The role of the tech director is rooted in the subjective and independent, but has grown to include much more objective and team-based tasks such as event planning, volunteer recruitment and personnel management, to name a few. Aside from the sheer volume of responsibility, there are relationships to be managed at many levels, and a somewhat unforgiving pace of innovation to keep up with. A day in the life of a tech director is daunting to be sure.
Can the passion and creativity at the core of church tech leaders continue to push them to excel and thrive amidst exponential innovation and ever-growing job descriptions? We think so, but a little help is always appreciated. That's why the Worship Facilities Conference and Expo (WFX) is again presenting a learning module specifically geared toward tech leaders: Tech Directors Essentials.
“In many churches, in the past, if you knew about tech, you were the tech director. Nowadays, there are so many more roles and responsibilities outside of tech and just ‘pushing buttons',” says Jim Wagner, general manager of WFX and publisher of Worship Facilities magazine. “Where can a tech director go to learn about these other areas? What does it look like for a tech director to grow? How do you lead the ministry so people connect with God during the service? These are the questions we designed this module to answer.”
Bright and bold professionals from leading AVL integration and consulting companies and accomplished tech directors and worship leaders from churches nationwide will present a series of educational sessions covering the topics and issues foremost on the minds of today's tech leaders.
“The topics are thoughtful and our advisory council arrived at them because they sought to truly understand the role, the heart and the personality of the church tech leader,” says Wagner.
Volunteer recruitment, development and retention are particular areas of focus. Those sessions will provide real and applicable advice for how to handle this aspect of the job if you're a natural introvert, as many tech professionals are. “The tables will be turned, as well, to look at how to lead tech people who are vulnerable to hiding behind the board and not attending services,” adds Wagner.
These management-oriented sessions will also explore how to train volunteers and staff in a way that results in production consistency week in and week out.
Another area of concentration is how to budget and communicate the need for equipment purchases and staffing to ministry-minded leadership. “Making a case to justify the expenses associated with equipment and staff is not an innate skill for most,” says Wagner.
Among those presenting this module are worship leaders, though it's well known that the roles of worship leader and tech director, while definitely dependent on each other, are very different. So why have them present?
“We wanted to unpack the relationship between technical directors and worship leaders, a relationship that is at times acrimonious due to personality differences,” explains Wagner. “Tech wants it all to work well, worship does, too, so how can the two work better together?”
WFX will be held November 18-19 in Nashville. To learn more about the event or the Tech Directors Essentials Learning Module, visit www.WFXweb.com.
