Bringing a localized feel of the annual WFX conference to North Carolina, the WFX REACH conference in Raleigh, N.C., began for a two day stretch at Crossroads Fellowship on Monday, May 16.
The two days have offered a mix of exhibitors to go along with a series of workshops, focused on four dedicated tracks, covering the areas of tech teams, tech directors, communications & media, and buildings.
With the more than 300 attendees at this year's event, many of them began the day with the workshop, "Recruiting and Managing Tech Volunteers," led by Mark Hanna, the former Tech/Video Director for Hope Community Church, based in Raleigh.
One of the more valuable reminders Hanna noted early on was that "Volunteers are people, they are not tech. You have to engage them, you have to encourage them, and you have to spend time with them."
That might sound simple at first glance, but for the many tech directors who feel overburdened, there can be a tendency to begin to look to their volunteers more as automatons set to take on a task, and less like humans. In doing so, churches place themselves at risk of being just another church struggling to hold onto their volunteers for the long-term.
Hanna also talked about the need to have a process laid out to take on volunteers that require you to "to move them from I don't know anything' to being able to capably function with it. In addition, in acknowledging how different people learn in various ways, Hanna noted that one must seek to "create as many different ways for that learning to be done," to avoid losing out on potential volunteers.
During the next group of sessions was one led by Brian Belcher, speaking from a perspective accrued over 27 years of audio expertise, including seven years as a tech director. What seemed to be a common theme throughout much of that session was a need to avoid rash judgments when making a significant decision on something like a purchase of a digital mixer.
From there, Belcher spent some time offering cautionary tales, beginning with the ill-advised move by some churches to buy more elaborate equipment than they would ever need.
"I can't tell you how many times I've seen people who spent $20,000 on a mixer, when they needed only an 8-channel mixer," said Belcher. "But they bought that mixer because when it was advertised, it seemed real cool. And it's a 64-channel mixer!'"
Before making such rash decisions, though, Belcher said it is best to first outline the goals behind what the new equipment is intended to accomplish and improve, while making sure the infrastructure is in place to support such an upgrade or change. And as challenging as an install might seem at getting the project completed, that's only part of the equation. Remember not to ignore the necessary training to prepare the staff in using the new equipment, along with having the technical support if something stops working at the worst possible time, like Easter morning,
But of the cautionary reminders repeatedly emphasized by Belcher, the need to demo the equipment first before purchasing it, was key.
"Can I borrow/try it before I invest in it? You should demo it, and if someone can't demo it, you should move on from that person," he said. If not, there will be a high risk that you'll be dissatisfied with it once it has been installed, or worse yet, possibly need someone else to "fix" what has been then determined to be a new problem.
Following that session was one from the communications & media track, "Using Social Media for Outreach," which focused on how the message has changed, but the methods haven't. Kathryn Binkley, Marketing Director for St. Peter's Church & World Outreach Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., talked about why churches must have a social media presence, but almost more importantly that those beyond the leadership of the church need to carry a share the message of the church through social media channels.
In explaining how spreading the word through missionary efforts is always encouraged, Binkley spelled out how if social media apps were seen like countries, there would be a few examples where their large "populations" would exceed that of most countries. For instance, with 1.59 billion users worldwide, Facebook's user base eclipses the population of China, while the likes of Instagram are large enough to eclipse the population of the U.S., ranking fourth overall at 400 million, while Twitter would rank sixth overall at 302 million in such a listing.
In other words, having a robust social media presence potentially can present your message to a great number of interested people.
To highlight just how extensive that reach can be, Binkley offered up a trio of examples. One church, with its typical attendance of 60, has a social media presence that includes their Facebook page being liked by 169 users, but more importantly, their reach has expanded to 65,000. From there, the other two examples were even more expansive. A church, with an average attendance of 400 she noted, has accrued 531 Facebook page likes, but has amassed an impressive 190,000 reach. And lastly, a church with an attendance averaging around 1,000, has seen its Facebook like count hit 2,559, while its reach has tipped the scales at 1 million.
For the final group of sessions on the first day, the session, "Video Capture for More Impactful Storytelling," led by Mike Paschal, Director of Media for Port City Community Church, based in Wilmington, N.C., took a wide look at wide look at video. While much of the session was dedicated to the necessary planning before making the move to IMAG, he also covered the need to know your vision prior to making such a decision, as well as the need to utilize the many tools available, particularly on the Web in coordinating such training, from training videos, weekend recaps, and volunteer highlights.