November 3, 2006E D Ballard1 Audio/Video Equipment Care Training First Presbyterian Church of Wheaton

2 Training?... Us? Based on experience there is a need to train all users. Cost of equipment maintenance has been unreasonably high. Equipment needs to be available; not in repair. Appreciation of the care needed and costs involved is uneven.

3 Specifics Projector bulb –Cost: over $ –Lifetime w/ care: 2000 hours –Experience: no bulb has lasted much more than 600 hours. –Keeping a spare on the shelf is expensive. Projector zoom ring, broken on a field trip, has been replaced. Shock/vibration pad for cart has been misplaced. Laptop hard drive cannot survive rough handling.

4 Expectations Users who know what is fragile and costly will protect our assets. Training all users is a necessary step. Limiting use to trained users is also necessary. –This means no delegation of equipment handling to the untrained. –This means no equipment release to the untrained.

5 Needed Care

6 Usage Process - Reservations Anyone may reserve A/V equipment for an event by identifying the trained user who will assume responsibility for the reserved equipment. The church administrative assistant will record A/V equipment reservations using the list of trained users. The A/V Ministry Team will train A/V users by appointment and identify for the Administrative Assistant those who have completed training.

7 Usage Process - Handling All handling, powering, and use of the equipment is to be by trained users only. Administrative Assistant provides access to A/V equipment kept in the Stewart Hall closet. Projector, laptop and DVD player may be hand carried or, if shock/vibration protected with the bubble pads only, moved by the A/V cart eased over bumps. Carrying cases must be used off premises. Projector must complete cool-down and have the lens cap in place before moving.

8 Usage Process - Handling After any cold soaking, e.g., overnight in a car, the projector, laptop and DVD player must be allowed to slowly reach room temperature (3 hours on a very cold day) before use. Condensation can cause severe damage. Projection screen must be fully retracted before transporting and its reflective surface not touched.

9 Usage Process - Operation Projector lens cap must be removed before power up. Projector power cord must not be unplugged before its cooling fan stops – just listen. Projector is to be put in “stand-by” whenever possible to limit bulb-usage hours. All A/V equipment is returned to the Stewart Hall closet with the Administrative Assistant. User manuals are in the carrying cases.

10 Usage Process - Operation For ease of projector and cart use, view the PowerPoint slides by Peter Richey found on the web at firstpreswheaton.org/av/projector/basic_setup2.ppt (You need to type this in. It’s not in the Church site.)

11 Audio/Video Training End Thanks for your attention.