Church Technology Confernece Options

[Stewart Paton]

Hi All,

Having enjoyed a fantastic Re-Energise conference I thought it was time I jumped out of the boat and ran this past a few of you.

I've been involved with Technology most of my life and Church members are always asking how they can use technology in their service and what would be the best equipment to install. This is obviousely a huge question because there is no one answer that fits all. Each situation requires a solution that fits their needs, budget and Church.

It has been playing on my mind and I believe God wants me to organise a conference (or some other event) to help people learn what can be done with Technology and what would be best for their situation. Whether it is a small Church that only needs a mic to allow the minister to be heard by those with hearing difficulties or a Church wanting to go the whole way with praise band and steaming live video on the web, I feel we could all benefit from being shown what is possible.

The vision I have is of a conference where people come and use the equipment, learning that they don't have to be afraid of it. After all it is just another tool in the armoury of the Christian today. There could be seminars / workshops focusing on different aspects of technology, sound reinforcement, praise bands, recording, multi media in worship, web sites, using video, live video streaming, lighting the sanctuary, lighting specific services, and the list could go on. With the right venue and facilities the conference could even be streamed live to people further away who can't actually attend.

So for now what do you all think of the idea? Would you be interested in attending? Do you know of a suitable venue? Do you think I'm off my head? Let me know what you think.

God Bless

Stewart

[Melville]

Hi All,

Having enjoyed a fantastic Re-Energise conference I thought it was time I jumped out of the boat and ran this past a few of you.

I've been involved with Technology most of my life and Church members are always asking how they can use technology in their service and what would be the best equipment to install. This is obviousely a huge question because there is no one answer that fits all. Each situation requires a solution that fits their needs, budget and Church.

It has been playing on my mind and I believe God wants me to organise a conference (or some other event) to help people learn what can be done with Technology and what would be best for their situation. Whether it is a small Church that only needs a mic to allow the minister to be heard by those with hearing difficulties or a Church wanting to go the whole way with praise band and steaming live video on the web, I feel we could all benefit from being shown what is possible.

The vision I have is of a conference where people come and use the equipment, learning that they don't have to be afraid of it. After all it is just another tool in the armoury of the Christian today. There could be seminars / workshops focusing on different aspects of technology, sound reinforcement, praise bands, recording, multi media in worship, web sites, using video, live video streaming, lighting the sanctuary, lighting specific services, and the list could go on. With the right venue and facilities the conference could even be streamed live to people further away who can't actually attend.

So for now what do you all think of the idea? Would you be interested in attending? Do you know of a suitable venue? Do you think I'm off my head? Let me know what you think.

God Bless

Stewart

Hi, Stewart,

I sat next to you at one of the meals at the Conference and we talked about projection in the Church. I operate under a charitable Trust to run cruising in a yacht for young folk, and also offer my time and energies to help Churches and other Christian Charities in whatever way is required.

I have now assisted about 15 Churches with advice for installing a projection system. In remote areas where it is too expensive to employ a company, I have helped the Church with a DIY installation. I have also run training courses in using EasyWorship including one organised by the Church of Scotland for some of the Presbyteries in central Scotland. I have made 3 visits to Churches in remote corners of Caithness to help and encourage them. They managed to secure grants to cover the costs of the equipment.

I am not sure that a central Conference would be the best solution - possibly smaller area gatherings might achieve more - could be done within a Saturday for minimal cost.

Melville

[Stewart Paton]

Hi Melville,

Didn't realise your surname was the same as mine!!

I do remember our conversation and I think there is a lot of benefit in smaller gatherings. The only issue I can see, might be having enough equipment at a small gathering to show people what is possible as well as what might be viable for their individual situation. I think I would be inclined to try a one day event covering a reasonable sized area. Maybe having a venue in the east end of Glasgow and inviting people from the Glasgow Edinburgh area. That would show what interest there was and whether smaller or bigger would work.

[Melville]

Hi Melville,

Didn't realise your surname was the same as mine!!

I do remember our conversation and I think there is a lot of benefit in smaller gatherings. The only issue I can see, might be having enough equipment at a small gathering to show people what is possible as well as what might be viable for their individual situation. I think I would be inclined to try a one day event covering a reasonable sized area. Maybe having a venue in the east end of Glasgow and inviting people from the Glasgow Edinburgh area. That would show what interest there was and whether smaller or bigger would work.

Thanks for your reply, Stewart. On the training schemes which I run, I have 2 screens, 2 projectors and 4 laptops. At some of the events, I encourage folk to bring their own laptop on which I load EasyWorship. At least half of the training event, is 'hands on' when participants try it for themselves. What is really encouraging is that in recent training events for 2 Churches, there were teenage boys who wanted to be involved and are now being used at the Sunday Services to work the equipment.

Melville

[allan]

Hi Stewart,

More than happy to demo the setup at my previous charge which had had installed lots of excellent multimedia equipment for worship. If you and a few others want to come along to the east end of Glasgow that would be great.

Attached File(s)

 audiovisual.jpg ( 35.59K ) Number of downloads: 8
 audio2.jpg ( 11.98K ) Number of downloads: 7

 

[Stewart Paton]

Thanks Allan,

I might take you up on this some time.

I've been thinking some more about how I might get the idea of a Church Technology Conference off the ground and I also thought that I have an imediate need to train a team here at Cairneyhill to operate our Audio/Visuals.

So how do people think the idea of a 1 day training conference with the team from Cairneyhill and others in similar roles from other Churches would work. My first thoughts are to do the audio training in the morning and not just cover what buttons they should or shouldn't press, but go into the benefits of audio and some detail about mixing audio, etc. Then share a lunch together and move onto the visuals, where we coulld cover screens, projectors, software, and the use of Graphics, colours, fonts, sizes, etc.

What do you all think?

[Alison]

Hi All,

Having enjoyed a fantastic Re-Energise conference I thought it was time I jumped out of the boat and ran this past a few of you.

I've been involved with Technology most of my life and Church members are always asking how they can use technology in their service and what would be the best equipment to install. This is obviousely a huge question because there is no one answer that fits all. Each situation requires a solution that fits their needs, budget and Church.

It has been playing on my mind and I believe God wants me to organise a conference (or some other event) to help people learn what can be done with Technology and what would be best for their situation. Whether it is a small Church that only needs a mic to allow the minister to be heard by those with hearing difficulties or a Church wanting to go the whole way with praise band and steaming live video on the web, I feel we could all benefit from being shown what is possible.

The vision I have is of a conference where people come and use the equipment, learning that they don't have to be afraid of it. After all it is just another tool in the armoury of the Christian today. There could be seminars / workshops focusing on different aspects of technology, sound reinforcement, praise bands, recording, multi media in worship, web sites, using video, live video streaming, lighting the sanctuary, lighting specific services, and the list could go on. With the right venue and facilities the conference could even be streamed live to people further away who can't actually attend.

So for now what do you all think of the idea? Would you be interested in attending? Do you know of a suitable venue? Do you think I'm off my head? Let me know what you think.

God Bless

Stewart

[Alison]

Hi Stewart

Thought the conference was great.

Very interested in your Technology conference idea. I suffer from a bit of knowlwdge about the subject but not enough to use it and am always wondering where to get help.

Look forward to hearing more

Alison

[Neil MacLennan]

Hi there,

It's great to see such interest in training for technology and multimedia. It's a real sign of wanting to improve the quality and quantity of multimedia input into our local churches.

The St. Andrew's (Bo'ness) team (who run all the tech for the Re-En conferences in Aviemore) have already put together a plan for a series of one-day courses around the country over the next twelve months. We'd be interested in your feedback. The courses will cost some money, but we'll offer lunch, coffee, refreshments, goodies etc as part of the package.

The first is scheduled for April [Date TBC] Bo'ness and will cover Church Presentation Software:

• Easy Worship
• MediaShout
• ProPresenter
• Powerpoint
• ...to name a few

There'll be hands-on "playing" with each of them and you can see which works for you. We'll demo each on the big screen and share some of our tips for getting the best results out of text, images and movies.

We hope that you'll be interested.

Regards,

.neilmac

[Stewart Paton]

Hi Neil,

Thanks for letting us all know about the coourse being planned by the Bo'ness team.

I agree the interest in Technology and Multimedia in the Church is tremendous. We just need to encourage and nurture it.

We need to move the Church into the twenty first century and that means, amongst other things, engaging with technology.

I am certainly interested in attending or even being involved in any other way. Can you send me details?

This is exactly what I've been thinking about and it seems pointless to organise 2 similar events so close to each other (bo'ness & Cairneyhill). I would encourage everyone following this thread to contact you and be involved.

Can you post the details of the courses here or maybe in the events section?

I still have to organise some training at Cairneyhill for the team I'm setting up to use our equipment and I'll post the details once I have them for anyone else who is interested.

[Alison]

Hi there,

It's great to see such interest in training for technology and multimedia. It's a real sign of wanting to improve the quality and quantity of multimedia input into our local churches.

The St. Andrew's (Bo'ness) team (who run all the tech for the Re-En conferences in Aviemore) have already put together a plan for a series of one-day courses around the country over the next twelve months. We'd be interested in your feedback. The courses will cost some money, but we'll offer lunch, coffee, refreshments, goodies etc as part of the package.

The first is scheduled for April [Date TBC] Bo'ness and will cover Church Presentation Software:

• Easy Worship
• MediaShout
• ProPresenter
• Powerpoint
• ...to name a few

There'll be hands-on "playing" with each of them and you can see which works for you. We'll demo each on the big screen and share some of our tips for getting the best results out of text, images and movies.

We hope that you'll be interested.

Regards,

.neilmac

[Alison]

Hi Neil,

very interested in the conference now scheduled for April.

can you send me details as a few of us are interested in attending.

Thanks

Alsion