How often do we make our decisions and view our lives from a perspective that assumes other people know what we want? Just driving around, I've found that I get a little peeved when someone gets in front of me or does something that inconveniences me. Honestly, in the grand scheme of things, does a few extra seconds really matter?
In my time going around to different churches and listening to either the pastoral leadership and/or the technical leadership talk about their experience, one common element has surfaced nearly every time-a severe lack of open communication between parties.
One of the easiest things to do is to get everyone involved in the program (or at least the leaders of the different areas-coordinating, pastor/speaker, audio, video, lighting, graphics, etc.) to have a meeting before the program/service to go over everything that will happen...in sequence. There are different names for this, but I prefer "cue-to-cue." It's a chance to get everyone on the same page prior to the program and can replace a full-scale rehearsal, which a lot of teams don't have time for. It also allows the team to have a moment to pray together and really get unified.
What I often hear instead, are experiences of pastors being increasingly frustrated with performance of tech, specifically audio operators. Mics not being turned on in time, mics being left on (sometimes while people go to the restroom), and other issues. I also hear from tech teams people on stage publicly "calling out" their tech operators. For example, a worship leader asking for more guitar in the house, or a pastor commenting on a mic not working, etc. If there is a cardinal sin in being up front, it is to NEVER, EVER, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES call out your tech. How would you feel if your audio operator got their own microphone and told you, a lead singer, that you were flat over the sound system so everyone could hear it? Yeah, it wouldn't be fun and creates a VERY difficult environment for a synergy of the team to exist.
So, open communication is a good thing, and I think that any comments and/or feedback relating to tech needs to be handled by a post-program debrief session. Yes, this will require more time, but if you are having problems similar to the ones I outlined above, this is a must. Remember, the point is to have a service that allows people to enter into worship holistically, and if any member of the team falls short on their end, it will detract from that experience. Of course, if there's feedback in the sound system, chances are the operator is aware of it and is actively working on fixing it-no need to comment on it from the front.
I'm eager to hear thoughts on this post as I'm sure there are many out there that have had or are currently experiencing these kinds of issues.
If you're looking for more ideas of how to combat these kinds of situations and issues, the latest issue of "Technologies for Worship" magazine has a fantastic article called "How to Get a New Pastor" which outlines several steps of how to make sure your leadership and tech teams are working together towards a common goal.
