That’s awesome! Funny how sometimes you start rethinking something and realize other churches are wrestling with the exact same thing at the same time. I’d love to hear what you guys are changing and how it works out for you.
Man I’m just now seeing your response but we have an LED wall in our auditorium along with two TVs set higher up above it on each side. And in the lobby we have a few TVs in different spots. But for pre-service and post service we had just been playing our regular looping slides that consisted of all sorts of different things (Events, Welcome Info, Service Times, Ministries, etc.) and that whole slide loop was about 3 mins long so if you missed something it would be another 3 mins or so before you could MAYBE catch it again…
And what I have recently been learning is people are missing lots of slides because it was too many and it was the same thing on every screen all the time.
So essentially what we did was change it to where just our Upcoming Events would roll on the lobby TVs since that’s where most of our regulars tend to hang around before/after service. And then we put all the Welcome Info, Service Times, Ministries graphics on the Auditorium screens where most of our newer folks are typically hanging out before service.
I realized that those who have been coming for a while and are plugged in and serving - they have already seen all the Welcome slides and all that multiple times so there’s no reason to keep showing that stuff where they typically hang around. Because after so long they begin to block it out and then miss other important stuff so we now just show the important stuff in the areas they are mostly in.
It’s been a game changer because now the proper information is being put on different screens for the right audiences at the right times more often rather than just throwing everything up everywhere all at once.
That makes perfect sense, and honestly I think you just described the whole idea better than I could’ve in one paragraph 😂
The part that really stands out is realizing that different screens have different audiences, so they don’t all need to show the same thing at the same time. That’s exactly where I’ve been landing too.
I also like what you said about regulars tuning out the welcome/service-time stuff because they’ve already seen it a hundred times. That’s such an easy thing for us to miss when we’re building a slide loop.
Sounds like you guys have made a really smart shift. I’d be curious to hear how it keeps working after you’ve run it this way for a few more weeks.
This post is timely. Was just speaking with our pastor about how we would choose to share announcements in the future. Should we run event announcements ongoing in our lobby? As we are currently getting a website upgrade, maybe a QR code with a simple link to the events page on the website is a fresh way to go. Maybe our existing screens will continue instead to share pertinent info, like the song lyrics and sermon notes?
That’s exactly the kind of direction I’m leaning toward too. I really like the idea of letting the website handle all the event details through one simple QR code, then using the lobby screens for things that are actually useful in that space, like welcome messaging, key next steps, lyrics, or other service related information. I’m actually working on a follow up article for Wednesday that gets much more practical about what I think should be on lobby TVs at different times throughout the week.
Love that! I think Wednesday’s one will be especially useful from the church secretary side of things too. I’d love to hear what you think once it’s up!
Thank you, Sharon! Glad you found Behind Sunday and really appreciate you following along. I’ve got a lot more practical church production and creative stuff coming!
Quick update: I’m working on a follow-up to this article that gets much more practical and breaks down what should actually be on church lobby TVs before service, during service, after service, and throughout the week. Planning to publish it Wednesday.
This is good stuff! I’m just now coming across this and we just started implementing this same strategy earlier this morning at our church. Wild!
That’s awesome! Funny how sometimes you start rethinking something and realize other churches are wrestling with the exact same thing at the same time. I’d love to hear what you guys are changing and how it works out for you.
Man I’m just now seeing your response but we have an LED wall in our auditorium along with two TVs set higher up above it on each side. And in the lobby we have a few TVs in different spots. But for pre-service and post service we had just been playing our regular looping slides that consisted of all sorts of different things (Events, Welcome Info, Service Times, Ministries, etc.) and that whole slide loop was about 3 mins long so if you missed something it would be another 3 mins or so before you could MAYBE catch it again…
And what I have recently been learning is people are missing lots of slides because it was too many and it was the same thing on every screen all the time.
So essentially what we did was change it to where just our Upcoming Events would roll on the lobby TVs since that’s where most of our regulars tend to hang around before/after service. And then we put all the Welcome Info, Service Times, Ministries graphics on the Auditorium screens where most of our newer folks are typically hanging out before service.
I realized that those who have been coming for a while and are plugged in and serving - they have already seen all the Welcome slides and all that multiple times so there’s no reason to keep showing that stuff where they typically hang around. Because after so long they begin to block it out and then miss other important stuff so we now just show the important stuff in the areas they are mostly in.
It’s been a game changer because now the proper information is being put on different screens for the right audiences at the right times more often rather than just throwing everything up everywhere all at once.
That was a lot but I hope it made sense!
That makes perfect sense, and honestly I think you just described the whole idea better than I could’ve in one paragraph 😂
The part that really stands out is realizing that different screens have different audiences, so they don’t all need to show the same thing at the same time. That’s exactly where I’ve been landing too.
I also like what you said about regulars tuning out the welcome/service-time stuff because they’ve already seen it a hundred times. That’s such an easy thing for us to miss when we’re building a slide loop.
Sounds like you guys have made a really smart shift. I’d be curious to hear how it keeps working after you’ve run it this way for a few more weeks.
This post is timely. Was just speaking with our pastor about how we would choose to share announcements in the future. Should we run event announcements ongoing in our lobby? As we are currently getting a website upgrade, maybe a QR code with a simple link to the events page on the website is a fresh way to go. Maybe our existing screens will continue instead to share pertinent info, like the song lyrics and sermon notes?
That’s exactly the kind of direction I’m leaning toward too. I really like the idea of letting the website handle all the event details through one simple QR code, then using the lobby screens for things that are actually useful in that space, like welcome messaging, key next steps, lyrics, or other service related information. I’m actually working on a follow up article for Wednesday that gets much more practical about what I think should be on lobby TVs at different times throughout the week.
I'll keep an eye out for the next post!! I have a little say as church secretary! ;)
Love that! I think Wednesday’s one will be especially useful from the church secretary side of things too. I’d love to hear what you think once it’s up!
New to behind Sunday.. excited about this!! Thank you
Thank you, Sharon! Glad you found Behind Sunday and really appreciate you following along. I’ve got a lot more practical church production and creative stuff coming!
Quick update: I’m working on a follow-up to this article that gets much more practical and breaks down what should actually be on church lobby TVs before service, during service, after service, and throughout the week. Planning to publish it Wednesday.