Why Most Churches....
buy the same thing three times
There is a saying that churches buy a sound system three times. The first is the one the building "comes with" that was most likely designed by the general contractor or a local music store. A well-meaning but ill-experienced volunteer who adds some new Radio Shack equipment that has pretty lights typically installs the second system. The third system is usually the result of the church leadership (and members) being tired of the problems. A consultant or design/build A/V firm normally designs this third system and does it right.
Now, given the fact that most churches should have learned their lessons from the audio debacles, one would think that they'd not waltz right into the same trap when it comes to adding video. I must report, however, that lightning has been striking in the same churches and has little sign of letting up – they're making the same mistakes with video as well.
Well, to be honest, it's a bit different. I'll tell you some experiences that I know about and thenwalk you through how not to duplicate their mistakes.
"We found a good deal on the Internet"
It usually starts with the Internet. Really, though, this first type of mistake isn't the fault of the Internet. It's the mind-set that brings about this type of purchase: determining budgets before assessing needs (or even knowing how). Not knowing how to determine the right projector and
associated hardware leads to wasted money and frustrated viewers.
I've been to well over one hundred churches, and the story is almost always the same: A member of the church who is successful in business has a portable projector that they use for business presentations. Someone knows that this person "knows projectors" and finds out what model they
are using for their business. A search is made at www.projectorcentral.com and, voilá, they found it for the low, low internet-only price of "X".
The problem is that typically the small portable projectors so prevalent for today's traveling sales professionals are designed for small group presentations of four to 15 people. The average size of today's church is around 200 members. Anyone see a potential problem here?
"A sales guy on the phone sold me a video system"
Hey, I'm in sales and I talk on the phone to a lot of churches. But I can't sell a system over the phone. It's impossible to know what the church needs, what the environmental factors are in the building, what kind of distances are involved, what kind of light levels are associated with the room, etc. A site-survey is in order.
Sure, someone can ask these questions, but unless the church knows what kind of light meter readings to take, what sightline angles to various percentages of the audience are important, what type of cabling and infrastructure are present and what specular reflections will affect the
various screens (and if gain is needed or not), they're really just skimming the surface. Listen to me: I have yet to find a church who has had a system sold to them over the phone that was exactly what the church needed.
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