Developing High Value Volunteers

In addition to people who need training, you have to have people that are in technical fields as their day job, so that when you run into problems it’s not the first time they’ve encountered the problem––they know how to deal with it.

Streaming is not new to the Plantation Seventh-day Adventist Church in Plantation, Fla.––it has been live streaming since 2011––but the pandemic has driven Plantation’s production team to place an increased emphasis on the quality of its online services in an effort to keep at-home worshippers engaged.

deCarmo estimates that 15 to 20 percent of Plantation’s volunteers are adults, and the rest are children ages 10 and up.

What’s remarkable about Plantation is its culture of resourcefulness and its approach to developing volunteers. With a few exceptions, most of its AV deployments and upgrades are carried out in-house. Linden deCarmo, Plantation’s media ministry lead, explains that in addition to its production crew, the church is lucky to have a number of qualified audiovisual experts among its members, including a networking professional and video producer. He says that without access to this knowledge base, handling AV integration projects in-house --- including the use of volunteers --- wouldn’t be possible.

“You have to have people that are in those fields as their day job, so that when you run into problems it’s not the first time they’ve encountered the problem––they know how to deal with it,” deCarmo says. “I think if you have people in your church with that level of skills, then you can tackle it. But if you know how to plug in an Ethernet cable and that’s the extent of it, then probably it’s not what you should be doing.”

"Plantation recognized their significant online viewership growth and came to Adorama with requests for new cameras, lenses, and platform and dolly systems," says Andrew McKenzie, the church's account manager with Adorama.

Plantation also boasts a robust team of volunteers. deCarmo estimates that 15 to 20 percent of Plantation’s volunteers are adults, and the rest are children ages 10 and up. “The kids in our church are anxious to be 10 so that they can serve,” he jokes. Each goes through a five-week training program, led by their peers and supervised by deCarmo. “They go through every aspect of the ministry: sound, cameras, how to direct––everything––and then we schedule them based on what they like. Some of them just don’t like doing certain things, and I don’t really like forcing a child to do something just because that’s what has to be done.” Those who demonstrate exceptional engagement and progress are the ones that deCarmo recruits as trainers, provided that they can also effectively communicate technical concepts.

“You have to identify the kids you believe excel and can help others,” deCarmo says. “Some kids excel, but they can’t really explain things to other kids––and they don’t have the patience level because they know how to do a certain task, and they assume that everybody else should know how to do it, too. That’s not what you want for a trainer. You have to be very patient and allow people to make mistakes.”

While deCarmo and his team are self-reliant, the media minister also works to develop relationships with reliable sources. He began working with Adorama, an audiovisual equipment dealer in New York, N.Y., when he was shopping for a camera. With almost 300,000 products in its portfolio, Adorama is one of the leading providers of content creation technology, including audiovisual, lighting, photography, and more.

deCarmo admits that what first attracted him to the company was its pricing, but relays that since then, the relationship––particularly with his account manager, Andrew McKenzie––has grown beyond that. “I bounce ideas off of him, and he will look things up for me,” deCarmo says. “One of the big advantages of working with Adorama is that if we order something and we’ve made a mistake, they take it back and there’s no re-stocking fee. You can buy with confidence, because even if you make a mistake, you can fix it.” He adds that McKenzie keeps him abreast of technology trends, will hunt down hard-to-find items, and has even procured products that Adorama doesn’t stock from other sources.

“Over the past year, houses of worship have had to meet the production needs of growing online viewership combined with improved quality,” McKenzie says. “This has led to broadcast facilities upgrading current technologies and smaller, traditional houses of worship stepping into the world of webcasting and streaming. Plantation recognized their significant online viewership growth and came to Adorama with requests for new cameras, lenses, and platform and dolly systems. They made improvements in communications systems and audio, resulting in overall higher quality production and outreach.”

deCarmo summarizes Plantation’s relationship with Adorama in this way: “To illustrate why we use them as a partner: it’s advice, it’s support, it’s the whole gamut,” he says. “We fulfill between 80 to 90 percent of our technology needs through Adorama, at competitive prices, and with all of the other benefits that they offer.”