Effective Church Communications

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and a Biblical Perspective to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. Our tools constantly change; our task doesn’t; we can help.
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Q & A What is best way to use music in PowerPoints or Videos?

20 May, 2013 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Music in PowerPoint Presentations
Music should enhance, not distract from the message of our presentations. The challenge is to find the right music that does that.

When I recently posted the video for Father's Day, I got this very interesting question/response from Barb, an ECC Member:

Here is something that I have noticed when there are certain presentations at our church on PPT: I am not able to concentrate on the written words on the screen when there is vocal music playing as background.

Some sort of classical music, or any instrumental music that does not evoke thoughts of lyrics, would be OK. I don't know if I'm alone in this problem or not. I've never heard of anyone doing any sort of study on it, either.

Summary answer

After research and thinking about it, my conclusion on music with PowerPoint (whether or not you turn it into a video) is to select it as you would a man's tie. A great tie on a man is one that you don't really notice, but that finishes his look perfectly without drawing undue attention to it. The result is that you see a professional man, not a loud tie.

It's the same with music for PowerPoint, if you choose to use it (and not every presentation needs it any more than every occasion requires that a man wear a tie), select music that does not overwhelm your presentation, but that enhances the overall experience. The content, the message of the presentation is what is most important.

I think that is useful advice, but here is the challenge: what enhances and what does not? Especially for Christian music—the vocals can be extremely powerful and we find ourselves listening to them more than reading the words. Even if we have an instrumental of a well-known song ("Amazing Grace", for example) we will hear the words. In some instances, and this was my purpose with choosing the song I did for the Father's Day video was to add an extra layer of challenge to Dads. But honestly, I also really liked the song "Be Thou My Vision" and have gotten distracted just listening to it.

Following are other comments from the web, how to insert music clips and a free music resource.

Please add your thoughts, ideas, comments, below.

Answers from around the web:

Music should draw your audience in, not jolt them.

PowerPoint presentations often use music to enhance slides or transition from one to the next. Yet when the music starts or stops suddenly, it jars the audience, distracting them from your message. You can edit your audio clips using an external application to prevent this, but you can also use PowerPoint's own audio editing tools. These tools will fade clips in and out, blending them more naturally into your presentation. They may also fade one piece into another, if a slide contains multiple audio clips.

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/fade-music-powerpoint-39688.html

 

If you plan to narrate over the slide show, it is important to search for some ambient PowerPoint music that will not distract the audience from listening to whatever it is that you are saying. The main objective of the presentation if for the audience to listen to your presentation, and not to the music! The music is just an added benefit, to help the audience relax, and enjoy the presentation better. Music is very relaxing, and a smooth, relaxing tune running throughout the presentation helps the audience to relax, and thereby enjoy your presentation better!

However, if you plan to do an automatic slide show that loops continuously, without you narrating during the show, then it is better to use some energetic music, which will in fact do the talking in the presentation! The energy in the music is sure to rid the audience of any fatigue, and may also prevent anyone from sleeping through the PowerPoint presentation! Adding music to your website is a sure means of making your site stand apart from the rest of the sites and to communicate a message in the universal language of music. In fact, there are some professional creators who adamantly agree that no amount whatsoever of eye-popping graphics or animation can convey as much emotional core of the PowerPoint presentation as a well-chosen piece of music can.

From: http://www.articlesphere.com/Article/Adding-Music-to-your-PowerPoint-Presentation-does-make-a-difference/64154

How to put music into PowerPoint

Office PowerPoint allows you insert various kinds of media in your slide shows, such as videos, photos and even songs. Playing a song throughout your PowerPoint presentation can give the slide show some flare, provided your choice of music does not distract from the content and fits the presentation's theme. Use PowerPoint's insertion options to add a song to the slide show and so it plays through your presentation.  Read more: How to Play a Song During a PowerPoint | eHow http://www.ehow.com/how_8226194_play-song-during-powerpoint.html#ixzz2TrIAE593

http://www.ehow.com/how_8226194_play-song-during-powerpoint.html

Resources of Free music for Power Point

http://www.brainybetty.com/soundsforpowerpoint.htm

Please let me know your thoughts or resources in the comments section below--thanks!

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Filed Under: Q & A, Video, how-to Tagged With: free music, music and powerpoint, music and video resources, music and videos

Yvon Prehn advice on how to shoot videos when you talk to the camera

31 October, 2012 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Logitech C310 Webcam, used to create Yvon Prehn videos
This simple camera, the Logitech C310 Webcam, is what I used to create the video here and for my other speaking videos on this site.

Though the majority of teaching videos that I create both for this training site and my Sunday School class don't have me talking directly to the camera, I do some this way periodically for you to see that a real person is behind this ministry. This is part of my answer to how I create the videos. I have been asked by a number of Effective Church Communication readers how I do what I do, so here it is.

Before I get into specific advice, I feel like a disclaimer is necessary. The videos that I create when I'm talking to the camera are extremely simple ones. They suit my purposes and seem to help the audience I am trying to help—church communicators. There are many, many websites and how-tos online if you want to do more professional video shoots with multiple cameras, and advanced sound and lighting. Be prepared, however, because with the advice from these sites also comes greatly increased costs.

Many professional ministries have recording studios, use professional sound systems, microphones and multiple cameras.  I've been part of recordings like that when some other group had many thousands of dollars to spend and I've been involved in lengthy camera shoots. The complex videos then take weeks to months to edit and finish. All that is great, if that is your purpose.

For the videos that I do, I simply want to teach you something. I want to focus on my content and make the process to record it as professional as I can, but also as simple and low-cost as possible. With these limitations in mind, below is a short video that shows how I produce a video with me talking. After that  is more information on lighting and makeup.
[Read more...]

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Filed Under: Video, how-to Tagged With: church video creation, talk to the camera, video creation, Yvon Prehn video advice

How Yvon Prehn creates teaching videos for Sunday School classes and this website

31 October, 2012 By Yvon Prehn 2 Comments

Video on how Yvon Prehn creates teaching videos
You can use the same process I use to create training videos for this site to create videos for your Sunday School classes.

I've been asked how I create the videos that I do for this site and the videos I create for my Sunday School website. To answer I created the following video. This video does not show you how to use all the programs and software I use to create the videos, but it does show the process from start to finish.

It is a very simple process anyone can do. It does not require expensive cameras or equipment. This is easiest way to do videos if your primary purpose is to simply teach something or get a message across.

Below the video, as a bonus for Effective Church Communication Members, are added notes about the process, each program illustrated, and how I use them.

For the companion video, Yvon Prehn advice on how to shoot videos when you talk to the camera, that goes along with this one, CLICK HERE.

[Read more...]

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Filed Under: Video, how-to Tagged With: Camtasia for churches, Camtasia how to, Camtasia tips, create videos for Sunday School, how to create church videos, video creation for churches, yvon prehn training video

How to download a Free Image editing program, paint.net

22 October, 2012 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

How to download Paint.net
Paint.net is one of the best FREE image editing programs--here is how to download it.

This is one of my favorite image editing programs--much easier to use than Photoshop and best of all FREE! Even though it is very easy to use, it is extremely powerful and lots of fun to play around with. It doesn't get a lot of PR, (maybe because it is free), but it is a program that I think every church should have a copy of.

Below is the video on how to get it--here is a link to a series of videos I did that are on YouTube that show you how to use it: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6709E3C376551C36

On this video I demonstrate how to download it. The link for the download is: http://download.cnet.com/Paint-NET/3000-2192_4-10338146.html

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Filed Under: Clipart, Design, Graphics, Images, Video, how-to Tagged With: free software for churches, Image editing software, paint.net

YouTube Playlists–videos organized by topic to help you learn

22 August, 2012 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

With over 130 videos created over 3 years time, it can be difficult to find videos on similar topics in church communications from Yvon Prehn's  Effective Church Communications YouTube channel. To help you focus on whatever it is that you want to learn, I have organized the videos into Playlists that group the similar videos together and that you can watch together.

Some of the current playlists are:

  • MS Publisher Uses, Examples, Templates & Tips

  • How to create websites with WordPress

  • FREE Clip art Image Resources--video reviews

  • How to write for the web

I will continue to organize the videos into topics, please SUBSCRIBE to the YouTube channel and that way you will know when new things are added.

Check out how the Playlists work here:

Videos organized by topic into Playlists at http://www.youtube.com/yvonprehn

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Filed Under: Basic Church Communications Training, Skills, Video, how-to Tagged With: how to videos, videos for church communicators, Yvon Prehn's Youtube

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