Strategy for playing "Come, Follow me"

[Gary_Miller]

$1000,00 X 6 = $6000.00 transferred from LUBA to the FMG budget. A big win for the FMG. A big lose for the youth and their families who now have to come up with the total funds for camps, on average that around $200 to $250 dollars per YM/YM. The average family with YM/YW usually have 2 to 3 youth in the YM or YW program at the same time. I will let you figure the cost per family.

[joe.tandy]

$1000.00 each for all 6 YM/YW classes?

Is every class going to be showing a video at the same time? With a little coordination, probably not. There are many lessons which don't even call for videos, so fewer TV's would be needed. For example, in Sunday School, January has 5 lessons, 2 of them have videos. February has 6 lessons, 2 of them with videos.

This is also using worst case scenario figures. Can you get by with a smaller TV? Can someone donate an old computer to serve the videos? *Nobody* has their own laptop or iPad to use? Of course, every situation is different. We have several branches that combine their classes because they are small, so they only need 1 or two.

I'm finding that many people have resources to contribute. The computer I'm using is old, but works just fine, cost $0. One or more teachers has their own iPad or laptop, cost $0. You don't need to purchase 6 complete systems.

[dannykos]

Well, this conversation seems to be fragmenting, partly due to lack of direction.

I will be distributing USB sticks will all video files on them to the relevant teachers with a quick overview of how to use them on the TV. Seeing as we only have 2 TVs it is going to have to come down to a first come first served basis on the booking of said TVs.

In the real world what I expect to happen is those that have tablets/laptops will just use those - and those that don't will be more diligent in booking the TVs ahead of time to ensure their availability.

Let's not get too hung up on the videos - the are just another teaching resource available among many others, to help the youth feel the spirit.

[TinMan]

$1000.00 each for all 6 YM/YW classes?

Is every class going to be showing a video at the same time? With a little coordination, probably not. There are many lessons which don't even call for videos, so fewer TV's would be needed. For example, in Sunday School, January has 5 lessons, 2 of them have videos. February has 6 lessons, 2 of them with videos.

In January, every Young Men's lesson and every young women's lesson has at least one video every week. Some weeks there are two.

[joe.tandy]

In January, every Young Men's lesson and every young women's lesson has at least one video every week. Some weeks there are two.

True, but I also feel that using the advise given by dannykos needs to come into play. I'm looking to maximize availability as much as possible, not provide 100% availability. That isn't likely. Again, I can only speak for my situation, but I know we have teachers that have technology available to them which reduces the ward burden.

I guess when I started this I was looking for feedback on the delivery method and its usability, I didn't mean to get hung up on cost, how many needed, etc. It's something I'm exploring. I'm trying to avoid having many different platforms that people need to use to get to the videos. I don't want the technology standing in the way of the experience, and therefore the Spirit. If you need to play a file from a USB drive for some things, go to the Mormon Channel for others, and maybe the website if the other methods are unavailable, it becomes cumbersome, distracting for the youth, and less likely to be used.

Professionally, I design and install conference rooms for business executives. The last thing they want to worry about is getting their information to the screen. They just want it to happen and it *must* be simple. That's what I'm trying to do with this. I know there are plenty of ways to get it done, but I'm looking for the most elegant solution I can, with the fewest number of parts, and fewest number of ways to get to what you're looking for.

[johnshaw]

An Apple-only solution will tie a ward/branch/stake into excessive expense for little gain in my opinion, the same thing can be done for much less money. If you are going to provide a solution that is Set-top-box based, the better idea would be to support an open standard. DLNA supports all types of OS/apps. I sure wish the Church would pipe in with some of what they are planning.

[TinMan]

Let's not get too hung up on the videos - the are just another teaching resource available among many others, to help the youth feel the spirit.

I'm not getting "too hung up on the videos." The subject of the thread is the best strategy to play them. It is changing almost weekly as people struggle to face "the video cliff" on Jan 1.

Again, I ask: If the videos aren't all that important, why did the Church go to the trouble of producing them all and linking one or two to every lesson? I am not saying they are the end all to providing spiritual moments in lessons. But videos are powerful tools, especially to the youth. I think the Church recognizes that.

I am looking at this from a teachers viewpoint. I look at these lessons and say to myself, "I would really like to show this video as part of my lesson. What do I have to do to accomplish that?"

One solution is as you suggest. Purchase my own IPad or laptop to carry back and forth to church. A second is to hope that one of the two TV's is available when I get there on Sunday Morning. Neither one seems appealing to me as a teacher.

For now, our stake is purchasing DVD players with UBS capabilities for each TV that doesn't already have them. They are then providing 6 flash drives with the videos on them for the library, that both the wards in the building can share. They can be used either in the existing TV's or teachers can check them out to use on their own devices. We will have a more strict check out policy on these flash drives to ensure they are returned.

Plus we have on our own set up WI-FI throughout the entire building for those who wish to try streaming them. We will soon know if the Church servers can keep up with demand.

[SarahBryce]

As an FM group, we are also looking into portable DVD players with USB capabilities. We thought the teachers could purchase their own flash drives if they wanted to, but the idea of furnishing them through the Library is a good one.

[dannykos]

Let's not get too hung up on the videos - the are just another teaching resource available among many others, to help the youth feel the spirit.

I'm not getting "too hung up on the videos." The subject of the thread is the best strategy to play them. It is changing almost weekly as people struggle to face "the video cliff" on Jan 1.

I certainly wasn't aiming my comments at anyone in particular, or suggesting that they're not important - just reminding us all that solutions costing hundreds or thousands of £/$ per seat are probably not worth the trade off.

I think the key to this will be an effective, functioning librarian who can manage the booking out/in of the TVs, USB sticks, or other AV resources. It may well be that with careful planning, the same TV or other equipment could be used by more than one teacher in the same lesson period.

I think that teachers that come to church without having a solution already in place for any video requirements for that weeks lesson may well end up being disappointed.

[joe.tandy]

An Apple-only solution will tie a ward/branch/stake into excessive expense for little gain in my opinion, the same thing can be done for much less money. If you are going to provide a solution that is Set-top-box based, the better idea would be to support an open standard. DLNA supports all types of OS/apps. I sure wish the Church would pipe in with some of what they are planning.

I'm not sure how supporting "all types of OS/apps" is the same thing as a single user experience. One of my biggest challenges at work are those who only look at cost when exploring a solution. Often that results in a confusing result to the user, and therefore seldom utilized. I'm trying to look at simplicity in addition to cost. Also, I don't see how a $99 Apple TV is an excessive expense when the Roku the Church recommends is the same price. I'm looking at the ATV as one vehicle to accomplish two tasks. First, a method to play things that can be downloaded. Second, a method to stream things that can not be downloaded. It does both. I'm trying to avoid having 2 pages of instructions based on how you need to access the video. Downloaded? Here's a USB stick, hopefully a menu will pop up, but if not you need to dig through some menus to find it. Then scroll through 100+ videos to find yours. Good Luck. Not Downloaded? Well.....you need an iPad or a laptop, right? It seems to be a wash.

Locked in to an Apple only solution is one way to look at it. Another way is to view it as simplifying or standardizing. When you have many things to manage it makes sense to me, but maybe it's only me.