Category: Blogs

Going Barefoot III Communications Conference on Oct 14

Post author By dbalzer
Post date September 5, 2011

Going Barefoot III is a one-day communications conference is being hosted at CMU on Friday, October 14. Well worth signing up, for anyone interested in creative communications harnessed for good in our world.

Everything Old is New Again: Communication and Fundraising in the Digital World.

The presenters are:
Owen Charters, CEO, CanadaHelps.
Presentation: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Future of Fundraising.
Workshop: Everything Old is New Again: The Fundamentals of Fundraising in the Digital World.

Bill Roberts, President and CEO of Vision TV.
Presentation: Going Barefoot with Boomers: The New Va Va Voom Demographic!
Workshop: ZoomerMedia Limited: A Case Study Overview.

Gayle Goosen, Founder and Creative Director, Barefoot Creative.
Workshop 1: Fund raising or Brand raising? The power of brand in the non-profit sector.
Workshop 2: Fund-amentals. A focused approach to growth-oriented fundraising

(A slate of additional workshops will also be offered.)

The cost is $87 (includes GST, lunch and coffee breaks).
Students: $25 (includes GST, sessions only).
Late registration fee: $97 (After Oct. 3).

To register, CLICK HERE
The past two times, registration had to be closed–we filled up all the spaces. So don’t wait too long . . . .

A note from John Longhurst, Conference Planning Coordinator.
As a by-the-way, what we do in Winnipeg by gathering regularly as church communicators, and holding conferences like Going Brefoot, is unique in Canada as far as I can tell–in my travels, I haven’t encountered any other group of church communicators doing what we do. (Not to mention giving the country its first-ever national conference on faith and the media, held in Ottawa in 1998.) Once again, Winnipeg leads the way!

Again, hope to see you at GB III!
John Longhurst
Director, Resource Management
Canadian Foodgrains Bank

Tags blog, conference, David Balzer, Going Barefoot

Blogs Faculty - David Balzer

Technology and education…this graphic made me think!

Post author By CMU
Post date August 10, 2011

As Fall startup approaches, this graphic caught my attention. If education was really about the mere transmission of data, I imagine these stats would be at the top of most faculty meeting agendas. In my view of education as formation rather than information, I don’t disregard these stats but they are contextualized by a deeper question of what it means to be shaped in character.

Via: OnlineEducation.net

Tags blog, David Balzer, technology

Blogs Faculty - David Balzer

Putting an iPhone to good use

Post author By CMU
Post date July 4, 2011

Tomorrow evening, Tuesday July 5, I’ll be hitting the road from Winnipeg to Ottawa as part of a Guinness World Record attempt at the fastest bike ride across Canada. Let’s be very clear, my role is NOT to ride the bike, that’s 54-year old Arvid Loewen’s job. My role has been and will continue to be to capture the story and get it out to the web and mainstream media outlets across the country. It’s a hands-on realtime exercise in putting some of our latest technologies to good use.

Arvid is raising awareness and funds to rescue orphaned street kids in Kenya. Pointing an iPhone at that is well worth the effort! Visit www.grandpascan.com/ride to follow the ride from July 1-13?? (yes, 6040km in 13 days on a bike) and to see what all you can produce on an iPhone that makes a real difference.

Tags blog, David Balzer, iphone

Blogs Faculty - David Balzer

Canadian Mennonite magazine looking for Young Voices

Post author By CMU
Post date June 7, 2011

I got an email from Emily Loewen, Canadian Mennonite Young Voices Editor last week inviting CMU students to join their team of journalistic storytellers. Here’s what Emily sent. A great opportunity!

“If you’re interested in journalism, photography, multimedia or just have some great story ideas, Canadian Mennonite’s Young Voices wants to hear from you. We are looking for journalists interested in contributing to the new young adults section of the magazine and website, covering events, ideas and people of interest to young mennonites. For more information or to pitch an idea send an email to Emily Loewen eloewen@canadianmennonite.org

Tags blog, canadian mennonite, David Balzer, journalism

Blogs Faculty - David Balzer

Video – coffee with recent grad Mike Duerksen at Siloam Mission

Post author By CMU
Post date June 3, 2011

Mid-afternoon I caught up with Mike Duerksen, Communications and Media grad (3-yr BA 2010), who is about 10 months into his position as Communications Coordinator for an incredible organization – Siloam Mission.

Here’s a bit of what it means to him.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/24637234[/vimeo]

Tags alumni, blog, Communications and Media, David Balzer

Blogs Faculty - David Balzer

Communication students interview on-air personalities

Post author By CMU
Post date May 31, 2011

I can never wait to see and hear what the COMM-1000 Introduction to Comm/Media students come back with when they’re sent out to ask Winnipeg on-air personalities and creative communicators what it takes to be successful in the communications industry. Students choose audio or video and tackle what often is their first media production project. It’s all about meeting a professional in the industry, technical production is helpful but content always comes first! Check out a few video and audio projects from this past year, 2010-2011.

Cameron Friesen interviewed several team members at Handcraft Creative, one of Manitoba’s premier new media companies.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/24493569[/vimeo]

Bronwynn Fenn went down to Winnipeg’s Hot 103 to interview radio personality Ace Burpee.
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Bronwynn-Fenn-Project-Ace-Burpee-interview.mp3|titles=Bronwynn Fenn Project – Ace Burpee interview]

Nathalie VanderZaag sat down with Heather Plett, who was working as Director of Resources and Communication at Canadian Foodgrains Bank to discover creative communications in an NGO context.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/24516058[/vimeo]

Tags Communications and Media, David Balzer, student projects

Blogs Faculty - David Balzer

Welcome to my new Communications and Media blog

Post author By CMU
Post date May 31, 2011

Well, it’s time to do some storytelling about the Communications and Media program at CMU. So much happens each week with exciting student projects, alumni activities, practicum and job opportunities… Come back here often to catch my personal take on what it means to communicate for Life.

Tags blog, David Balzer

Faculty - Gordon Matties

Announcing Next Tour April 30-May 21, 2012

Post author By CMU
Post date February 8, 2011

I am beginning to plan the itinerary for my seventh study tour. I love leading these tours and experiencing the delight of tour participants as they encounter the people and places of Israel and Palestine, and immerse themselves at the same time in biblical texts and ancient sites.

I do my best to plan a tour in which participants meet the people of the land and learn to appreciate the contours of Middle Eastern landscapes.

Stay tuned for a link to next year’s itinerary. Until then, have a look at last year’s tour website at the link to the right of this post. Please contact me if you have an interest in joining a Christian tour like this one. You’ll find my contact information on the tour website.

In various posts from now on I’ll be presenting some of my favourite photos. The one at the top of this post is a collection of hand-blown glass from a glass factory in Hebron. This stop is well off the beaten path–a shop that doesn’t get many tourist buses passing by. Hebron, of course, is rarely visited by tourist groups. Yet it has the famous ancestral burial site, the Cave of Machpelah (Genesis 23), where we also find the best example of Herodian architecture in the whole land.

Do consider joining me as we head off the beaten path now and then.