How to Talk About GC2024
On April 15, 2024, from 9 to 10 AM Pacific Time, plan to attend the one-hour Zoom presentation with the Directors of Communications from each Conference in the Western Jurisdiction, and Brenda Smotherman from UMCOM on communicating about the General Conference.
In essence, this is a crisis communication training/refresher, but we’ll also share our plan for distributing news about General Conference, and then what to do if:
- A reporter is at your church or via social media asks you to comment on their story about General Conference.
- Who’s the official spokesperson and speaks on behalf of The UMC.
- Where to find the real news and daily outcomes if you see something alarming on Social Media about General Conference.
About the Guest Presenter
Brenda Smotherman is the Associate Public Relations Director at United Methodist Communications and has been with the agency for more than five years. She provides publicity support for UMCOM, communicators across the UMC connection, The Connectional Table, and the Commission on the General Conference. Smotherman oversees media pitching, several social media channels, publicity consultation and training, and supportive written content, resources and reports.
Before joining UMCOM, she served as the Publicity and Marketing Manager for United Methodist Publishing House’s Abingdon Press. Smotherman previously served as a literary publicist for Thomas Nelson’s nonfiction books and Bible-related products and a publicist for Christian companies, authors and recording artists via McCain & Co. Public Relations. In her early career, she worked for more than a decade in the Christian music industry, mainly handling marketing and tour promotions for Provident Label Group artists.
Brenda Smotherman resides in Middle Tennessee with her husband and two rescue dogs.
Want to participate?
Sign up now for this webinar offered by the Desert Southwest Conference New and Vital Faith Committee to the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. Register at https://dscumc.org/monday-moments-registration/.
More about Monday Moments
Each month, nearly every week, the Desert Southwest Conference Director of New and Vital Faith, Rev. Rachel Gilmore, hosts a one-hour webinar on a variety of hot topics and invites leaders from the Desert Southwest Conference and beyond to share their expertise. Find previous Monday Moments recordings at https://dscumc.org/monday-moments. If you register for the April 15 Monday Moment, you’ll start receiving invitations to the upcoming Monday Moments. If you want to be removed from the invite list, please contact Lorena Davalos at ldavalos@dscumc.org to stop receiving the invitation emails.