Childrens Ministry Online

Searching for the perfect check-in kiosks

Posted on 28. Nov, 2011 by Kenny.

I’m on a search for new check-in kiosks. A few months ago, we permanently moved our Middle School program to an are we call the Garage which is a great environment for the teens. To accomodate check-in, I just brought in two of the stations we weren’t using for kids. They’re nice looking kiosks (we use them all over the campus), but they have a serious design flaw. They’re made of laminated particle board. We just wheel them in and out of the Garage every Sunday, but going over the door frame and caused one of them to cave in already (another design flaw I’ve found… but I won’t go into details). So, I’m looking for new kiosks for the teens that looks good and is a little more rugged.

So, first of all, if you have some great check-in kiosk you’ve found, let me know. I’m still open to new ideas. Maybe you’re in the same places as me, so I’m going to share a few ideas of what I’ve found out there already. Lastly, I’m going to link to what I’m probably going to pick up at the end of the week, but my mind could be changed if someone lets me know of a better option.

Cornerstone Cabinetry

I wrote about these guys a few years ago. I think that they are associated with Granger Church in IN. We bought 3 of them at a past church I worked at and these were FANTASTIC. However, they we’re really expensive. Honestly, you get what you pay for. They were well made, they looked great and they were going to last a really long time. Read my post about them here. Visit their site here.

Build it Yourself Plans

Literally last week, I saw a tweet from James over at Help I’m A Children’s Pastor. He recently designed and built his own check-in station and it’s pretty cool looking. It feels very “Apple INC” in design. Although they wouldn’t really fit well in my building, they might be a good option for someone out there. James is a really creative guy and these are super sharp. Check out his post here.

From Your Local Sam’s Club

I was touring a local church 10 days ago (I’ll blog about that one later) and I came across some pretty cool kiosks for their Middle School space. They told me they got them from Sam’s Club. I went and they carried the entire line, but what they had at the church, Sam’s no longer carried. A little searching online, and I found them. Here’s a link. The front isn’t really all that impressive, but I figured that I might be able to dress that up a little… but I really like the carts. Honestly, what I like is the whole line of products from Seville Classics. I’m thinking of ordering the workbench for our media table as well as some of their stainless steel lockable cabinets on wheels.

So, that’s what I’m looking at right now. Anyone else got any ideas? I’d love to hear them!

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Systems, Processes and the great F1 outage of 2011

Posted on 31. Jul, 2011 by Kenny.

So, if you use Fellowship One, you know that there were significant issues with Check In today. Even if you don’t use F1, you might have seen the traffic on twitter about the issues. I know that for some churches, the slow-down was crippling. Most of the morning, I was watching the twitter stream and saw all kinds of tweets. Most were encouraging, some were certainly frustrated. I thought that it was interesting that today happened the way that it did because I’m in the process of finalizing my outline for a workshop I’m leading at the Kidmin Conference in Chicago and the subject of the workshop ties into what happened today.

Here at Gateway, check in was as fast as it always is… maybe even faster. It actually didn’t really matter than Fellowship One was down because we had a backup plan. About 2 years ago we bought those over-priced church nursery, two-part stickers to use in the event of an internet outage or issues on F1′s end. In the three years I’ve been at Gateway, this is the first time we’ve not been able to use electronic check-in. Being that this was the first, everything went pretty flawless? Why, because many years ago we put a system in place to anticipate what would happen with a check-in failure and today we put the system in process.

I’m sure there are people who are really upset with Fellowship One right now. I bet they’ve already gotten some mean-spirited phone calls and even a dirty email or two.

Was Fellowship One at fault? For not being able to provide electronic check-in… absolutely!

Were they at fault for churches having a bad check-in experience today? Absolutely not! I’m pretty sure that in documentation and training, they clearly communicate how important it is to have a back-up plan. If churches had a horrible check-in experience because there was no back-up plan or the back-up plan was poorly designed, that’s no one’s fault but the leadership over that church’s check-in.

This is the beauty of systems. Anticipate what is or is likely to happen and put a plan in place. When you become aware of the systems your organization needs, ministry becomes more efficient, effective and immune to road bumps like F1 users experienced today.

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All-In-One check in touch screen computers

Posted on 19. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.

Last week I posted about these $350 All-In-One check in computers that were selling on Amazon. What a great price. All you need to do is plug in a printer and a scanner and you’re ready to go.

So, I ordered two and got them in today. I spent a few hours this afternoon getting acquainted. It is a pretty low-powered machine, but I think it’s going to work fine for check-in. I’m excited to get them installed. I just checked and Amazon seems to still have 4 or 5 left, so I’d take advantage of it if you can. If they still have any by next week, I might even buy another one.

So, my friend Rob from Keller, TX bought one too and he saved me a bunch of time telling me how to calibrate for Fellowship one Check in as well as where to get a mounting plate (I’m hanging these suckers on the wall).

So, here’s what he shared:

Screen Calibration
Go to display properties and change the resolution to 800×600 (When I did it, I noticed something still wasn’t right). Then click on “advanced” and change the DPI setting to 96 (this was what I was missing. Once I did this, it all looked great).

Built in Software
Just in case you’re wondering, the machine has a lot of extra built in software that enhances the touch screen functionality. A lot of it is junk, but there’s a great little built in “soft” keyboard that is great. Once you get it all set up, you don’t need a keyboard wired into this thing.

Wall Mount
So you want to mount this to the wall? I couldn’t find out how to do this, but Rob figured it out. You have to buy this plate which you will attach to the back of the machine. Then you can use any VESA75 wall mount to connect the computer to the wall. I bought this wall mount off of Amazon.

Hopefully I’ll have these things installed in a week or two, so I’ll be able to give a full review then.

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Killer deal on touch screen all-in-computers

Posted on 12. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.

I just bought two Asus all-in-one touch screen computers for my check-in. You can hang them in a wall as it’s the CPU and screen all built in one.

How much did I pay you may ask?

$350

That’s right. I’ve never seen a deal like this.

It’s not a commercial grade computer, but I expect to get a few years our of them. Amazon stock is low, so get them before they’re gone!

You can get a little faster one for $200 more here.

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Is fingerprint check in weird and creepy?

Posted on 12. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.

So, I need your help. I’ve been using Fellowship One for many years now and based on the equipment we have we’ve been doing assisted check in. Essentially, that requires a volunteer to man the computer and check families in. However, I want to move toward self check in because it’s much faster. With Fellowship One, one of the best ways to do self check-in is using bar codes. However, I was talking to a manufacturing sales rep and he was suggesting that I look into fingerprint scanning as an alternative to bar codes. In the long run, it’s easier and faster. It’s not security based or anything like that, it’s just a speed thing and convenience thing (people forget to bring their key fobs, but they usually bring their fingers).

So, my bigger concern is this. Is it creepy? Does it feel too big brother-ish? Would your parents resist? My feeling is that most won’t, but will enough throw a fit to make it less than successful?

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How much do you pay for labels?

Posted on 08. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.

I’ve got a question for you.

How much do you pay for labels for check-in?

Why do I ask?

Well, I know that a lot of you out there are feeling the tight restraint of budget cuts. I don’t care how big your budget is, anyone would love to save a couple of hundred bucks for their ministry, right? Several years ago I moved into a new postion. The budget was a mess as it was one big pot and most expenses were coming out of that. When it was time to budget for the next year I was having to investigate what expenses were being lumped into this pot. I was trying to find all the things we spent money on and work that into the budget. As I was wrapping up the budget, I realized that I hadn’t accounted for labels for check-in. I dug in a little to find out what we had been spending. What I discovered almost made me sick. An administrator from another department had been ordering our labels from Staples or Office Depot and were paying the premium price of $30 per roll (350ish individual tags). THIRTY FREAKING DOLLARS! In 5 minutes of Google searching I found another supplier for $9 a roll. Just a few months later I was actually getting rolls for under $5. A little investigation saved me nearly $5000 a year for silly little stickers.

So, it might be helpful to share some information. How much do you pay for your labels? Are you willing to share your sources?

So, in the comments, tell us the following:

• What system do you use (i.e. Shelby, Arena, F1)?
• Where do you buy your labels?
• How much do you pay per roll?

Here’s what I’m thinking. I know that the best price for rolls come when you buy a lot of them. I usually buy in the largest quantity to get the biggest price and as a result I only have to order labels once or twice a year. Some of you at small churches wouldn’t go through that many labels in 4 years, so you have to buy less labels at the higher price. I’d be willing to bet that if some of you went in together, you could take advantage of the lower price. So, let’s just see what you’re paying for labels.

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Creative way to get touch screens without buying touch screens

Posted on 31. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.

So I’m excited about this little piece of technology. We currently use Fellowship One for check-in, but we’re only using it as assisted check-in. I want to move toward self check-in stations, but I only have one touch screen. I know that you don’t have to use touch screens, but let’s face it, it’s a better experience. I know that there may be others in a similar situation. You have a lot of monitors already, but you want to move to touch screens. Touch screens cost $500 each (let me know if you know of a better deal) and that’s cost prohibitive for most ministry budgets.

Then I came across Magic Touch, a little device that turns any monitor into a touch screen. It plugs into USB and then calibrates with your screen. I haven’t tested this yet, but I’ve got one on order. In a few weeks I’ll post a review and let you know how it works.

You can get more information on this device here. I actually bought it from here. Check out the video below for and idea of what it looks like. However… although this piece of equipment is pretty innovative and new… the video looks like it was made in the 80′s.

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Using the iPad for check-in

Posted on 23. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.

I’ll be the first to admit. Using the iPad for check-in was beyond cool. It’s funny how many of you commented and messaged me for more information about using the iPad for check in. A few weeks ago when I first wrote about the idea of using the iPad for check-in, that post got more hits than anything I’ve written in a long time. I think I know what it is. You really want and iPad, don’t you?

Ha! Well, here is what I posted a few weeks ago along with links and video. This is where it all started.

I wasn’t overly creative. I simply copied what they did. I downloaded WinAdmin on my iPad. From there, I ran into problems. When it comes to tech, gadgets and applications, I’m pretty knowledgeable. However, when it comes to networking and connectivity, I’m not your man. I was having network issues, so I had our IT guy get me hooked up. Because our wireless in our Kids lobby is a different network than the actual check-in machines, he had to set up the iPad for VPN. It gave him some trouble at first, but within a few minutes, that was working. He put all the server information in WinAdmin and within minutes, it was working perfectly. I really like the VPN feature which gives me a lot more options.

So this Sunday, we were looking for new 1st graders. We were doing something special for their promotion, so I was checking in families that had a first grader. We had a huge crowd on Sunday and having me on the iPad seemed to help with flow (even though one machine was down becasue that’s the computer I was logged into with the iPad). I was pretty busy, but it was fun and personal. I felt like I had a better connection with both the kids and the parents… I totally liked it. Initially I couldn’t tell overall if it was helpful or not, but the volunteers at check-in said that it helped them tremendously. Big win!

So, my thoughts…

This isn’t an iPad app. It’s more of a hack. You’re using an app to remote desktop into a windows machine and essentially using that machine to check-in kids. As soon as they check-in, the parents can pick up their tags from a volunteer standing by that printer. The downsides are that you have to have a computer that you’re essentially taking control of for check-in. Also, it’s slightly sluggish. Not enough for me to not use it, but not as fast if I was standing at that computer. You see, we’re still using assisted check-in with Fellowship One. Because of our set-up, this was a really nice touch. If we were fully integrated with self check-in, I’m not sure we’d need or want to do the iPad check in. However, it’s certainly worth playing with. I highly recommend you get your hands on an iPad and experiment. Then you’ll know if it’s worth getting one for your ministry.

Although we used this for F1, I don’t see why you can’t use it for other systems as well. Remember, the iPad doesn’t really print, so you’ll essentially have to use a remote desktop app like WinAdmin to take over a computer with a printer. Definitely worth checking out though.

What I’m hoping for? That someone would develop and iPad app that integrates with F1 check-in where this is a feature and not a hack… but for now, this will work.

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Installing a Zebra Printer for Fellowship One

Posted on 04. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.

Since Easter, I’ve had three check in computers die on me. Since then, we’ve had to reinstall printers on the new computers. When it comes to check-in, I know more than anyone else at our church, so it’s usually much faster for me to make sure the printer works for check-in. If you use Fellowship One and have worked with Zebra, printers, you will know that installing a Zebra Printer to work with F1 is about as easy as meeting the president. Let’s just say it’s not the most intuitive process. Since I’ve had to do this three times in the last few months, I finally made notes. This blog post is a result of these notes. Hopefully this post helps someone else in Zebra printer hell, but this blog post is a reference for me for when I have to install another printer on a new computer.

I have a feeling that someone is going to read this post and say, “Hey, you’re totally going about this the wrong way.” Please, if you know of an easier way, leave a comment with your instructions.

First of all, figure out what Zebra printer you have. We have a mixture of LP 2844′s and LP 2844-Z’s. I think that at one point, I might have even had a few TLP-2844′s that I got off Ebay for a good price. First of all, you’ve got to download your drivers. You can get them all from the Zebra website drivers page. On the left-hand side, just select the model of the printer you have and it will take you to a page where you can download the appropriate drivers. I’ve just been downloading the recommended driver for my model which is usually some from of the “Zebra Designer Driver.” Download the driver and install it.

Once I’ve installed the driver, my computer usually recognizes the printer at this point, connecting the driver to the new printer. I usually go to “printers” under the start menu and install a new printer. Because I’ve installed the drivers and the Zebra is connected to the computer, it adds the Zebra as the new printer. Now the goal is to get the printer to print a test page.

From the printer control panel, I right click on the Zebra printer and click on properties. On the general tab, I might go ahead and click, “print test page” to see if it’s working. Usually I’ve got to make sure some other things are right before it will work. On the sharing tab, I usually select “share this printer.” I think I remember some documentation telling me that I’m supposed to share, but I can’t remember. Honestly, I think some of my machines have sharing turned on and others have it turned off. On the ports tab, I make sure the computer is talking to the port the printer is plugged into. That would be USB virtual printer port for a USB connected Zebra or the LTP port if it’s connected by the old printer port. Last of all, I’d check the advanced tab just to make sure the right driver is connected, although I don’t think I’ve ever had to make any adjustments on this page. After checking all these things, I go back to the general tab to print a test page. Remember, if you can’t print a test page from here, you won’t be able to do it from F1 check-in. If you get stuck, get any computer geek to get it working. It may take them a bit, but they’ll figure it out. Honestly, this part has been the most frustrating in the past.

Now that the printer is working, do the rest of the setup in F1. Log in to check-in and type in an active activity code. Go to the menu and click the button, “Print Test Tag.” If it prints here, you’re in business. If nothing happens, you need to set up the default printer. Click on the button, “Set default printer.” From here, just select the Zebra you have installed. I find that is shows all the printers you have access to, including old installations you might not use anymore. When you clean these out of your printer control panel, they should go away from the list in F1. Once you select the zebra as your default, try to print another test page. If it prints, you’re in business. Be sure to test it though with a few families just to make sure everything is working.

If it’s still not working, have someone better at this stuff than you work on it. Don’t call or email me becasue all I’ll do it tell you to do what I just wrote. I really love Fellowship One for check-in and the Zebra printers are the most durable thermal printers I’ve ever used, but setting them up has been a beast. I hope this helps. If you have any suggestions, comment below!

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Immediate and constant evaluation

Posted on 04. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.

My boss just came back from eight weeks of sabbatical. Something I get to look forward to in a little less than 5 more years. Sigh…

So, he’s been visiting other churches in Austin during these eight weeks. On one of these visits, he got an email just a few days after the visit thanking him for coming and asking him to fill out the following survey.

This is a simple google docs form. All the responses fill a spreadsheet with timestamps so you are likely to know what weekend a person is referring to in their review.

I honestly believe that most of us spend more time assuming how people feel about our ministry and more time moving on what we think is really going on. Honest and accurate evaluation is a lost art and a much-needed habit. We’re planning to implement a very similar evaluation in a few weeks or so.

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