Forked Thread: Teen Tech Volunteers (Was: What happens when there is no sound team?)

[benwilhelm]

Forked from: What happens when there is no sound team?

Originally Posted by smtv

...As far as teens- tried that they work for a season but then get too busy with other stuff and it is hard to teach when everything is running smooth. Just a matter of small adjustments. Then if some thing happens they don't know you just did to fix it. Things are right now. Maybe we will find a way to work around this.
PS I always say that teens are not "people" any way

I can tell you were just joking, but it brings up a good point: what to do about teen volunteers?

The first thing is the commitment issue. I think that's the case with most teens (and many adults too), that many are trying to figure out their passions which results in doing many things poorly and few things well. So in this way, including teens in the team is a good opportunity to teach not about commitment because they hear that a lot, but to teach about passions and doing a few things well instead of many things poorly.

The other main issue is probably actual technical training. There are many ways to train, and many specific things to train. There is actual mixing (including EQ, gain structure, etc.), setup, technical background (XLR vs 1/4", etc.), troubleshooting, and teardown. All tasking in and of themselves. However if this kind of training isn't going on, there is no where to grow beyond jockeying the desk through a service without too many hiccups. Also preparing for and starting this kind of training will grow you as well.

Technical excellence might be something we value personally in theory. But I think the reality is that many of us are frustrated by the lack of technical excellence in our services.

So all that said, perhaps the next thing to do here is to ask for some specific training methods. Have any of you prepared any manuals to help you? As funny as it would be to hear silly stories of teen involvement, I'd also like to hear some success stories and why it worked.

Ben

[dljordaneku]

Without going into a lot of detail, I am seeing some negative results of having teens in that maybe to many on one team. I am seeing respect issues along with, how can I put it, "passion" but not like the way benwilhelm mentioned it earlier.


dj

[benwilhelm]

Originally Posted by dljordaneku

Without going into a lot of detail, I am seeing some negative results of having teens in that maybe to many on one team. I am seeing respect issues along with, how can I put it, "passion" but not like the way benwilhelm mentioned it earlier.


dj

Not sure exactly what you mean? Perhaps they're passionate but not focused?

I don't think there's any need to go into detail but what do you think are the core things that lead to the respect issues?

If there are a lot of teens, then I think there are more issues that can arise. A thought on that is to have a whole team meeting to discuss values. As team leader, you can come prepared with the values as you perceive them and then be prepared to talk about them. But also I think it's important to hear what every corner of the team thinks the values should be. For instance, how would adults like to be treated and how would teens like to be treated, and do those line up and how can they. There a lot of values that really should be discussed, both those dealing with production and those dealing with team interaction.

Ben

[rkresge]

My experience with teen tech volunteers has been that there's often plenty of passion, but reliability is an issue. Perhaps that's the same as commitment, but I've run into it several times. It can be all but impossible to set up any kind of planned team schedule using teen volunteers. Let's be blunt: Most adults have at least begun to learn the importance of keeping promises, showing up on time, or even showing up at all. Teens are still at the stage in life where they don't have and don't need to have many adult responsibilities. That's great, but it can be difficult depending on them. When you have an entire praise team waiting on the sound tech who doesn't show up for a rehearsal, or a sanctuary full of worshipers but no sound tech, you have a problem.

Don't get me wrong: I *LOVE* teen volunteers! Unfortunately I've also found that when I need reliability and dependability I probably need to look to an "adult". Anybody have any solutions to that one?

[[Admin] osborn4]

We haven't had a problem with reliability. Sometimes we get more reliability from our teens than the adults. We did have one that had to entertain himself by whatever means possible, instead of just sitting at the board. But we had another that I preferred working with that was better than some of the adults.

AND... I know that we have kept some of the teens interested in church, because of this, when they could have easily wandered off during their teen years. Now they are wonderful Christian young adults, regularly attending church, whether it's their turn on the board or not.

[NGRRFan]

It's been my experience that teen volunteers have the best of intentions and mean well, then they discover:
1) GIRLS
2) BOYS
3) Cars
4) Paying jobs
5) School activities, sports, clubs, plays, etc
6) Homework

The teens that don't fall into the above things, may have problems with making rehearsals or performances because of transportation needs. We had one singer that her parents found it an inconvenience to bring her to practice. I told her that if she could get to church we'd find a way home for her. Many a time I ended up driving 15 miles out of my way to take her home, but it was worth it to see her involved.

I'll take an infrequent teen any day, and ask them to commit only for specific times when I'll be out of town.

[[Admin] danroth]

In the type of inner-city ministry we do, reliability is an issue with almost everybody - and the adults are often worse than the teens. We're really working on helping people learn the importance of honoring their commitments, but that's a slow process given the surrounding culture runs so heavily against it. In the meantime, our strategy is evolving into:
1) make it as simple as possible
2) train as many people as humanly possible (hopefully at least one of them will be there!)

[dljordaneku]

Originally Posted by NGRRFan

It's been my experience that teen volunteers have the best of intentions and mean well, then they discover:
1) GIRLS
2) BOYS

This is the passion I am talking about.

dj

[MediaGuy]

I'm training up some of the most... well, they're 7th & 8th-grade girls... Need I say more?!!

We use the teens for all of the tech positions during youth worship services, and we have them running the lights and video for the main services. I don't have any problems getting them here; it's a passion for them, and they work hard at it. My experience is, if you can keep them separated from each other, there's no problems. It's when you have more than one together, that's when the distractions come in!

I would not be able to man all the positions if it weren't for my girls - I love 'em! And yes, I do have guys (my oldest son being one of them), but if it's not a passion for them, I just call them to fill in.

[benwilhelm]

Originally Posted by rkresge

Don't get me wrong: I *LOVE* teen volunteers! Unfortunately I've also found that when I need reliability and dependability I probably need to look to an "adult". Anybody have any solutions to that one?

Again, I think going over team values helps breed reliability. Also a contract of sorts might be appropriate. Nothing huge, just an agreement that you'll show up when you're supposed to or arrange a sub and if you don't you won't be scheduled.

There will always be people of all ages that shuffle through the position because it ends up not being there thing. But for those people passionate about tech ministry, some aren't as responsible as we'd like. So outlining and agreeing on values and then a contract with expectations is a good way to help them get better.

Another somewhat revolutionary thought, for a position like this, perhaps it should be paid. Even most teens have more responsibility when it comes to something they are paid for. This doesn't have to be something big. Perhaps it can be part of the media budget and the tape/cd ministry would help offset it. I know this might spark a whole other topic and I think it's very situational and not right for everyone.

Ben

[NGRRFan]

Originally Posted by MediaGuy

I'm training up some of the most... well, they're 7th & 8th-grade girls... Need I say more?!!

Heaven help you!!!! Ragin' hormones, bad hair, and "EWWWWWwwwwwwwwwww it's Billy!! He's Creepy!"

If you think the girls are bad...... try working with the boys of the same age. They don't have a clue about anything at all, they bounce around like rubber balls, and have the memory retention of an amoeba.

Actually, at this age it helps to set up a skit for them to work, showing what goes on behind the scenes and how things go from bad to worse to fixed.

[j natale]

I have several youth that run the projection, lights and sound during our youth services. About 1/3 of them I would put up against any adult as far as commitment and level of responsibility. I've got several new guys that don't see the importance of doing their ministry well, it's not that they don't want to do this, but they want to do everything else and then slide into place at the last minute which doesn't work well. But in another 6 months they will be better. The people I don't like to work with are the ones that aren't teachable and think that everyone should be so grateful that they showed up to run sound, lights or projection today, and these are the ones that I get the most complaints about how they executed different cues during that service. Needless to say the less than humble ones are getting a little more one on one with me to bring them in line with how things need to be done.

By starting these guys out in the youth services I can tell in just a matter of weeks which ones will take their ministry seriously and do everything they can to not be a distraction. I wish I could do that with the adults to see who grasps how and when things need to happen.

J Natale