Value of Trade Shows

27 01 2012

As I reflect on another trade show completed, I walked away from the annual NAMM show in Anaheim feeling both exhausted and invigorated, an unusual combination for sure.  Walking the show floor for 8 hours per day for multiple days, talking to everyone from manufacturers to vendors to fellow church techs will wear out even the most athletic of people.  At the same time it’s an energizing process.  You get the opportunity to learn about the latest and greatest tools to help you provide more effective ministry.  More importantly, trade shows give you the opportunity to connect with others who do what you do, who have come up with creative solutions to the issues you face and have weathered the situations that may be frustrating you.

I’ve long felt that the highest value of trade shows is the opportunity to connect with your peers, to pick their brains and get encouragement.   As more and more technology becomes available to help us accomplish our goals, connecting with others who do what you do also becomes more critical.  It seems there are 4 (or more) ways to do everything now.  Discussing the options, pros and cons of solutions with people who have used them in real life is invaluable.  Demonstrations are certainly helpful, but the word and experiences of peers tell you so much more.  Trade shows and other church tech events give you the opportunity to do both, to get your hands on solutions and discuss real life applications with those who are doing real life ministry.

If you’ve been serving in ministry as a volunteer or staff person for any time though, you know that it’s about way more than the gear.  Ministry is about people, and connecting with people at trade shows who really understand that is the most invigorating part of the whole experience.  Let’s be honest, serving in ministry is both one of the greatest and hardest things you can do.  Even as a volunteer, you can feel overworked and underappreciated very quickly, but I’ve found spending time with people who get what you do and share the same heart and vision will help encourage and reinvigorate you in the calling you have in serving in church tech.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we know that we can’t do ministry alone.  Who better to connect with than peers who do what you do, experience what you experience and face the same challenges you face?   Can I challenge you to get more connected with others who serve as you do from churches across the country?  In my first few years as a Technical Director, I actually paid out of my own pocket to attend a number of events and they helped shape who I am as a tech and ministry leader.  I would gladly pay all of that money and more to do it again.   If you can’t make it to one of the big trade shows, get involved with online networks like www.churchtechleaders.org.  Regardless of how you do it, get connected, get support and get inspired by your peers.  And if you sign up for www.churchtechleaders.org or are at one of the trade events, look me up, I’d love to meet, encourage and support you.

Just Some of the Trade Shows & Events Coming in 2012

Guru’s of Tech – Willow Creek (Crystal Lake, IL)

http://www.gurusoftech.com/

Infocomm – Las Vegas, NV

http://www.infocommshow.org/

Worship Facilities Expo – Atlanta, GA

http://www.wfxweb.com/

LDI – Las Vegas, NV
www.ldishow.com

Christian Musician Summit – Various Locations

http://www.christianmusiciansummit.com/


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Categories : General

Alien Adventures – The Explanation

21 08 2011

I travel a lot.  I have the absolute honor and privilege of working with churches all over the country, helping them to do technical ministry better than they are now.  I love my job but I’m on the road frequently.  What does any of this have to do with a little green alien?

My wife, who is very smart and creative knows that my kids want to remain connected to their Daddy while away and that I want to stay connected with them.  It can be hard, but about 5 weeks ago my wife came across a wonderful story of a road warrior Dad and how he stays connected with his kids while traveling internationally (click here for the story).  My wife, being a fantastic Mom always looking for ways to keep our family learning, growing and close to each other, forwarded the story to me knowing our kids would love to do our own version of something like this.

July 16th, 2011 marked the beginning of Alien Adventures, a running photo diary of Alien’s travels with Sammy and Izzy’s Daddy.  Some have seen these pictures on Facebook or Twitter already, and now you know why they are there.  The kids love it, and every time I get home they tell me about looking at the pictures of Alien’s Adventures.  Alien is not only watching over Daddy as I travel, but is helping my kids remain interested and connected to where I am and what I’m doing.  As you see these pictures, know that my kids are home thinking about where their Daddy is, and consider praying for our family.  As with any job, there are positives and negatives to any job or ministry and traveling can certainly be a negative with smaller kids.  We do what we can to stay close, connected and supporting each other, and this is simply a small but fun way to do so.

For all the pictures to date, check them out on Facebook here.


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Categories : Personal

Multi-Site – Message Is King

12 08 2011

As the multi-site movement continues to grow I often get asked, what are the most critical technical aspects of having a successful multi-site venue.  Since the thing that sets the Christian Church apart from other religious services, concerts and other events is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I believe the most critical technical aspect centers around ensuring the message is delivered just as well in the multi-site venues as it is in the main.  Effectiveness in the message at multi-site venues relies on three key components, the capturing of the message, the recording of the message and the play back of the message.

Capturing
These days you can’t escape the letters H and D when it comes to video cameras.  In fact most video cameras you can purchase at Best Buy shoot in HD.  That means after a quick trip to your local electronics store you can beautifully capture your sermon with HD cameras, right?  When it comes to cameras, the old adage “you get what you pay for” absolutely applies.  The cheaper the camera, the worse it will handle low light, the less clean your image will be and the less you’ll be able to zoom in on your speaker, meaning your multi-site will watch poor quality video of the sermon.  In order to successfully engage an audience with a message delivered on video, please make sure you have adequate cameras to meet your needs.   You need a camera solution that is right for the size of your room, the lighting you have, level of control you want and the final output resolution desired.  There are many variables to consider and the team at CCI Solutions is ready and willing to work with you to determine the right cameras for your specific needs.

Recording
You have many options in recording video these days, a simple solution being a DVD recorder with more complicated solutions including direct to hard drive recorders or recording it directly into your editor of choice.  Regardless of your preference, I believe it’s critical to pick a proven method that fits your work flow and have redundancy in your recording.  I won’t make a case for memory based recorders over tape based methods versus live delivery here as I believe all of these methods can be a good solution for where they make sense.  If you need help selecting one or simply need to talk through the options, our team is available to help you determine what is right for your needs.  Ultimately though, the ability of the multi-site congregants to hear the message depends on the system you choose working, so research and choose your medium wisely.  In addition, if possible, choose two methods (or one method twice).  One of the worst things that can happen with multi-site venues when the recording fails is to have your site lead scrambling to figure out how to preach someone else’s message to cover.  The message is too critical to not have redundancy.

Playback
What is obvious here is that your playback device must be able to handle the media your recording is on.  If you record to DVD, you will need a solid DVD player.  If you’re doing it live, you’ll need something that receives the feed.  What may not be obvious are two recommendations I have.  First, give yourself some flexibility with the ability to start the message when it’s time, either because you hit play or you have a buffer on the live playback (like a DVR).  Look, stuff happens.  Worship or announcements go long in one of the venues, the worship leader decides to skip a song or whatever.   If you’ve got the ability to simply play the message back with the time comes, you have a much higher potential of avoiding awkward moments waiting for the video to start or cutting off someone on stage because the video must start at a certain time.  Second, give yourself redundancy here too.  If you followed my advice in redundant recording, have two playback devices ready and start both when it’s time for the message.  If for whatever reason your main feed goes down mid playback, with a quick switch your backup source can continue the message with little to no down time or distraction.

Ultimately, the idea of multi-site venues is taking the message of the Gospel to where people are.  In order to do that effectively, you must successfully transport the actual message from the main venue to the multi-site venues.  If you cover these three topics effectively, I believe you will have a successful venue where people focus on and are affected by the message, not bad video.


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Categories : Video

Keys To Wisdom

9 06 2011

Let’s face it, no one thing can make you wise.  Wise people tend to have many key attributes, things like a willingness to work hard, being resourceful, having specific knowledge, etc.  For me though, I think one of the top characteristics to being wise is your ability and willingness to learn, and just as importantly, putting yourself in a position to do so.  Those who I consider wise people are always trying new things and learning, or regularly spending time with those who may have more expertise or experience than them.  A big key is to always be ready for an opportunity to learn more.

“A wise person is hungry for knowledge,  while the fool feeds on trash.”
Proverbs 15:14

A few months back, I had the opportunity to attend the Guru’s of Tech conference with my primary focus being renewing my passion for technical arts as well as connecting with tech artists from other churches.  A key portion of this conference was breakout learning sessions, one of which I gained a great deal from.  While I’ve been mixing sound for many years and have had some success doing so, I know I can learn more so I took full advantage of a session taught by a sound legend, Robert Scovill.  Had I not been hungry to learn, I would have missed many fantastic nuggets of wisdom that I believe will make me a better sound guy.  But it’s not only in the moments with influential people where I learn things about audio, video, lighting, or life.  Sometimes it’s in a conversation with a musician, a beginning camera operator, or a friend who knows nothing about production.  The more I surround myself with good, smart people while staying willing to learn, the more wisdom I gain.

“Walk with the wise and become wise;  associate with fools and get in trouble.”
Proverbs 13:20

Many young adults get out of college and think they are set with everything they need to know in life.  In fact all of us, regardless of age, can fall into this trap at times, thinking we know everything.  We must continually be open to the wisdom of others.  As soon as we get trapped into thinking our way is the only right way, we become foolish.  We must stay open, mold-able and ready to embrace a new perspective.

“Fools think their own way is right,  but the wise listen to others.”
Proverbs 12:15

Are you hungry for wisdom?  Are you walking with other wise people?  Are you open to the insight of others?


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Categories : Leadership

Feeling restless?

29 03 2011

In the past week I’ve met face to face with nearly a dozen church tech leaders and have had phone calls and emails with many more.  There’s been some great discussion of what kind of things do and don’t work, ministry philosophy and plenty about life in general.  One topic that has come up frequently over the past week though is one that really makes me sad, and since I’ve experienced it myself over the years I’m committed to helping people navigate it.  The topic is leaders who feel like they are ready to walk away from their church or ministry, and with each email, text message, tweet or live conversation my heart aches more for tech leaders.

Before I go further, if you are in a good place with leaders who love and appreciate you, I rejoice with you and for you.  You are truly blessed!  If you’re in that environment and you still feel like God is calling you to a new thing, I truly believe that God has something even better for you.  For most of the people I’ve been talking to though, it has been less about simply feeling God’s call to move and more about wrestling with whether or not they can hang on to where they are now.  They  (or their family) may feel tired, used, abused, uncared for or burned out. Some are even ready to walk away from ministry altogether.  For those of you experiencing this, or are on your way to experiencing this, here are some thoughts and encouragement I’d like to share.

1) You are not alone
I don’t know the current statistic but the average church leader last somewhere around 18 months in their position.  This is all pastors and leaders.  Working in a church is a tough calling, but we have to remember that we’re not alone in this and there are many who are willing to support and share life with you.  The Church Technical Director Roundtable alone has over 350 technical leaders who know what you go through, and many of them have or are currently experiencing this.  My encouragement is to talk especially to those who have gone through this season to help gain perspective, insight and possibly some ideas on where to go.  This season is one that can feel very lonely and confusing, it helps greatly to have experienced folks speak into your life, especially during a season like this.  Sometimes a little outside perspective is all that is needed to help you navigate a tough situation.  If you don’t know or have someone in your life, please feel free to contact me.

2) Look at and work on what you can change, you.
What I’ve learned about challenging seasons of my life is generally they are times that required me to look inward to change and grow.  Let’s face it, while you can and should address struggles with those you have struggles with, if a leader or coworker is the source of your frustration, you have a limited ability to change them.  What I’ve learned though (the hard way of course) is that frequently a change needed to be made in me too.  When I’ve felt burned out, often it was because I wasn’t spending enough time reading my Bible, or being quiet, or even simply not working.  When relationships have strained, often I could have been much more proactive about building mutual respect and connection.  I’m not saying it’s always your or my fault, but when things get tough we must be willing to look at ourselves first.  Sometimes we simply need to take better care of ourselves, have healthier boundaries or simply attitude check ourselves.  Whether or not the problem started with me, it’s the first place I should start since it is the area I have the most control over.

3) Focus on being who God made you to be
During these times it’s much easier to leave than stick it out, to jump ship rather than try to turn it.  I think often we give up too soon, giving up before God has a chance to mold us into what he wants us to be.  I’ve had times in my life where I feel like God has specifically told me that if I will hang on and push through, He will open even bigger doors than if I give up.  On the other hand, sometimes God is calling you to a new thing, and if so you absolutely need to be obedient to that.  Last year that is exactly where I was, feeling a shifting in what God had called me to do.  The issue wasn’t with the ministry I was a part of, but the changes God was bringing to my passion and vision for ministry.  My point here is that if you are going to leave a church or even a ministry position, do so because God is directing you to, not just because it is easier.  During this season, my encouragement is to really seek and pray about what God made you to be.  For me, through much prayer and discussion with my wife and trusted friends and ministry veterans, it was clear that God was shifting my vision and calling.  Even though I love leading technical ministries and could continue what I was doing, God was adjusting my passions and gifting to this new direction and I had to be obedient to that shift or struggle through staying behind.  If you are experiencing this season, is God shifting your calling, wanting to shift your location, or asking you to stick it out and learn what He wants to teach you?

Every person’s story has different characters and twists and turns, but if you are in this season of restlessness, hopefully these insights will help you start navigating what God has for you.  If you’re in this season, I’d love to pray with you and talk with you.  Please contact me at duke.deJong@yahoo.com or on Twitter @dukedejong.


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Categories : General, Leadership

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