes), Cliff Kingi (Wide Bay) and Ivan Green (Townsville). Legends!

I attended most of the leadership workshop stream sessions. For me the highlight was hearing from Grant & Cathy Wills on their approach to leadership and people development. They encouraged me to be more authentic. Cathy believes you enter a divine space when you become more relational: "when you make people your priority rather than tasks, it's amazing how time gets made up". They encouraged humility - and the yielding of the right of a leader to look like they're on top, instead allowing others and their ideas to flourish. These sessions were challenging but empowering. I didn't expect to learn in this way.

Of course, the networking opportunities that the conference offered were incredibly useful - I came back with ideas for our station on fundraising, church relationships, programming and market research.
 
And as a result of a friendship created at the conference I went to Wollongong last week to see ninefourone's new initiative in building church relationships.
 
Definitely a worthwhile conference, especially the holiday weekend I had on the Gold Coast afterwards!