Faithlife Proclaim

Avantages

What I love most about Proclaim is that it is so intuitive with the layout and how things are put together. It doesn't take a computer genius to be able to lay out a presentation. Also, the person left to run the presentation during the service needs to know nothing more than how to Progressive slide forward or backward. It's really that simple!
Proclaim is even made it super simple by integrating our work subscriptions, Bible versions in scripture, along with song lyrics within the software. It is literally a one-stop-shop. What used to take me over 2 hours to do in illustrator, Photoshop, and PowerPoint, I can now get done in about 30 minutes and Proclaim.

The customer service is also outstanding! Each time that I have emailed them, I've gotten a reply back usually the same day with a personalized email addressing my specific question. No Scripts or faceless reply to

Inconvénients

One of the things I like least about this software is the dependability of the sinking upload feature. I can work on a presentation at home, and press the sync feature leave my laptop open for a couple hours, and it still won't show up on the church computer several days later. We end up having to share the actual presentation file through Google Drive in order to make sure that everyone has access to the file that they need.
I wish that there was a way that I could actually see the progress of a file being synced and know what it is 100% uploaded and ready to collaborate with.

The other thing that I don't like about the software is that all the art, song lyrics, and in-depth Bible study stuff are all extra subscription cost. Period. In addition to the money that is spent each month on Proclaim itself. For a small church, this can be quite an expense and not everyone is able to pay it.
The church that I attend is about 30 to 40 people on a good Sunday, and they do pay for the Proclaim software, but I end up having to pay for all the artwork subscriptions myself just so that I don't pull my hair out trying to put presentations together. The basic artwork included with Proclaim is lackluster at best.

Avantages

Proclaim is multi-platform and has a cloud-based component, such that it's easy to create service presentations at home and then use them at church. All that's required is that the Proclaim software is installed both places and logged into the same group.

Overall, it's pretty easy to use and many things are obvious to find and use. It has enough customizability that it should be usable by both small and large churches alike.

Service content is editable in a freeform editor, with changes instantly previewed on slides to the right. It's super easy to see how changes affect what will be displayed to the audience.

Inconvénients

The biggest drawback is the song database and organization. You can't organize songs into different collections, nor can you see all of the songs in your database in one place in order to do organization, cleanup, etc. When you pull in a song to your service order, you are editing that song everywhere it might be used, so you have to be careful about changing verse orders, words, attribution, etc. Additionally, song titles must be globally unique within the church group. In other words, you can't have two songs named identically where one is a congregational version and the other is a choral version. You have to differentiate somehow via the name.

Faithlife has indicated they are working on a major upgrade to the song organization features, so I am hoping that this gets much better in the near future.

Editing backgrounds, adding images, and editing smartmedia is a little confusing at first, so it really takes some getting used to. This aspect of the product could be made better.

Avantages

We originally moved to proclaim because of the ease of use. Everything is so clearly laid out and really well labelled.
Gradually features have been added at just the right time. Our sermons are now recorded using proclaim and immediately uploaded to our website!
We regularly used the Pro Media package, but even the free media was exceptional.
One super useful feature, is how easily Proclaim connects to songselect and other databases.
We make full use of the ability for multiple team members to edit presentations.
We're still figuring out all of the features, but it's been incredible to see how the software has developed over the years and all of the features that they've added.

Inconvénients

On occasion, it can feel like features have been implemented but not totally thought through, however, this is usually fixed very quickly as users feedback.

Avantages

Simple, easy to use presentation software. Interface is great for volunteers to help use.

Inconvénients

Connections to the presentation can be slow, causing slide transitions to happen with a significant lag. Limited display options. Inability to insert new slides within a song. Bugs and quirks abound.

Avantages

I first started using Proclaim because I needed the ability to see my notes along with with slides but yet show just the slides on the screen. PowerPoint will do this but Proclaim has so many more features and the options are continually upgraded. I use Logos from Faithlife for my sermon creation exclusively. the sermon editor in Logos seamlessly transfers my notes and slides directly into Proclaim. Then I just have to tweak the slides as needed. Because it is cloud based, the worship and or song coordinator can put the song slides in separately as their part of the program. This is only the tip of the "iceberg" as far as the options that are available and continue to improve. A big or small church can use this program efficiently for their service. The pricing relative to membership is a big plus for our church.

Inconvénients

The software has come along way since it's beginning. You will need a steady throughput of 3-5 mg or more from your ISP for it to work efficiently. Although, it is possible to present offline. A good share of the bugs that I was having have been worked through by the Faithlife staff. I really have no complaints at present.