ad-hoc live use challenges...

Brent Hoefling

I have been using Proclaim now for more than a few months and love it.  this last weekend, however, I ran into a problem that I feel needs addressed.  I was running media (and sound) for a state-wide ladies retreat event.  I had asked for a song list ahead of time to make sure I had the songs available.  I got the list, including CCLI #'s and some text for songs that were locally written.

however, once we started, during the many times of P&W, they would slip in another song or hymn in the mix for that session that wasn't on my list.  I found it very challenging to add a new song, while live.  the challenge is that i never use the default format for songs:

• always change the font
• always change the size of the text box
• always change the text and attributes.

So, it is easier to "duplicate" an existing song, then search for the song by retyping in the title, and pulling it into the current "template" - and then going through the text and manipulating it so that the slides are appropriate:

• splitting long lines to make two lines
• adding carriage returns in the middle of long verses and choruses to make the display on more than one slide.

1. Even when using the "template" method, the process of being required to go through and make sure each slide is "displayable", takes a certain amount of time, and sometimes it takes so much time, that song is done by the time I get the slides ready to be presented.  I have asked previously and when I bought the system that this be improved.  Is there any efforts in making this simpler/faster? using EW or other presentation software, the default settings were displayable, nearly all the time on first try (even if I didn't like the font, the lines and separations were all done well.)  If I had to use all defaults for a new song - it would never be done in time.  is there a way to "make default settings"?

2. Of course the other part of this is that there is no lock, and it is possible to hit a slide to present accidentally, even though in edit mode in live mode.  Why is it that when I click the edit mode, that clicking a slide will change to present that one?  it seems to be more obvious that when on-air/live, and then clicking edit, will lock the screen at that point for running live, but not allowing anything to be selected live, while working in the editor.  in other words, if it is in preservice loop mode, that it would continue that loop, even while allowing me to edit/make a new song to add to the service.  OR be on a given slide in service, but sty there and not change, when in edit mode.

Not sure if those make sense, but it was a HUGE challenge for me to stay caught up with the live requests, that normally come with an event like that, that is otherwise handled pretty simply in easyworship (or most other presentation softwares.

any tips, tricks or updates are appreciated...

Peter June

Hi Brent, and thanks for your feedback. I understand your frustration -- having to add songs you don't have ready on-the-fly is nerve-racking. Every piece of software tries to accommodate this need differently, and we're open to suggestions for improvement here.

[quote]the challenge is that i never use the default format for songs:

• always change the font
• always change the size of the text box
• always change the text and attributes.

If you use one or more common text styles for all your songs, you can save them in your custom styles for easy access. It's not quite the same as reusing items, just font styles.

[quote]then going through the text and manipulating it so that the slides are appropriate:

• splitting long lines to make two lines
• adding carriage returns in the middle of long verses and choruses to make the display on more than one slide.

This is understandable, and a possible area of improvement. We don't offer any default settings such as "Show two lines per slide" -- is this what you're looking for in a default setting?

We try to make this smooth for you by having saved versions of songs in "My Songs" which preserve line breaks and custom verse ordering. It's not foolproof for songs you haven't added to your custom list, but we tend to err on the side of giving you the lyrics directly from SongSelect instead of automatically modifying them in ways that could be beneficial to some users, and detrimental/frustrating to others.

[quote]Even when using the "template" method, the process of being required to go through and make sure each slide is "displayable", takes a certain amount of time, and sometimes it takes so much time, that song is done by the time I get the slides ready to be presented.

Are you reusing items when you refer to the template method? If not, here's how I'd recommend you set up your workflow:

• Create a presentation named "Templates"
• Add some blank song service items to the presentation. Name the service items "Song template 1" etc.
• Customize each template using the text and background you want. Having a few different goto templates would help to ensure that you have variety when you're putting up different songs.
• Add a new song service item to the presentation with a sample song. Mess around with the fonts until you find a few size/color/type combinations that suit your needs and save them as custom styles. You don't have to use these custom font styles on the song templates, but they're available as a fallback if you want something different.

Now, let's say you're in the situation that you describe where you're being handed songs that aren't on the list. Now when you have to put Amazing Grace on the screen, reuse "Song template x" and retrieve the lyrics from SongSelect. Since your text fields are already set up (size/color/type), as well as your preferences for showing title/credits, your only task is to modify the SongSelect lyrics, inserting line breaks etc. Don't like the text style that you had in your template? Those custom styles that you saved earlier can come in handy here, especially if you save custom text styles to match backgrounds of certain colors.

There's still some labor in the last step, but if you're set up with some tools ahead of time it will be easier to do the only manual part (inserting the line breaks).

[quote]Of course the other part of this is that there is no lock, and it is possible to hit a slide to present accidentally, even though in edit mode in live mode.  Why is it that when I click the edit mode, that clicking a slide will change to present that one?

If you're on air, you'll see two arrows in the order of service, one yellow and one red. The red arrow indicates the service item currently being projected on your slides output, while the yellow arrow indicates which item you're currently editing. You can use a single click on any item in the order of service to move the yellow arrow to another slide you want to edit and it will not change the current slide being presented. You can double click on any service item in the order of service to navigate directly to it (move the red arrow).

Hopefully this helps, let me know if your questions are answered.