Conducting an AVL Needs Assessment

“It’s a good problem to have.” What a complex expression, but few phrases ring as true in the life of church audiovisual lighting (AVL). As you and your team continue to grow and expand, you will consistently be faced with the difficult decisions that always lead to both production and church work.  None of those […]

Conducting an AVL Needs Assessment

Unusual Church AV is Now the Norm

Think you know the HOW market? Think again. Audio, video and lighting are used in creative and unpredictable ways in churches of all sizes and venues. From church cafes to portable church setups in movie theatres to mega-sized megachurches — the use of AVL is everywhere. However, the church market’s embrace of AV for most […]

Unusual Church AV is Now the Norm

Mobile Micro-Controls for Big AV in Churches

During rehearsals before Sunday services, the monitor mix (A2) guy walks onto the stage and approaches each of the vocalists one at a time and has a brief conversation while looking between the singer and the iPad tablet in the A2’s hand. During these brief 15 to 30 second chats, the vocalist removes one of […]

Mobile Micro-Controls for Big AV in Churches

The Real Metrics for AV Social Media Success

There’s no doubt that social media is a part of your marketing strategy, but are you measuring more than the so-called ‘vanity metrics’ of likes and impressions? To make your brand’s social media truly successful, your brand’s social accounts must have some personality and they must ‘listen’ even more than they ‘talk.’ When your brand […]

The Real Metrics for AV Social Media Success

Selling to Churches? Learn from Amazon Prime

Churches have needs for audio, video and lighting (AVL) technology far more often than most manufacturers or systems integrators know. From changing sermon series with new scenic stage designs every few weeks to the addition or renovation of multi-site venues to production tech upgrades, churches utilize AVL tech week in and week out. It is […]

Selling to Churches? Learn from Amazon Prime

Christmas Church Tech in the Summer

The dog days of summer are upon us and much of the commercial and education vertical markets have slowed to a crawl, but the house of worship market is heating up seemingly in proportion to the high temps of the season. That’s because, for churches, summertime is the time when the planning for the big […]

Christmas Church Tech in the Summer

The Rise of Business Intelligence for AVL in Churches

Churches deal in large inventories of complex Audio, Video and Lighting (AVL) technology across multiple venues and increasingly across multiple campuses. The advent of the church technical director in the 1970s has become a standard role in even medium-sized churches where the ubiquitous presence of AVL is the norm, not the exception. What these churches […]

The Rise of Business Intelligence for AVL in Churches

Cost Depreciation and the Amortization of Church AVL Technology

How do you make that large technology investment look approachable? Sell the cost-per-service value. To help churches invest wisely in their Audio, Video and Lighting (AVL) technologies, start with defining value before price is discussed. The price should be what something is after the church buyers have determined the value they can expect to meet […]

Cost Depreciation and the Amortization of Church AVL Technology

It’s 2017 and Video Content Is Missing

Video sharing and advertising are ironically lacking from the audio, video and lighting (AVL) industry while the growth of this format and medium continues to become the defacto standard for consumption. The stats are in and they’re staggering. Sometimes the writing is on the wall so clearly that you have to look at another wall […]

It’s 2017 and Video Content Is Missing

Useful AVL Data for Meaningful Purchase Decisions

It is easier to make good purchasing decisions when armed with timely, relevant information. As such, manufacturers, rep firms and systems integrators alike put a lot of effort into promoting the features and benefits of their products and systems before the sale. What’s missing, though, is arming those same users with useful information so they can […]

Useful AVL Data for Meaningful Purchase Decisions

Vendors, Market Development Funds and the Faith Market

Manufacturers want to help systems integrators sell their products so they provide funds to help co-promote the equipment with the vendor. It’s been this way for as long as I can remember, whether it is called “co-op funds” or “market development funds” (MDF) or “channel funding,” the idea is to influence the sale towards the […]

Vendors, Market Development Funds and the Faith Market

Corporate Culture and The AVL Industry

There’s a pattern of overworked teams in the audio, video and lighting industry. From the manufacturers to systems integrators, the lunch conversations at industry trade shows is almost universally the same: too many projects, not enough time, too many quotas, not enough qualified leads. Some of this is certainly due to a business-as-usual approach that […]

Corporate Culture and The AVL Industry

Four Future Trends for the House of Worship Market

By aggregating trends from the past, we have a significant indicator of future trends and shifts in the House of Worship market. The word cloud graphic for this article lists the top 25 recurring words from all of the previous columns written here about the church market on rAVE, and they are an excellent look […]

Four Future Trends for the House of Worship Market

The New Church Market: Not Your Grandma’s Church

Do you think of the typical church buying audio, video and lighting (AVL) technology as the old church down the street with a few cars parked in front of it on any given Sunday? Or has your firm yet experienced the technology shift that’s happening in the House of Worship market in churches that are […]

The New Church Market: Not Your Grandma’s Church

The Three Times Churches Buy Audio, Video and Lighting

There are three main reasons churches upgrade or outright add new equipment: when entering a new building program, when renovating an existing building or when expanding into new technology areas such as multi-site or online services. Given the history most churches had with learning their technology lessons on audio systems (the first systems they use), […]

The Three Times Churches Buy Audio, Video and Lighting

Where’s the Video in the Audio, Video, and Lighting Industry?

I suppose if the Cobbler’s kids had no shoes, then I shouldn’t be surprised that the Audio, Video, and Lighting (AVL) industry doesn’t use video well to reach potential customers. And yet, here in the 21st century, I am surprised and disappointed in the spotty to non-existent use of video as a content marketing medium […]

Where’s the Video in the Audio, Video, and Lighting Industry?

Church Online: AVL Upgrades Needed

Church online: where local churches are hosting either live or video on demand services for attendees who are not at their physical church campuses. Yep, thanks to the technology the Audio/Video/Lighting (AVL) industry manufactures, a rapidly growing number of churches have taken their church services to the congregant, online. In my study of this growth, […]

Church Online: AVL Upgrades Needed

Predicting the Future of Video in Churches

Back in 2002, I wrote a widely-publicized article about all churches needing to make the move to 16:9 aspect ratio widescreen. Nearly 15 years later, it turns out I was right — well, almost right. I saw dimly into the future of church video technology and was ahead of the curve in predicting the future of […]

Predicting the Future of Video in Churches

Church Tech and the Second Law of Thermodynamics

The church bought all of your gear and are fully equipped to leverage the best of your technology. While this sounds like a sales dream, the natural progression will now turn downhill unless you continue to provide the church with what they really need most: your expertise. Interestingly, the Second Law of Thermodynamics provides us […]

Church Tech and the Second Law of Thermodynamics

Pushing Technology for Churches

The debate between those who want technology turned off during church services versus those who not only want it on, but want to actively use it as part of the church-going experience, is a matter of personal preference. That being said, there are plenty of churches using passive technology that would jump at the chance […]

Pushing Technology for Churches

Justify the Expense: Churches Need Metrics

The old sales trick of providing a list of desired features and benefits to overcome purchase barriers may still work with some church leaders, but the Internet has taught consumers a thing or two about what is offered and what they really want. To justify the expense, churches need metrics from real data. Rethinking Repairs Technology […]

Justify the Expense: Churches Need Metrics

AVL Safety Needed in Churches

Audio. Video. Lighting. Budgets. Safety? When churches think about audio, video and lighting (AVL) technology, safety isn’t on the radar for the vast majority of pastors. However, with the exponential increase in the use of flown speaker arrays, screens, and lighting fixtures, keeping the technical staff and congregants who sit below these devices safe needs to […]

AVL Safety Needed in Churches

Church Video Venues in High Demand

When churches realized the value of video had also intersected with high brightness and low cost, the multi-site and satellite campus model went from a handful of mega churches (churches with greater than 2,000 in weekend attendance) to tens of thousands of churches. With this exponential explosion of multi-site churches — that is, a separate […]

Church Video Venues in High Demand

The Digital Signage Dream – How to Keep Up

Digital signage is on my brain day and night — yes, even in my sleep.  Have you ever had one of those dreams that made such little sense it seemed like a Quentin Tarantino movie playing backwards and in French?  One moment you’re on a beach wearing a green cucumber costume, and the next moment […]

The Digital Signage Dream – How to Keep Up

If You Build It, They Will Hack It

There’s a great quote from an article by John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, about hacking into systems: “There are two types of companies: Those who have been hacked, and those who don’t yet know they have been hacked.” While Mr. Chambers point is about securing data, networks, and storage, the quote prompted a different […]

If You Build It, They Will Hack It

Three Mistakes AVL Manufacturers Are Making

As a house of worship consultant to manufacturers and systems integrators, I’ve seen and heard from a wide array of companies in the Audio/Video/Lighting (AVL) space about their experience with the church market. I think your experience at a manufacturer or dealer will likely follow one of these patterns of thought and leadership. All the […]

Three Mistakes AVL Manufacturers Are Making

What CES 2015 Means for the H.O.W. Market

Fellow geeks have united and converged upon Las Vegas, Nevada once again for the annual tech-fest that is the Consumer Electronics Show, and the future’s digital handwriting is on the proverbial wall: audio/video/lighting (A/V/L) technology is once again the dominant technology. With prognostications aside, the trends of these present-future technologies have a direct impact on […]

What CES 2015 Means for the H.O.W. Market

Creativity Has Nothing To Do With Technology

Creativity has nothing to do with technology. It certainly has nothing to do with the type of tools you have to offer or even how many of your tools church clients are using today. No, creativity is what enables people to use your technology. Creativity Puts No Requirements On The Pocketbook The engineers and designers […]

Creativity Has Nothing To Do With Technology

The Race to the Bottom for Technology in Churches

At a time in an industry where commoditization is leading to thinner margins and online price wars, the discussion of Good, Fast or Cheap is sorely needed — before your organization wins the race to the bottom. Most of us know the Venn diagram below, depicting the reality of choosing any two, but never all […]

The Race to the Bottom for Technology in Churches

The True Cost of A/V/L for Churches

Is it better to spend more on a higher priced technology than to go for the cheaper alternative? This is a question of the ages that has been exploited on both sides of the same coin by the marketing teams at manufacturers, seemingly forever. We’ve all had situations where the axiom “you get what you […]

The True Cost of A/V/L for Churches

The Matrix of Church AVL Systems

There are many A/V/L systems in place at churches of every size, location and style. Many are there because they were the lowest bid price point; others are stitched together over time, mostly borne out of necessity — and yet others are in place because an integrator specified what worked in other churches. Finally, there […]

The Matrix of Church AVL Systems