VidiU backorder

[georgevanleuven]

We have 3 stake conferences this year. The one in March had a visiting authority come to the Boise, ID area (it was an area stake conference) so they brought a broadcast truck from SLC to the Meridian area near Boise. On normal stake conferences in our own stake, we normally broadcast to 5 other buildings in the stake because of being spread out and also the stake center will not hold everyone. Now they are comparing our local webcasts to the area stake conference, commenting that your video and sound were not the quality of the March stake conference. Our reply is "we don't have the special equipment that costs thousands of dollars that the church sent to do that conference."

[lajackson]

Our reply is "we don't have the special equipment that costs thousands of dollars that the church sent to do that conference."

My answer is always, "Have you competed the challenge the visiting general authority gave us in his concluding talk?"

[rl_albright]

My answer is always, "Have you competed the challenge the visiting general authority gave us in his concluding talk?"

Out of curiosity, what was the challenge given from your visiting general authority?

[russellhltn]

Out of curiosity, what was the challenge given from your visiting general authority?

I suspect it doesn't matter - the point is that the complainer isn't holding up their part.

[rl_albright]

Out of curiosity, what was the challenge given from your visiting general authority?

I suspect it doesn't matter - the point is that the complainer isn't holding up their part.

Ah ha!! I misread the post, at first I thought the challenge was related to the technology.... now I see it was a retort to someone's complaints.

[russellhltn]

Don't feed bad. I had to read it a couple of time before I figured it out myself. My first thought is the challenge had to do with funding.

[russellhltn]

Just to tack on here. The cost of the VidiU is being covered by church ICS only for the calendar year 2015. Starting in 2016, the FM Group would have to cover the cost. As a practical matter with budgets and whatnot, I'd suggest that everyone needing one get their VidiU this year. Otherwise, you might find a significant amount of foot dragging and budget issues if you put it off too long.

This information comes from a letter addressed to FM Groups dated June 5th from the Managing Director, Meetinghouse Facilities Department.

[Mikerowaved]

Can I just add a word or two of common sense here? If your stake has a pressing need for a webcasting device, by all means work with your FM group to secure a VidiU for your stake. However, if you're thinking of picking one up just because the getting is good, please reconsider. The cost of the device may not come out of the stake budget, or the FM budget, but we all know where the funds ultimately come from and items like this should be given serious consideration before requests are made.

[russellhltn]

However, if you're thinking of picking one up just because the getting is good, please reconsider.

I agree with what you are saying. But I wonder how many stakes are able to comfortably host stake conference as a single session at the stake center? Our stake has been doing it, but we have an extra big facility. I have to wonder how many members skip stake conference because it's so crowded. My stake presidency has asked to start webcasting and specifically asked for that as part of the building renovations. I'd imagine there's a number of stakes who don't webcast just because that seemed like a difficult hurtle. But that's changing, so I'd imagine there's a number of stakes who haven't webcast in the past that would like to.

I do think that it would be worth a conversation with the stake presidency to see what their future plans are.

[johnshaw]

I don't think they bring them to stake or regional like things, I've also heard the same thing. However, I did help the FMG once setup for a Mission President Seminar, there were a couple of 1Q70, and the area director of temporal affairs. They did have a kit that included pre-configured appleTV and wifi that they all had pre-loaded on their church managed ipads. So they do exist... I just think they travel and are used at a 'higher' level than what we're typically involved with.