What presentation software do you use in worship?

[woman.at.the.well]

Hello all and thank you for reading this thread.

I was wondering if you could give me some suggestions on what type of program to use during worship to put the words to the songs up with and also be able to incorporate video, sound, pics, etc. with.

I am already impressed greatly with "Media Shout," but would greatly appreciate any opinions or suggestions for our little church that you can give us. We have very little to budget for something like this so please keep that in mind when making your suggestions.

We currently use good ole MS PowerPoint but it's time to do a new thing!

Thank you so much for your help and ideas with this! God bless you!

 

[jesusFREAK840]

Hey,
At my church we use EasyWorship and I HIGHLY suggest it. I am the A/V guy and I use this software every week. You can do all the things you need and more including, putting words over a moving background, and even words over a live video feed, it is awesome software. It doesn't cost to much ethier just around 350 dollars!

 

[wgjones3]

We use PowerPoint with photoshopped song presentations. Typically we create custom backgrounds for each song and then also "splash screens" to display between songs.

 

[jesusFREAK840]

Microsoft powerpoint is good, you can even hook it up to Dual Monitor support which allows you to skip around slides, but if you are looking forsomething that can show video, lyrics, and all the other added extra's than presentation software is what will work best.

 

[woman.at.the.well]

Thank you for the suggestions JesusFreak840 and wgjones3!

JesusFreak840 . . .would you mind telling me how you go about doing the dual monitor hookup? I am pretty computer literate but was wondering what kind of hardware we would need for something like that besides another monitor (LOL). Thank you!

 

[cblack]

in order to set up the dual monitor system for PowerPoint you will need either a video card with dual outs or 2 video cards. and of course the drivers for said cards. most of the time once you get the computer recognizing the 2 monitors PowerPoint will automatically start displaying in dual screen mode. now for getting the computer to set up and see the two monitors that might take a little work. it really depends on the computer, cause its different almost every time. if your not very good with computers give it a shot but if it doesn't work get someone else to do it but make them show you how to do it so you know in the future.(well thats what i like to do anyways.)
hope that helps
laterz,

hope that helps
laterz,

 

[cblack]

oh i forgot to say just install the card or cards normally. pretty much just shut down the computer and open up the case and put it in. turn on and install the drivers. restart and it should all be done. just read the instructions and you'll be good.
laterz,

 

[woman.at.the.well]

thank you for the info cblack! i don't know if this will work now, i use a laptop that to my knowledge does not have additional bays for something like that. maybe i can run across an adapter or something of that nature to use. but thanks a million the info was extremely helpful! God bless you.

 

[huntertim]

We use Song Show Plus. Very good software, but a little cashy.

Blessings

 

[cblack]

if you use a laptop there might be good news, if you use windows that is cause i don't have a clue how to do it with a mac. but look on the back of the laptop if there is a monitor out thats good. now if there is one right click on the desktop away from any icons. left click on properties. there should be some tabs at the top. the one we are looking for is settings i think. its the one where you can change the resolution and stuff on your screen. there should be two boxes at the top of the screen highlight the one on the left and down at the bottom it should have a check box with something like "check to extend windows onto this screen" put a check there. anytime you want to have dual screen you should be able to just plug in the projector to that monitor out before you turn on the computer. and then when you start it up and go into Power Point and click on display show or what ever it is, it should show on the projector screen. ok i hope that helps and doesn't confuse. cause i have a tendency to confuse sometimes.
Laterz,

 

[woman.at.the.well]

Thank soooooooo much huntertime and cblack! May the Lord bless you abundantly for your kindness!

A question did however just pop into my mind concernng this dual monitor deal, so if anyone reads this and has an answer I would appreciate it greatly!

Here is the question:
Once we start the powerpoint slide show during worship time - we are not able to touch anything except the arrow keys or it will stop the slideshow (we can not use the mouse for example). We have to hit ESC and then View Slide Show again to continue on. So, my question is, how will the dual monitor setup help if I can not use one to put the words up for the congregation and use the other to see what is coming or make changes if necessary?

OR does anyone know why the slideshow stops like that when we accidentally click the mouse?

Thank you sooooooooooo much for all who have taken the time to read this and answer my silly questions. God bless you!

 

[huntertim]

With song show plus, your can see the next slide in the series prior to putting the slide on the screen. This feature allows you to preview the next slide as you navigate through the slide show. You can use the mouse or the +/- keys to move to the next screen. If you need to jump forward two slides, simply hit the + sign twice (- for moving backwards). Not sure that this answers your question or not, but if I can help, let me know.

 

[cblack]

in my deallings with PowerPoint i don't think you can move stuff around on the fly. but like huntertim said you can use song show plus to do this. i have media shout and i think you can do that in there to. i haven't really used it all that much because i don't have anyone runing the show from the back. i just use a remote and click forward and back.

ok the thing with the mouse: i know when it happens to me its because i clicked off of the slide show and onto another application that is going. i can some times get it to start working again but most of the time its just easier to reopen the slide show. ok i hope that puts you on the right path to figureing out whats going on with it.
Laterz,

 

[woman.at.the.well]

Thank you sooooooooo much huntertim and cblack for all this wonderful information. You are the best! May God bless you for your kindness 100 fold!

 

[marcR]

If you have dual-display capability, powerpoint does offer limited dual display functionality. It may only be with Powerpoint XP and the latest powerpoint release though.


When powerpoint is in dual display mode, you have a different screen on your computer monitor from the one that will be projected. You can preview the next slide coming, and see presenter's notes. I think you can change the order of the slides on the fly if you need to as well.

I'm a little fuzzy with the powerpoint dual display functionality, haven't used in a while. But if you open powerpoint, just type dual display in the help screen and it will give details. Give it a try and play around a bit.

We've currently switched to media shout and it's' working out great so far. I has a lot more features than PowerPoint, as well as several bible translations built in making it really easy to put verses up on screen. We are still new with it though, so we are still learning.

Check out this website about PowerPoint and dual display.

office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010565471033.aspx

(Sorry, I don't have enough posts to directly link to the site so you'll have to copy and paste )

Oh and if your laptop does not have dual display, you can buy an a video card that plugs into the PCMCIA slots in your laptop (I think all laptops have these...mine is 3 years old and it has them). But they are quite expensive and I just noticed that media shout are no longer recommending their use.

 

[woman.at.the.well]

Thank you marcR! I really, really appreciate this information. It is extremely helpful and I'm going to give it a try! Bless you!