Using Screen Monkey for a Church Service

In this example we will use Screen Monkey to run the visual content in a church service. A church service will often contain the following elements.

  1. Pre-service music played from an MP3 media file
  2. The congregation sings and lyrics are projected
  3. Prayer or meditation with key points or images displayed on screen
  4. Announcements or notices during which upcoming events are promoted using image slides and a short video clip
  5. Sermon for which the preacher has provided a PowerPoint presentation containing the key points of the talk
  6. Closing songs with lyrics
  7. Lead out music playlist from YouTube

As you can see we need to be able to easily present different types of media - audio, video, text, PowerPoint and YouTube. Screen Monkey can handle all these tasks.

Preparing Screen Monkey before the service

Before the church service begins you will want to prepare Screen Monkey. The main steps and topics are described below with links to more information.

  • Pages Consider how many pages we want to use. We can put everything onto the same page or split the service sections into separate pages. Set a name for each page we are using.

  • We need to collect all the of required media and copy or download it onto the computer running Screen Monkey.

  • Add Media To qiuckly add a media file to Screen Monkey drag it from Windows Explorer onto one of the empty dashboard slots. You can drag files or folders.

  • Add Songs The lyrics for the songs which will be sung need to be added either from local XML files or an online database such as Planning Center. New songs can be created by copying and pasting lyrics from the internet.

  • Add Streaming Media The service also includes a YouTube video, this is added by creating a new YouTube clip type and browsing to the required video.

  • Organise If the clips are not in the order we would like we can move them around to follow the service flow.

  • Save a copy of the show in case of computer issues or to re-use it another time.

Presenting the media during the church service

Playing the clips couldn't get much simpler. You left-click the clip to play it! A few helpful pointers.

  • Left click a click to play, the border will change colour to indicate it is live
  • Left click a different clip to immediately switch to it
  • Left click a playing clip to pause it
  • Fade clips in or out using transitions or the layers panel
  • Open the Preview Live Monitor to view all the slides which make up a PowerPoint presentation or a song.
  • Advance a PowerPoint or Song by repeatedly left clicking the clip icon or by clicking a slide in the live monitor.
  • Stop a clip and remove any content from the output by clicking on the top left 'Clear Layer' clip.

As you can see it's really easy to present content from a variety of sources. Using Screen Monkey there is no need to open the PowerPoint application or any other media players.

This topic presented one possible use of Screen Monkey. As you read through this documentation you will see there are many other possibilities including more clip types, clip settings for finer presentation control, macros for external device control, and more.