Sound & Communications October 20, 2008 Issue

Thinking Out LoudHow the Beijing Olympics ceremonies will affect house of worship presentations.By David Lee Jr., PhDThe opening and closing ceremoniesat the Beijing Olympics wereamazing. The concepts, designs,sheer numbers of people involvedand technologies used exceededany presentation that I have everseen, and most likely exceeded anypresentation the world has everexperienced.The concepts applied and the imagescreated during the Olympic ceremonieshas nearly rendered obsoletealmost every idea and conceptualprocess that I have ever employed.My spirit is rejuvenated. I am now anew creature. I am a new convert ofprolific presentation thinking. I haveseen a new light and I have beenbaptized with the fire found in thesenew revelations for using people andmedia for telling stories.I had similar experiences as ateenager in 1977, when I saw StarWars for the first time, and when Iheard Eddie Van Halen play his guitar.Many of us recognize these twoproducts as turning points in the historyof filmmaking and music making.Many filmmakers and musiciansthrew out their antiquated productionprocesses and either embracednew approaches or merely copiedLucas and Van Halen. I believe theBeijing ceremonies will be seen as aturning point for presentations andpresentation technologies.As I continue to process theirI have seen a new light andbeen baptized with the firefound in these new revelationsfor using people and mediafor telling stories.spectacle, I wonder how the BeijingOlympic ceremonies will impactsmall- and large-scale presentationsin corporate and house of worshipsettings.Take a little journey with me.Visualize the Olympic opening ceremonies,where a massive amountof participants formed circles andshapes very quickly. Recall the armyof people who beat those drums. Anddon’t forget the acrobats who flew effortlesslythrough the air. All of thisoccurred in perfect synchronization.Now, recall England’s presentationduring the closing ceremonies, duringwhich a troupe of actors dancedaround a red double-decker bus.Compared to the Chinese efforts, theBritish presentation, unfortunately,was noticeably weak and outdated.Here in the US, we have experiencedcreative live events on smalland large scales. The pinnacle ofour national large presentations maybe the Super Bowl halftime showthat, until now, had been reasonablyimpressive. I wonder if the Olympicceremonies have placed new pressureson the Super Bowl producersto ramp up the halftime event to newlevels beyond merely spending hugesums on a big-name musical act.I also wonder how the Olympicswill affect presentations in house ofworship settings. There certainly isfresh inspiration for worship leadersto communicate more effectively usingfresh ideas.The Chinese certainly have raisedthe presentation bar, skyscraperhigh! I suspect that many of youwill say that the Chinese had a hugeamount of money and an unlimitednumber of talented participants tomake this spectacle a success. Andthat is true. Regardless of moneyresources, however, as a producer,I marvel when I think about theceremony producer who started witha blank slate and ultimately visualizedsuch a spectacular presentation.I am also in awe when I think aboutthe preparation, the rehearsals, theskills of the people, the technologiesused and how they were used duringthese ceremonies.Again, let’s think about that fora moment. If money and resourceswere no object, could we createsomething that original, that compelling,that beautiful and that faroutside of the proverbial box?I believe we can. I believe that theinspiration drawn from the ceremonieshas sparked new ideas that willenable us to reach higher levels ofpresentation rapidly. In fact, newthought is already permeating largeand small scales of presentationproduction.I know firsthand that the Beijingceremonies have caused a majortheme park to scrap designs thatwere in the works and start fresh(continued on page 99)David Lee Jr., PhD, CEO of Lee Communication Inc., Orlando FL, is a licensed ministerand has more than 25 years of experience as a systems integrator. He is a member of Sound& Communications’ Technical Council. Send comments to dlee@testa.com.26 Sound & Communicationswww.soundandcommunications.com