Production Team

What you will be doing

Following are details about logistics, equipment and procedures that will make the weekend function well for the production person or team. Please let us know if you have any issues or questions as you plan out the sound, slides and other production support.

• Ideal Technical Skills

  • Proficient with PC/MAC basic operations.
  • Ability to connect/troubleshoot all cables and connections for video and sound
  • Familiarity with ProPresenter5 software
  • Familiarity with basic workings of a sound board
  • Familiarity with basic workings of a lavaliere mic

• Prepare for your role

  • Coordinate with worship team before the retreat
    • assure you have lyrics for all songs
    • assure you have the songs queued up for the next worship set
    • discuss expectations for handling sound
  • Coordinate with the Speakers
    • assure you have all their audio and visual needs met
    • assure you have tested sound, video, and animations for their presentations
    • allow for last minute changes as needed
  • Coordinate with (Ops Manger - David Felts role) to assure you are keeping on schedule for the weekend, and have all necessary media ready for quiet times, etc…
  • Coordinate with camp director for help with any trouble with systems
  • Keep working batteries in microphones
  • Show the Escort how to “mic up” the speaker before going into pre-talk prayer
  • Manage transitions so the Brothers do not see anything on the screen that is not part of the experience (for example: seeing a computer desktop on the screen can distract them and remind them of work J)
  • Be aware of sound and lighting aesthetics
    • Be sure that you recruit someone as needed to turn on & off lights as needed
    • Watch brothers for difficulty hearing or too loud so you can adjust volumes
    • Recruit table servants to give you visual feedback on sound volume and quality

• Plan for the Role - 3 Weeks before the Retreat

  • Touch base with the Speakers to see if they have any audio, video, PPT, or other needs for their talk. You can craft an email to send out to them all at once asking for their needs, and sharing the standard format for PPT, etc… Most often they can email stuff to you, or share it on dropbox, etc… If they want to use a YouTube video, it is best to download the video using keepvid.com, and not to run it from the internet.
  • Some speakers will want to bring on a flash drive or email to you the day before the weekend. Sometimes you need to trust God as many times the speakers are being Spirit led right up until their talk.

• Plan for the Role - 1 Week before the Retreat

  • Firm up all speaker needs
  • Touch base with the worship leader(s)
  • Touch base with the camp director to discuss production set up
  • Assure you have all the equipment and it has been tested (if possible)

• Set-up the Friday of the Retreat

  • Show up by 8:30AM to begin set up of equipment and begin testing projection, sound, etc.
    • As the servant team begins to arrive, it can become very difficult to focus on the task at hand (with all the hellos and hugs!). It is critical to do all your testing early as it gives you time to troubleshoot, and it gets a lot more difficult as more of the servant team arrives and the Brothers begin to arrive.
  • Get the weekend organized and prepare for the first worship set, introductions (get mics tested & ready), and the evenings first talk. This will allow you to rest before jumping into the action.
  • Before going to bed, prepare for the morning events as best you can

• Set-up Saturday Morning

  • Arrive early to power everything up and test again
  • Prepare for first worship set and first talk of the day

• Ensure you have the proper equipment

  • PC or Mac with monitor, mouse, keyboard
  • Cables to connect to soundboard & video
  • ProPresenter software or equivalent
    • Souly Business has standardized on ProPresenter as a fully capable program to deliver a high quality production. Alternatives should deliver a similar quality experience for the Brothers.
    • If you use ProPresenter, Souly Business has most song lyrics ready to import into ProPresenter
    • Yearly subscription to ProPresenter Cloud to backup program
    • Google Drive or other cloud storage to store PPT presentations and other weekend assets
  • Projector (very bright)
  • Remote Presenter (for the speakers to advance their slides)
  • Sound Board (8 channel optimal)
  • PA System
  • Lavaliere Microphone for speakers
  • Batteries on hand to replace as needed
  • Wireless Microphones (for larger rooms where hearing brothers share is difficult)

• Other important details

  • Advance the song lyrics to the next set of words as you come to the first syllable of the last word on each slide. In other words, don’t wait for the Brothers to sing the last word before advancing to the next slide. There is a delay, so you should advance the slide just before they sing the last word on a slide. This will create a much better worship experience.
  • Typically, the Production team has been introduced on Sunday so don’t be discouraged if you don’t get a chance to do it Friday.
  • Don’t be afraid to stop a conversation abruptly when you need to focus on what’s next. Brothers understand you are in a role that requires your attention.
  • Try to test everything a few times to assure that there are no technical difficulties that could have been prevented.