Mexico. We live in new times, and just as many organizations from all sectors take advantage of new media platforms and technological tools to communicate with their audience; religious communities have understood the importance of conveying their messages with the quality, impact and ease necessary for it to be properly received by their members, regardless of whether they are present at the temple or attending the celebration through the screen of a mobile device.
This need for communication poses new challenges and opportunities for professionals in audiovisual integration, content creation and event producers. That is why, within the next InfoComm Mexico 2019, the topic will be treated in depth through the Worship AVTech Summit, a cycle of educational conferences in which the public, from the expert integrator, to the head of technology or the communications area of a temple, will be able to expand their panorama of knowledge. The Worship AVTech Summit will be held on Friday, August 16 as part of the professional training offer of the InfoComm Mexico 2019 fair (August 14 to 16, WTC Mexico City).
Based on their experience in the audiovisual industry, the organizers of InfoComm Mexico identify some of the technological challenges that temples and religious centers face in Mexico and Latin America. From the fundamental need for messages to be heard clearly during a celebration, to how to develop those messages so that they achieve a better impact among the public.
Taking advantage of video: Unfortunately not all temples have the ideal isoptic for attendees to see those who lead the celebration. From visual obstacles such as columns, to huge spaces with poor lighting, they complicate the participation of older adults and those who occupy the last rows. In these cases, a closed circuit video installation is required, with robotic cameras and programmable autotracking function to follow the religious minister, in combination with flat screens and monitors for visual reinforcement that are ideal to bring the image to all present.
The challenge of acoustics: Building a new temple is not something simple for the religious communities of the region, hence many choose to condition spaces that were originally designed for other purposes. Event halls, sports centers, movie theaters and even wineries are used to adapt them as temples. These places represent an opportunity for companies specializing in acoustics, as they have the challenge of improving the dispersion, coverage, intelligibility and loudness of the enclosure through diagnostic projects that allow the development of an integral solution with the implementation, design and construction of diffuser and sound absorbent panels.
A message that is heard: If there is an area that has advanced remarkably, it is the audio for religious temples. Today various brands offer speakers in the form of very thin columns, capable of delivering a sound with highly directional dispersion, which reduces reflections -on the walls and ceiling- and echoes, guilty of zero intelligibility. In addition, there are multiple network audio systems that allow distribution through protocols such as AVB and Dante.
To learn more about the importance of audio, experts such as Juan Tamayo, CTS and Senior Applications Engineer of Audio-Technica, and Michael "Mija" Krieg Schreiber, Sales Engineer at the Bosch company, will give a couple of talks about the resources and techniques available for temples to sound clearly.
Bring the message to the whole community: Currently, many religions understand that not all of their faithful can physically attend the temple. Many communities have begun to use platform channels such as YouTube, Vimeo or Facebook to share messages or religious celebrations themselves. For this they require a minimum infrastructure that includes cameras, microphones, audio-video mixer, encoder and a server that sends the AV signal to cyberspace.
One of the conferences, given by Claudius Bezerra, Product Marketing Manager of Sony Latin America, will talk precisely about the use of video and streaming solutions.
Simple operation via automation solutions: From facilitating the work of a non-specialized operator, possibly a community volunteer, who is responsible for the basic operation of audio and lighting of any temple; to provide multiple control options for the expert in charge of a religious celebration full of multiple audiovisual tools, live musicians, streaming and others; automation technology presents attractive operational and resource optimization benefits for temples, auditoriums and religious centers.
Extensive connoisseur of automation technologies, Néstor Zarazúa, Regional Sales Manager of Extron, will be in charge of a talk on the subject.
The contents: In addition to the technological infrastructure, temples require content makers to transform into video, animations, sounds and music the messages that a religious community wishes to share with its members. This is a new field of action for experienced creatives, filmmakers, set designers and producers.
And finally, just as religions have their codes of conduct well established, audiovisual technology has international norms and standards that it is important to know and comply with so that, from installation to daily operation, the systems work smoothly. Nelson Baumgratz, CTS-D. Regional Manager for Mercosur of AVIXA will give a conference on AV regulations in religious centers.
For more information visit https://mexico.infocomm.show/
