Tech for the Local Church
Posts tagged Collaborate
Planning Center Online
Jun 25th
Summer projects are smacking around the Church 2.0 team – for a glimpse of how Kez is occupying his summer, just look at his blog! For me, it’s just family stuff and my day job. So, the outcome has been a bit of a slow down on the blog here. Also, in case you missed it, the RSS feed for the last post was a little flaky, so you’ll want to make sure you check out Remember the Milk.
Getting on to the point…
Planning Center Online is this really cool tool for planning worship services. Every now and again I use a tool and find myself thinking that the person/team behind this really knows the situation for which is was built. This is one such tool.
I’m not sure how to succinctly summarize this tool’s features except to say that it does everything you’d hope that it would (sequence songs, and other elements of the service) as well as store mp3′s, lyrics and other relevant attachments (paid version), schedule and email personnel according to their roles, track and report song usage, import song data from CCLI, and transpose chord charts (also on the paid version) – all on an online interface you can share with everyone involved in the planning and implementation of your church’s worship services.
The basic version is free and very functional (this is what I’m presently using). Paid versions add some features and the ability to expand with more personnel and multiple ministries.
The Planning Center Team has done an above-average job with tutorials and walk-throughs of the app’s features. Their “11-Minute Overview” explains it all pretty well in about, well, 11 minutes.
Online Resources
May 14th
Using Google Spreadsheets, Church 2.0 has started to compile a list of useful sites for Pastors. We have organized the sites into the following categories Study, Theology, Worship, Preaching, & Media. These categories are found at the bottom of the spreadsheet. [View the List]
Throughout this week I’ll highlight a few of my favorite sites for each category.
This is a working/evolving document. If you have sites that you suggest we add, post a comment with the link and we’ll add it.
Google Week: Docs & Spreadsheets
Apr 18th
What is it?
Google Docs & Spreadsheets is a free online word processor & spreadsheet program that allows you to create, edit, and share files with other users in real time.
Google Docs & Spreadsheets is a free online word processor & spreadsheet program that allows you to create, edit, and share files with other users in real time.
What is it good for?
Ability to work in collaboration with other users…
- Edit, create, etc. on their own time. No meeting necessary.
- Discuss and undo changes of other users at any time.
- Revise documents such as by-laws by upload your current .doc, .txt, .rtf file. Then begin the revision process by allowing a board/council to view or edit along with you.
- Create and share a setlist or order of an event between a Worship leader and Teaching Pastor.
What are the benefits?
- User permissions can be set to view only or full editing for each document.
- Peer editing is a breeze – your team can simultaneously edit a document from completely separate locations.
- No software to install on the PC and it works with any Windows, Mac, or Linux PC w/Internet.
- It’s free!
What are some limitations…
This is Internet based so those w/o Internet or a slow connect will not reap the benefits of this product. Also it doesn’t have all the bells & whistles that MS-Word & Excel has, just the basics. But don’t worry, you can send your documents back to your familiar word processor (e.g., Word, OpenOffice Writer, etc.) or your printer when you’re done.
Learning curve… is minimal. If you can use a word processor you can use it.
To get started using Google Docs & Spreadsheets click here.
FYI – they are working on Presentation software simliar to PowerPoint.
Google Week Series: [1] [2] [3] [4]
Why Online Collaboration?
Mar 29th
How often do you have to meet with your staff, elders, or ministry teams to create, edit, or finalize a document, a project, a plan or a schedule? What if you could do it all on your own time? That’s what online collaborating allows you to do. Create a document and share it for editing, setup a proposed schedules online and have volunteers agree or disagree to the dates proposed, share a set list so the worship team can plan and/or practice ahead of time.
One of the most difficult things is trying to work around other peoples schedules. Now you don’t have to. You can bring the meeting to them and on their time.
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