Presentation and Display
Why Is Presentation Important
Presentation is a very large part of preaching and worship and having resources for those presentations can increase attention and engagement. The two main areas I stress having quality presentations are for lyrics and message content. In worship, there is nothing more difficult than singing a song that you don’t know the lyrics to, it can quickly make a long-lasting church member feel uncomfortable with new songs or a church visitor feel out of place with songs your church has sung for years. Providing lyrics can take a borderline worship performance to a collective worship experience. This is a similar concept for presentations for message content. For pastors who often preach with main points or often reference scripture, providing this information can help aid in following along and notetaking. Some pastors will often include graphics, maps, or even videos into their messages, and having a proper presentation tools makes the preparation easy and the end result looks clean and professional.
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Choosing the Right Hardware
Having these resources requires the correct hardware to display the content and the correct software to create, edit, and control that content. The remainder of this article will guide you in choosing the best hardware and software for your set-up and budget.
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Choosing the right hardware is one of the most complicated steps due to the many options there are. The first decision I encourage you to make is how many screens are right for your setup. Church’s with tall ceiling, narrow stages, or a stage already built around a center screen (such as a screen covering a window or Baptismal) are better off with a one, often larger, screen. While church’s with lower ceilings and wider stages might benefit more from a two-screen set up with a screen on each side of the stage. With the number of screens we need in mind, we can now begin to look at the multitude of options within our budget, leaving room for software, installation, and cable/converter cost. The second decision to make is to choose a TV or a projector.
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TVs
Until recently TVs were so expensive and so small that many churches decided to go with projectors to meet the size and cost requirements. However, with the advancement of technology large TVs are becoming more cost-effective and sometimes a better choice over projectors for certain venues. TVs are still more expensive than projectors at larger sizes but they offer greater brightness and better colors with a substantially better contrast ratio. When it comes to TVs I highly recommend QLED or even better OLED screens as they produce colors much more accurately and with much higher contrast ratios compared to LED or LCD screens. One big issue with TVs as the right choice is light glare and reflection. If there isn’t a place out of the angle of stage light the reflection of those lights will be severely compromising. If this is not an option and TVs are still your preferred choice there are new light-defusing screens that don’t show the reflections of those lights. However, this technology is new and limited to only a few TV models.
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Projectors
Projectors are often better for covering large areas such as 80in screens and above or in areas where retractable screens are needed for a multi-use area. With projectors, it is very important to be careful when buying due to the many misleading marketing information they often provide, be sure to compare the true brightness, true contrast ratio, and true resolution. With projectors it is highly recommended to purchases a laser projector, they are long lasting with less maintenance, better brightness, colors, and resolution. Standard bulb replacements for bulb-lit projectors often cost similar amounts to the original price of the projector.
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Choosing the Right Software
Software is what allows you to take full advantage of your display’s capabilities. Choosing the right software and the right add-on that fit within your budget can take your services interaction to the next level. While decreasing the preparation time with benefits like automatic lyric importing and separation, or an onboard Bible built right into the software. There are two main softwares I will discuss in this article, both of which are comparable in price and designed specifically for churches. These two software’s are Propresenter 7 by Renewed Vision and Proclaim by Faith Life. Now before I move forward I will note that I am strongly biased toward Propresenter due to the slightly more economical cost and my familiarity with it after using it for the last 3 years. However, I will do my best to present both softwares equally.
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Cost
I know you are probably thinking about the cost, each software bills differently as Propresenter charges 400$ upfront then charges a yearly 160$ for updates, while Proclaim bills monthly which totals up to about 225$ a year for its lowest package. Propresenter does cost more upfront but due to Proclaims higher yearly rates Propresenter begins to cost less than Proclaim as time goes on.
Similarities
Both software’s contain many of the same features such as automatic lyric importation that will automatically break up each verse, chorus, and bridge of the song. This means no more copy and paste from the lyrics on google. The second feature is an on-board Bible app, this is done differently as the user interface is quite different in each software. Propresenter has a Bible search function that allows you to quickly search and import verses either when preparing message slides, or on the fly for all of the Pastors who like to quote scripture as the Spirit leads. Proclaim however from my understanding, syncs with a Faith Life Bible app to automatically sync verses and notes directly from your sermon notes. Other features of both softwares include motion backgrounds, slide automation, MIDI cues, support for livestream lower thirds, and confidence monitors.
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Differences
As previously stated the main differences between the softwares are the user interface and a few minor features. In general, I like some of Proclaims easier to use features, and I think proclaim is an easier software to learn. However, Propresenter offers more features, more control, and more customizability. To compare it I could use the analogy that Proclaim feels more similar to Mac OS while Propresenter feels more like Windows, but I do not recommend making your decision off of that. Both softwares offer free trails or free versions, this is the most recommended way to identify which software will best meet your needs.
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Ad-on
Proclaim does offer a higher yearly fee that includes certain pre-made graphics, backgrounds, and templates that can be very helpful in adding to your presentations. While a company called Church Motion Graphics offer a similar service that is helpful in providing similar resources with a large selection of fonts, graphics, backgrounds, announcement slides, and even social media posts. Both services are also comparable in pricing which can be found on their websites.
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