It’s not the volunteers
When only one or two people can run your church’s AV, it’s tempting to think you just need “more technical volunteers.” But the volunteers usually aren’t the problem. The system has become too complicated for an ordinary volunteer to run.
How systems get complicated
Nobody designs a complicated booth on purpose. It happens slowly:
- A camera gets added in 2019, a new mixer in 2021, a streaming computer in 2022.
- Each comes with its own software and its own login.
- Workarounds pile up: “You have to restart this first,” “Don’t touch that cable.”
- The one person who set it up knows all the tricks, and nobody else does.
Years later, the system works, but only for the person who built it. Everyone else is afraid to touch it. (See the belief that keeps church tech directors trapped.)
How complicated is your booth? A quick count
Ask your main AV volunteer to walk you through a normal Sunday and count:
- How many programs or apps they open
- How many separate logins they use
- How many screens they watch during the service
- How many “tricks” they know that aren’t written down
- How many things they’d have to explain to a substitute
If the answers are in the double digits, that’s why it’s hard. It’s not your volunteers.
Seven ways to make it easier
1. Write it down. A diagram of how everything connects and a step-by-step Sunday checklist turn tricks into instructions. (See the handoff checklist.)
2. Fewer programs. Every separate app is one more thing to learn. Bring slides, streaming, and scheduling together where you can. (See one platform instead of six subscriptions.)
3. One screen to watch. A single dashboard showing the stream, audio, and video is far easier than switching between windows.
4. Warnings instead of watching. Nobody should have to stare at the stream for an hour. An alert should tell the team when the stream or recording stops.
5. Label everything. Cables, inputs, buttons, and presets. (See a cable labeling system that survives turnover.)
6. Smaller jobs. Separate slides from sound and stream, so new volunteers can start with the easiest seat. (See church media team role cards.)
7. Help that can see the system. When something goes wrong, the volunteer shouldn’t have to describe it over the phone. Help should be able to see exactly what’s happening.
When it really is the equipment
Sometimes the equipment truly makes things hard: a mixer with no saved settings, a camera that has to be adjusted by hand, a computer that freezes. If simplifying the workflow doesn’t help, see should we fix or replace our AV system?
How WorshipMetrics makes it easier
- Tech Manager, free, gives volunteers one calm dashboard: audio meters, video and slide preview, camera control, and stream health side by side.
- Monitoring, free, alerts the team the moment the stream or recording stops, with a one-tap restart.
- The Signal Map documents every device and cable and prints a current wiring diagram for the booth.
- Present, free, builds slides from the service plan, so nobody retypes lyrics.
- Luminos and 910-WORSHIP provide help that knows your actual setup.
Not sure where your booth stands? Take the free two-minute AV system checkup, or book a free 30-minute call.
Make the space easier too. See the volunteer-friendly booth: 12 tips for a church livestream setup anyone can use.
Make the booth easier to run: How to make your church livestream easier for volunteers: the three-seat setup. See also the three-person church livestream team · smaller seats get more yeses.
One button panel for the whole booth: Bitfocus Companion for churches: one button panel for your whole AV system. See also making church AV easy to run without hiring an AV company · designing Companion pages for volunteers.
Related questions
- Why can only one person run our church AV system?
- Usually because the system grew over the years, one fix and one device at a time, and the knowledge of how it all fits together lives in that one person's head. Documenting the system and simplifying what volunteers have to touch lets more people run it.
- How do we make church AV easier for volunteers?
- Reduce how many things a volunteer has to watch and touch: one dashboard instead of several programs, a written checklist, labeled cables and buttons, automatic warnings when something stops, and help that can see the system from anywhere.
- Do we need simpler equipment for volunteers?
- Sometimes, but often the equipment is fine. What makes it hard is how many separate steps and screens a volunteer has to juggle. Simplifying the workflow usually helps more than replacing gear.
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