Editor’s Note: AV Pros Needed
Jan 1, 2005 12:00 PM,
By Mark Johnson
Houses of worship benefit from professional AV expertise.
“Flying junkyards,” we called them — a hopeless mishmash of mismatched speaker components approximating a speaker cluster. That happens to many AV systems in houses of worship — various and sundry pieces of accumulated equipment purchased to fill an immediate need or donated by a well-meaning church member. Little thought is given to the necessary infrastructure. That is, until the church technical staff can’t easily integrate a new product into the existing system.
In churches, consumers often make the decisions in situations that require professional solutions. Consumers, however, are generally aware of only consumer-oriented solutions. And while technological advances may be migrating from the consumer market to the commercial one (particularly in display), there are many features in professional models that enhance usability, durability, and install-ability.
A consultant or contractor can understand the overall system and knows what is required to make all of the system’s parts work together. AV professionals can help church leaders make educated equipment-purchasing decisions, an important value-added service. Training volunteer staff on system operation is another service that adds value.
Shameless self-promotion department: Sound & Video Contractor magazine was awarded a 2004 Gold Eddie Award in the Media/Entertainment/Marketing B2B category by Folio. Folio is considered by many to be the standard-bearer for the magazine industry, and to receive an award is comparable to receiving a Grammy for something like best album.
While we have worked hard over the past 18 months to grow and improve Sound & Video Contractor, we strove at all times to be responsive to the needs of the systems integration community. We have and will continue to take our lead from you to provide information relevant to the business you do.
We are proud of our accomplishment, but we have you to thank for helping us achieve it.
