Sound & Communications February 2009 Issue

Special Religious EventsThese provide good marketing opportunities.By David Lee Jr., PhDEditor’s Note: Rental and stagingof events involves a different set ofskills—and inventory requirements—and typically would not be coveredin our pages. However, integratorsthat can successfully support regionalmeetings such as the author describescertainly can use this opportunity tomake good connections for future fixedinstallations and upgrades in housesof worship.Religious organizations holdnumerous conventions and specialevents throughout the year. In theChristian faith, most groups sponsora national convention every twoor three years in a large venue in awell known, convention friendly citysuch as Dallas, Indianapolis, Miami,Orlando, Phoenix or Minneapolis,to name a few. Las Vegas is a premierconvention city; however, it isnot (for obvious reasons) a primarydestination for most religious organizations.Venues in cities such as Charlotte,Cincinnati, Denver and Louisville,for example, often host smallerregional conventions and specialevents. Cities of all sizes host specialevents related to Easter, July 4 thand Christmas. More than likely, ifyour city has a 1000- to 25,000-seatvenue, with hotel support, it will beconsidered for a national, regional orlocal religious gathering. If so, youhave an opportunity to win all, or atReligious organizations aretrying to strengthen theirministries by conductingmore conventions, meetingsand special events.least a particular portion, of a mediacontract associated with a specialreligious event.I advance here, in general terms,that product packaging, effectivecommunication skills, state-of-the arttechnologies, plus strong user skillsequals a formidable combination thatcan lead to winning a contract for areligious convention or special event.Let’s break down these components.The first way to get your name inthe hat to be considered for thesespecial events is to package yourproduct in a way that can be understoodby the decision-makers. In otherswords, what do you do? How canyou explain what you do in a way thatis clear, precise and easy to comprehend?Then, you will have to do yourhomework to locate, and then makecontact with, the denominationalheadquarters or a local church. Mostdenominations (Baptist, Presbyterian,Methodist, etc.) have an office ineach US state. They also will have anational office somewhere in the US.You will want to put together whatyour organization offers in a wayleaders can understand quickly.Effective communication skills arerequired to make it in our industry.The ability to communicate well withpeople, in language they understand,is extremely important in religiouscircles. If you communicate poorly(you don’t return phone calls, don’trespond to email, don’t follow upas promised, don’t pay attention inmeetings), these organizations willfind someone who will respond tothem in meaningful ways. You canhave the best gear on Earth but notwin the deal if you communicatepoorly.For large-scale national events, themost up-to-date technologies, suchas high-definition (HD) cameras/productiongear, HD video projection,high-resolution line-array rigs, and amixture of fixed and moving lights,typically will be required. For smallerregional events, the demand for HDvideo production and projection is onthe rise. High-quality line-array is thenorm in almost any venue, and lightingmust be suitable for the event.Local events will range from the bestof the best to lower-end gear. That iswhere your ability to communicateand interpret the needs of the eventand the requirements of leadershipwill help you win or lose the deal.High-level skill sets are required tooperate the communication technologieseffectively. You or your crewmust know how to use those technologiesproficiently in order to respondto the requirements of the event andyour client. The information on therun sheets is the easy portion of theprogram to interpret and execute.The unknown, last-minute addendumsto the program are why usingpeople with high-level skills, who(continued on page 78)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.28 Sound & Communicationswww.soundandcommunications.com