Every discipline
The Willow Creek Association – the training division of Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois – offers its annual Arts Conference. Here, Christian artists in every discipline, from graphic design to dance, music to technical arts, come together for four days to learn, worship, and fellowship.

This conference is relatively small. Registration usually tops out at around 1,400. By the time the attendees split into seminar groups, it’s not unusual for class sizes to average 10-15.

This allows for intense hands-on training and Q&A with Willow Creek’s very knowledgeable staff. Arguably, this conference offers an excellent gateway into technical arts for an entry-level technician. There are only two weaknesses of this event: first, all workshops are conducted by Willow staff.

Though they are experienced and qualified, this arrangement limits the scope of what they can cover. And second, the technical arts are generally lumped together in one track. For the church technician who does it all – video, lighting, sound, etc., this is very helpful.

But for the larger church, where it’s not unusual to have specialists in each field, there’s not much for your projectionist to do during the "Getting a Better Mix from Your Board," session.

The worship time, however, is unparalleled, and the general tone of this event is more inspirational than informational. As with any conference, study the brochure carefully before you decide this is the best use of your money. For more and to sign up, go to www.willowcreek.com/wca_info/.

More theatrical
The U.S. Institute of Theater Technology’s (USITT) annual trade show and conference, and the larger Lighting Dimensions (LDI) exhibitions are geared toward theater professionals who want to see the latest in lighting, special effects, staging, video and audio. Both offer a wide range of workshops a church technician would find helpful.

There are two primary differences between these events. The first is size – the LDI expo is about three times the size of the USITT event. And the second is thrust. LDI is geared to industry professionals, while USITT is oriented toward academia.

Though there is crossover, certainly, at both events, an attendee who must choose between one and the other will want to be aware of the differences. The seminars at USITT, because they are geared for students as well as working professionals, are more accessible to an entry-level learner.

At LDI, seminar attendees will range from the fairly experienced to the extremely experienced, and speakers will gear their presentations accordingly. You can find USITT on the web at www.usitt.org and LDI is found at www.ldishow.com.

Audio leadership
For audio-specific training, Synergistic Audio Concepts or Syn-Aud-Con has been doing it since the early 1970’s. They promote themselves as "The Leader In Audio Education" and few would argue that assertion.

Based in Greenville, Indiana, Syn-Aud-Con holds a wide range of seminars for beginners to experts both at their home base, and across the country. For more information, visit them on the web at www.synaudcon.com.

The other source in this resource category is the wide range of online courses available. Some courses are offered by manufacturers and provide specific information on the use and maintenance of their gear. These courses are usually offered free, and can be found on manufacturer websites.

On-line options
An interesting player in this field is www.technologycourse.com – housed on the web under the same name – offered by former All Pro Sound executive Chuck Walthall. Most long-time players in technical ministries will recognize the name. (Editor’s Note: Here’s more about Chuck and his education work.)

In addition to being a system design consultancy firm, Walthall’s own venture, Walthall and Associates offers online training at his web site. Primarily, the site offers audio-related courses, though Walthall has plans for expansion in the near future. See www.technologycourse.com.

While you are online, go to www.churchsoundcheck.com and join the online discussion group. The Church Soundcheck Listserve is provided be Taipale Media Systems and its principle, Curt Taipale. This forum offers the advantage of near-immediate response to questions.

Those who may respond include church tech-team members from all over the world, plus equipment dealers, contractors, consultants and manufacturers. Besides hosting the online discussion group, Curt Taipale is also an author, he conducts church-specific technical training workshops and operates a full-service systems consulting firm. (Editor’s note: We can’t recommend Curt’s articles, posted on the CSC web site, highly enough.And don’t forget ProSoundWeb Study Hall and PSW Forums, where systems professionals worldwide answer your specific questions.)

Next on the list are the many publications for information hungry technicians, although listing them all is well beyond the scope of this article. (Editor’s note: We recommend Church Production and Technologies for Worship, as well as Sound & Video Contractor and Live Sound International.)

Also, make a point of checking the websites of your gear manufacturers. Many of these sites have user bulletin boards or email loops which offer end-user advice on the idiosyncrasies of specific equipment. Usually, you can find a downloadable copy of the user manual – in case yours got lost or ruined – and updated information on new equipment and developments.

Where applicable, there are downloadable upgrades. Lists of links to other helpful sites are also common.

While you’re on the web, take some time just to browse. Pick a good search engine, such as www.dogpile.com, which searches up to 20 different engines at once – and see what turns up. If nothing else, you’re almost guaranteed to find that piece of gear you really need and had no idea even existed. (Editor’s note: We also recommend www.google.com.)

Training seminars
Lastly, contractors, consultants and equipment dealers from all over the country are holding their own training seminars. It’s likely that one is occurring this year within driving distance of where you are right now.

Most are equipment manufacturers support these events both financially and by sending personnel. So you are likely to get some direct contact with a variety of industry professionals. They are as interested to learn from you as you are to learn from them. That is why it is important to develop relationships with a number of contractors in your region.

If you’ve not done so already, pick up the phone. Soon you’ll have a network of contacts from which you can learn and stay informed about seminars and educational events in your area.

Neesa Hart is a professional production consultant, and currently resides in Stafford, Virginia. She writes scripts, builds sets, acts as stage manager, costume designer, and jack-of-all trades. She has extensive set design experience in regional theater. Nine to five, she’s a professional writer. Neesa Hart can be reached at neesa@infi.net.

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