The Grid, Part 1
If you’ve ever watched MTV2, or Nickelodeon, you’ll notice a few things. If there’s not a commercial on, they are using every bit of square footage they have on the air. Buffer moments between shows are geared to hook the viewer in hopes that they will not lose them to channel flipping.
On Nickelodeon, you’ll be watching your average kiddie show, followed by an upbeat 2 minute interview with some random kid about his pet kangaroo. And before you know it, you’re into the next show. In an article about their programming strategies, MTV2 execs referred to this as using every part of the “grid.”
In designing worship services, are we examining and using every part of the grid? It is a question I am starting to ask my teammates every week. In working with students, it’s absolutely necessary to look at every part of the grid, since we are competing for a generation’s attention.
Too often we look at the pieces on the grid that take up the most space – the songs and the speaking. Not to say these pieces aren’t important, but what about the other small portions of the grid we are overlooking? The easiest parts of the grid to forget about are transitions.
After observing service after service, trying to figure out why our students are starting to “get it,” we realized that part of our success has been realized due to our attention to the details of transitions.
Look at your service, and notice what transpires whenever you are transitioning from one element to the next. Here are some questions you can ask when examining your grid:
1. What happens between the time the students enter, and the time the service starts?
2. If someone is praying on stage, does it fit the mood and the pace of the moment?
3. How can we use even basic lighting to enhance transitions?
4. Whenever a person goes up to the stage to speak, what is happening at that moment with the screens, lights, and audio?
5. If we are moving to an altar or response time, most likely that transition hinges on the words of the person leading it. Are those words being chosen carefully enough to handle such an important transition?
6. If a video is being used in the service to make a point, is it placed on the right spot of the grid to achieve maximum results? Furthermore, how do you transition out of a video?
7. How do you transition either before or after an announcement time in a way that is not distracting or jarring?
8. How effective is your band transitioning between songs?
9. Does your speaker handle transitions between points in a way that maintains the group’s attention?
These are only a handful of questions that you can use to start examining your grid. Attention to detail results in attention from your audience.
If we don’t use every bit of the grid, we have to realize that those parts of the grid will be empty, which means we risk people falling through the cracks. If we have the most important message in the world to deliver, why should we strive for anything less than to use up every bit of the grid that we have to communicate effectively?
In part two of this article, we’ll talk about the process of determining what and who should be on your grid.
