On a personal level, writing tweets was a great exercise. It made me focus on what was happening, on the words being said. It kept me on my toes and forced me to be succinct.

Professionally, I can really see the advantages of Twittering a live event. Using the embedded CoverItLive interface allowed folks to comment in real-time, and I was able to respond to their questions. Is also great to have a record of what went on: several people mentioned that they had read the Twitter-feed after the event.

All in all, a successful experiment. Can’t wait to do it all over again next June in Cape Breton.

You can read the General Assembly 2009 CoverItLive Twitter feed here. Want to know more about Twitter? Start by watching this video. After you’ve made yourself an account, try giving PCConnect a follow.

Matt Donnelly works in the Communications Office of The Presbyterian Church in Canada. He can be reached at communications@presbyterian.ca.

Of course, I want to follow along as much as possible from home, as I’m sure you all do! Luckily, the staff at the Communications Office will be making regular updates to the website through the PCConnect-Daily newsfeed and on the General Assembly page itself.

Of course one of the best ways to follow and discuss an event like GA from afar is Twitter. If you’re familiar with Twitter and want to keep up with and comment on the Assembly proceedings, the Communications Office has established a hashtag specifically for GA. All Tweets related to GA should contain the hashtag: #pccga09

Even if you’re not a “Twitterer” yourself, you can follow the action on Twitter’s search page: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=pccga09 or a special page we’ve setup here at BeingPresbyterian: Live Coverage

If Facebook is more your thing, you can follow the proceedings through regular updates to the PCConnect Facebook Page.

I look forward to reading the reports from Hamilton and especially your comments on them!

Colin Carmichael
Associate Secretary, Communications (currently on leave)

For this reason, the Communications Office specifically waited until 12:01pm (ish) – the traditional end of April Fool’s shenanigans – to make a very important announcement on PCConnect-Daily. That announcement was that Rev. Harvey Self would be the sole nominee for Moderator of the 135th General Assembly.

Rev. Harvey Self

If you missed the news yesterday, you might want to consider subscribing to PCConnect-Daily which you can do right here: http://www.presbyterian.ca/subscribe

Those names are:

• Ms. Marilyn Clarke, Elder, Knox Presbyterian Church, St. Catharines, Ontario
• The Rev. Karen Hincke, Minister, St. Stephen’s Presbyterian Church, Peterborough, Ontario
• The Rev. Richard Sand, Minister, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
• The Rev. Harvey Self, Minister, Tweedsmuir Presbyterian Church, Orangeville, Ontario

The ballots will be counted and the Moderator of the 135th General Assembly will be announced on April 1st, 2009.