The countdown ticker on the Assembly website has rolled down to under 100 days until we will be gathered in Uppsala, Sweden for the third ACT Assembly. It feels like the numbers are ticking down far too fast, but also like they’ll never reach 0.
I’ve been working, as part of the communications team, on the Assembly since I started working with the ACT Secretariat in January 2017.
There’s a lot that goes into preparing for an event like this, from developing the theme and logo to the website with that countdown ticker that keeps bringing us closer to the Assembly, to looking at how we will tell the world about the amazing work done by ACT over the last four years, and in the years to come.
I hope you’ve been reading and watching the Stories of Hope that have been coming in from ACT members around the world. It’s been a joy to see these amazing stories coming in from members, ACT groups, forums, and others. The programme has been so successful that we’d like to continue to share your Stories of Hope in the years to come- they are concrete examples of Hope in Action.
Stories of Hope are only one of the ways that you can get involved in communicating about the Assembly. Especially if you’ll be with us in Uppsala, but even if you won’t, we’d like your help in communicating about the Assembly.
Here’s how you can help:
“Like, Comment, Subscribe:” Not to sound like a YouTube vlogger, but social media thrives on interaction. Whether you’re in Uppsala or Nairobi, Bangkok or Boston, you can follow the Assembly online through Twitter, Facebook, the Assembly website, our YouTube channel, etc. If you’re following, please interact with our material! Liking, sharing, discussing will all help us to spread the word.- Share within your organisation: If you are currently on the ACT mailing list, you will receive regular newsletters from the Assembly. Please share those with others within your organisation who you think would be interested in what is happening at the Assembly. If you work for an ACT member, but are not receiving our emails and want to, please email me and I’ll be happy to add you to our list!
If you’ll be attending the Assembly in Uppsala, here are some more things that I’d love for you to do to help communicate our event:
- Write a blog: The Assembly website has a blog section (that you’re reading from right now) where we are happy to publish blogs by participants in the Assembly. Or, if you prefer, why not write your own blog on your organisation’s website, sharing your experience and thoughts about the ACT Assembly?
- Write to your national press: ACT will be disseminating press releases throughout the Assembly, to both secular and ecumenical journalists. We will be hosting two or three press conferences. But there’s still a role for you to play in helping us with the media. If you take a story to your national press (either church press or secular press) with a local angle to it, it is much more likely to be picked up. Writing a press release and sharing it with journalists back home is a great way to help us to spread the word! We’re happy to help you with formatting your press release.
- Share your photo: We’ll be setting up a photo corner in the Exhibition Hall where you can get your picture taken by one of our communications team. Bring friends from your organisation, or your Forum, Community of Practice, Advisory Group, or other grouping. Share them on social media, tagging ACT in the post and using our hashtags (#HopeinAction #ACTGA2018).
- Share your story: There will be a number of ways that you can share your own story. We will have video teams doing interviews after regional meetings and member conversations. The photo corner will also be equipped to video small groups talking about the Assembly. The Migration and Displacement display in the Exhibition will be waiting to hear and record your story about work with displaced people and migrants. Our writers will be interviewing people for stories to go out through the ACT website.
When the countdown timer finally reaches 0, we will be at the beginning of an inspiring, amazing, prayerful, collaborative week.
I hope you will join us and add your voice to hundreds of others from ACT members around the world as we share the work that we all engage in together, living out our theme of Hope in Action- Putting People First.
