Disclosure: we were offered a free pass to attend this conference.
10 Talents is a Networking Conference for Christians taking place October 3-5 in Nashville, TN.
We recently emailed David Tucker, one of the men involved in creating this conference, with a series of questions to which he kindly replied. We will add some notes based on discussions we have had with Mr. Tucker to clarify where we see the need to do so. These notes will be in italics.
Question 1: Who is putting on this conference? Have there been conferences like this before, even if put on by different people?
The conference is being put on by group of young people in a small church who are passionate about the kingdom of God. As far as I’m aware, nothing quite like this has been done before. The keynote talks will be similar to some other things, but the amount of time we have for networking, the networking app we’ve built, and the round-tables where you can get more personalized advice and thoughts from speakers are pretty unusual.
In discussions with Mr. Tucker, we learned that the app is based on sorting and filtering. Attendees share some information about themselves and can then look for other attendees that might help them fill a gap, counsel, or otherwise mentor/minister to them. Likewise, attendees can look for folks they think they can help.
The “young people” putting this conference on are adults in their 20’s, which is exciting to see. The church they belong to passionately works to impact its local community with an historic Christian message.
2. Why are the conference planners holding this conference?
We want to help Christians get connected so that the broader body of Christ can be effective in its responsibilities and opportunities, primarily in Tennessee. If we would work together and share ideas and wisdom, we could accomplish a lot more than if we all work separately.
2.1 Tell us a little about networking. Some folks hear networking and they think namedropping, but that doesn’t seem to be what this is.
Many Christian churches and communities get too insular. People network for business and careers, but we rarely have good venues to find like-minded Christians who can teach us or help us grow.
2.2 Tell us a little about the tag “find your allies and mentors”
The idea is to let people get to know others who are in a similar line of ministry or work. Or those who have gone before and can give you advice and understanding so you don’t make the mistakes that they did. This isn’t about meeting famous people, but instead the people who you could learn from or work with but you’ve never heard of because you haven’t been introduced.
3. Who should come to this conference?
Any true Christians who are interested in seeing the Kingdom of God grow and would like to find other believers to work with, learn from, encourage, mentor, or grow with.
4. Networking – what types of people will there be to network with?
Currently we have about 150 attendees, and there’s a very diverse mix of skills and interests represented. Startup entrepreneurs, church elders and pastors, political activists, businessmen, documentary filmmakers, graphic designers, software engineers — the list goes on. There are older men who have been through the fight and want to teach the next generation, and young people who are full of zeal and eager to learn. We already have attendees from across Tennessee and a dozen other states — as far away as California!
5. Networking – say someone isn’t a people person; they’re shy. Is there anything for that person here?
The format of the conference should make it easier for shy people to network. Our special networking app allows you filter through other attendees based on things they want to be involved in, their location, and a number of other things. That’s not something that I’ve ever seen done at a conference, and it ought to allow a shy person to decide who they want to talk to beforehand, and also have plenty of things to say.
We appreciate Mr. Tucker’s email exchange and hope you will consider attending the conference, which is October 3-5 in Nashville, TN.
For information about the conference or to register, visit 10Talents.co.
