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March 14, 2006 - PowerPoint in Worship
Announcements
Designing a Slide That Can be
Seen
How to Use PowerPoint in Worship
Another PowerPoint
Perspective
Writing for Print and Web
- Notes from an RCC
meeting
Announcements
Random Newsletter Tips -
-
Make sure name and city are on
the first page (you’re not the only “First,” “Our Saviors,” or “Grace”
Lutheran Church)
-
Include a header or footer on
each page – if someone gets a copy of your newsletter and saves only one page
and then forgets where it came from it may be useless (this can be just a
small thing – you don’t have to waste too much space, I promise!)
-
Lay out your newsletter so it
reads like a book – either half sheets folded like a typical book or whole
sheets stacked together like a packet of papers (can be folded for mailing). I
have seen several that alternate between half sheets and full sheets and this
makes it difficult to follow.
-
Be careful with photos. If you
photocopy your newsletter, you might not want to use photos at all.
-
Check your computer program’s
hyphenation (rather than putting word on next line) defaults. For some reason
many automatically have it set to default (Publisher, Quark, InDesign for
sure), but this practice is not typically done anymore. Unless you really want
that, check your settings.
And one suggestion I heard for
bulletins to increase duration of retention: Include short devos or verses for
each day of the following week to follow up on the sermon.
If your congregation has done
something or will be doing something to aid in the Gulf Coast Relief efforts LET
ME KNOW! I would like reports from past trips (or other efforts), details about
upcoming trips, and details about any other efforts such as collections or
charity events. (And I still want any other events and news too!)
I have some info on a program by
Concorida Technology Solutions that can be
used with a website (and also to use for your entire site). It is designed to
increase interactivity and help groups within your congregation to help share
information. Click here for more
information.
Designing a
Slide That Can be Seen
(a short little blurb by Katie)
2 Main Rules
-
Use only what will add to the
presentation
-
Keep it simple
Other Tips
-
Use dark on dark or light on
light colors
-
Make the font large enough to
read from the very back
-
There are a lot of background
options – solid colors, textures, images, and templates (but use only what’s
appropriate and allows your text/images to be seen!)
-
Blank slides are good – Use the
“show it and stow it” rule, only show what is currently important
-
“Animation” (search “Help” for
“animation” if you don’t know how to use it) is a function to allow different
objects/words/etc. to appear in a variety of ways at the click of a button (or
automatically after a set amount of time).
-
Don’t use big blocks of text, it
distracts from what you’re saying
-
Use bulleted/numbered lists,
pictures, and graphs – anything visual
How to Use
PowerPoint in Worship
(Rev. David Berg (then of
St. John's, Waseca) has used
PowerPoint (and other projection technologies) in worship. He shared some things
that he has learned with us.)
Number one point: Don’t let the
technology become a stumbling block to telling the Gospel!
Set-Up/Nuts and Bolts
-
Keep it appropriate to the
situation
-
Where to put the screen?
-
Initially you can set up and
take down a screen in an idea location each time you use it, but gets
cumbersome
-
When resources available,
permanent screens are great!
-
Put it where all can see and
not blocking anything – often difficult in older churches
-
Use your congregation to get
resources and expertise (ex. Many people around Rochester work for IBM, so
there are often technology experts and people who can get discounts on
equipment)
-
Image searches:
Overcoming the Difficulties
of Technology
Cost Efficient Ways to Use
Technology
-
Use what you have, start small
-
Overhead projectors are a start
-
Borrow – schools, businesses,
congregation members (and their places of work)
-
Be careful what used equipment
you accept (a lot of electronics cost more to dispense of than they’re worth)
-
Everything should have multiple
uses (ex. Cameras used in worship, record events in congregation,
St. John in Waseca has even used
theirs to make DVDs of the local marching band for the students and received a
donation from the school in return, which they then put back into using their
technology as a worship aid and mentoring program)
Different Ideas for
Incorporating PowerPoint into the Service
-
Funerals – slide show of
pictures of the person, quotes, etc.
-
Confirmation – baby pictures,
especially baptisms
Move Beyond PowerPoint
Logistics
-
Who do you have in your
congregation that you can use? Use all kinds of gifts!
-
Train people to use things, use
youth!, can be used as a mentoring program
Extras
Another
PowerPoint Perspective
(E-mailed Notes from Julie Stevens, Worship
Coordinator at Gloria Dei, Rochester)
Our History
We begain that we've been using PowerPoint in May 2003. We had explored
a new AV system in our sanctuary as early as 2001, but could never really find
or allocate the money for a project like this. The breakthrough for us came when
a sanctuary AV system was added to our remodeling project, which was completed
in the summer of 2005. This enabled us to install a 12 X 12' retractable screen
on the front wall above the altar area, and to purchase and install a slightly
used 5200 lumen projector with a large zoom lens (the projector is back about 50
' from the screen). The total cost of these items and other steps to complete
the project was about $20,000 - 25,000.
Prior to this, though, we still
felt very strongly that we needed to move towards the capability to use images
in our services. So we used a 7 1/2 X 10' screen on the main floor over in a
corner, and had a small, usual-sized projector used in a room, which we
positioned about 15' from the screen, plus used my office laptop. Visibility was
an issue if you sat on the far half of the sanctuary, so we tried to have all
words to the songs be as high up as possible on the screen. We only projected
song/hymn lyrics, and not spoken parts of the service. Both song lyrics and
spoken pieces were in the bulletin. I'm glad we began going down this road, even
before the circumstances for visibility, etc., were ideal. The bulletin was
always a back-up if you couldn't see the screen, but it began to expose people
to the possibilities of this technology. Having images on screen during songs,
or displaying images (or DVD clips, etc.) greatly enhances our worship and
heightens the impact of the Gospel, as our culture is a very visual culture, and
is often used to learning and experiencing things in a visual way. Our ability
to sing out has improved, as people can look up and sing, rather than down at a
hymnal or bulletin.
Set-up and Production
From my experience during the past three years, a church must have a
highly committed person to pull off using PowerPoint on a week-to-week basis. I
have been that person for our church. At some point I anticipate that the PP
production will switch to another, more communications-oriented staff member,
but whoever makes the PP and sets up the equipment (if it's not permanently
installed) must be very reliable and consistent, or a church could have a small
team of people to make the PP and to store it on CDs for recall, be responsible
for equipment set-up, etc. It's quite time intensive when you start, as you have
nothing stored and everything must be made for the first time, but that improves
with time.
Overcoming Difficulties of
Technology
I knew nothing about PP three years ago -- I'd never made it or used it.
I learned from our 11-yr. old daughter, from our communications secretary, and
on my own, so I know that anyone can do it who's motivated to make this a
reality!! I've also worked with our AV/sound equipment a lot over the years, so
anyone who feels comfortable with some basic equipment would be fine with this
equipment. We are also very fortunate to have a member who works in the AV
department at the Mayo Clinic, so he was instrumental in helping us to purchase
equipment, and he did some of the smaller installation and cabling work for us,
which saved a lot of money.
Cost-Efficient Ways to Use
Technology
If a church could own a small projector (used in a normal room), would
own the PP software, and could find some images to use, that's all they'd need
to get started. Much is available by Googling for images that can be used for
backgrounds, etc. I received many images that I've stored and reuse on a CD that
one of our pastors got at a conference. There are also CDs that can be purchased
in catalogues that contain images. Here are some other sites that have images
suitable for backgrounds for songs:
Different Ideas for
Incorporating PP into the Service
By adding a DVD player (which, along with the laptop, would hook into
the projector), you can use short, purchased DVDs made for worship purposes to
emphasize a particular theme, or homemade DVD clips for mission moments or to
enhance special services. I also make announcement slides now which run in a
loop prior to services, highlighting some major events in church. As I
mentioned, all songs/hymns are projected, and at our contemporary service, we've
gone bulletin-less now, and project everything on screen. PP is also now
routinely used in congregational meetings (to display charts, etc.), or digital
pictures are taken and loaded onto a CD of church events, etc., and then used in
worship for various special presentations.
Logistics
As I mentioned, you need some committed people to pull this off. Having
staff people do some of this might be ideal (to increase the reliability
factor), but committed members can be critical also. We eventually formed a team
of people who run our sound and PP. This helps to spread things out, and to
involve more people in ministry. Youth are often a good resource. They enjoy
helping with this, and are very knowledgeable compared to most adults! Bottom
line, once a church makes a commitment to using this technology for worship and
other purposes, you just need even one or two people to get things rolling and
who say, "We're going to make this happen no matter what it takes!" I know that
money can be an issue, but an initial outlay of money can be manageable until
you can get people excited about this and perhaps more resources generated and
designated for this purpose. It's really an essential thing, I think, to even
use some basic AV technology. It brings the church into the 21st century, and
enables it to utilize technology that people see in every other area of their
lives and work. It's like Luther taking advantage of the printing press to make
his translation of the Bible available to everyone. The message of the Gospel is
never compromised, and the technology is always used in a tasteful way, but the
Gospel then has the chance to be presented in more varied ways which are
meaningful to an increased number of people of all ages.
Writing for
Print and Web
(Notes from a Religion
Communicators' Council meeting)
First two questions to ask
about web design
-
What does the customer
(audience) want?
-
What do you want them
(customer/audience) use it for? - Stay audience focused!
Web Writing (vs. Print)
-
You can control navigability
(where the reader goes)
-
Needs to be more concise,
eliminate redundancy, strong verbiage
-
Readers scan on the web,
messages lost in lots of text
-
Use “inverted pyramid” writing
(from journalism) – most important info at top, less importance as you go down
-
Make it scanable, avoid blocks
of text, to do that use (but don’t overuse) the following:
Top 4 Aspects of Websites
-
Content
-
Navigation
-
Don’t automatically structure
your website like your organization – focus on how your audience would think
about the navigation
-
People may not always enter at
the homepage (get there from a search engine or see an imbedded page printed
somewhere) so:
-
Identify yourself on every
page (in a prominent place)
-
Highlight where you are on
the menu
-
Have links change color
after used (probably the default)
-
Functionality
-
Make sure links work (and
continue to verify them regularly, especially links to external sites)
-
40% of users have dial-up so
use small graphics (full graphics take longer to download, users will get
frustrated and/or leave)
-
Design
Getting Started on a Website
-
Designate a “gatekeeper” for
content management
-
Set up a timeline and stick to
it
-
Continue reviewing site and
learn ways to improve
Having
Groups/Committees/Etc. with “Subsites”
-
Users don’t see them as
separate, so keep them consistent (design, kind of info, layout, etc.)
-
Balance b/w freedom and
consistency
-
Gatekeeper or policy regarding
content/design/etc. to promote consistency
Miscellaneous Things to Keep
in Mind
-
Screen sizes vary, so make the
design adaptable and check it on multiple size screens
-
Using a “welcome” on the
homepage can be a bit ambiguous (and lowers ranking by search engines) – tell
the audience exactly who you are and what you do right off the bat (also, make
sure you put more than just a menu on the homepage)
-
Flash “commercials” are bad
ideas for an intro – uninformative, take time, and long download for slow
internet connections
-
Google’s success came from
simplicity – Lesson: stay audience focused, just put what is needed (but all
that’s needed!)
We ended the meeting by looking at
some examples of good sites and bad sites. You may want to check out
www.webbyawards.com (a site that gives
out awards for websites like the Grammys) to get some ideas.
Submitted by
Communications Director
Southeastern Minnesota Synod, ELCA |
