Q&A: Church Facilities
Conference & Expo (CFX) 2020
Adapting to a pandemic with virtual,
interactive learning
How did CFX Expo come about?
Ron Procopio: CFX came together as the stars
aligning at the right time. The WFX event had been
in decline and asked me to consult and give some
feedback. It became evident that WFX [Worship
Facilities Conference & Expo] would either close
or be sold. I reached out to my friends at EH Media
to discuss partnering to either purchase or replace
WFX. After weeks of back-and-forth with a variety
Ron Procopio
of companies and people, it was decided that we
would begin with a fresh, new event to replace the Worship Facilities
Conference & Expo: CFX Expo.
What are the overall objectives of CFX Expo?
Procopio: We wanted to bring back the original feeling and focus of
what WFX was at the beginning: a place for those who serve God to come
to learn how to best use technology, improve their facilities, and manage
the incredible amount of work all of that takes. Our goal is to create a
warm, welcoming community focused on showcasing how to get the
message of God across to a congregation.
On a typical church staff, who is most likely to benefit from CFX?
Procopio: The technical production teams will benefit from the Tech
track. They’ll get lighting, audio, video and streaming sessions by industry
leaders who have graciously agreed to participate.
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Facilities and operations managers will benefit from sessions in
the Facilities track, where we’ll focus on communications, emergency
procedures, design-build and more.
All those groups — as well as senior church leaders — will also benefit
from the Leadership and Management track, which focuses on volunteer
recruiting, project management, financial management, and more. We
have always had some senior pastors and executive pastors attend WFX.
We even used to host a Pastors’ Forum. But the focus was definitely
on technologies and facilities. Now, we’re looking at Leadership and
Management as an equal one-third of the conference program.
What types of vendors and suppliers are you expecting around the Leadership
& Management track?
Procopio: We’re expecting companies that specialize in e-giving,
project management, software — even live streaming, because it's become
such a huge component of our COVID-19 world. Mostly, we’re bringing
onboard companies who focus on improving attendees’ managerial
capacity and day-to-day effectiveness.
Is there a benefit for an executive pastor, pastor, or church administrator
attending the Tech and Facilities tracks, as well?
Procopio: You know what's funny? [A presenter] just submitted his
session for the expo, and it will focus on leadership teams and service
production becoming two sides of the same coin — how they can work
together to understand each other's language. As soon as I heard it, I
thought, That’s everything these conferences have been missing. It speaks to
executive pastors; technology isn’t their bread and butter, but it bridges
that gap. Ultimately, AV is only a vehicle for pastors to use to get their
message across. Having a vested interest in it is innate for them.
Obviously, COVID-19 is taking its toll on in-person conferences and events.
How is your team ensuring a safe experience?
Carefully, is the short answer! With the recent increase in cases in Texas,
hesitancy for our exhibitors to travel, and the willingness of the convention
center to work with us, we have decided to postpone CFX Conference &
Expo to September 21-22, 2021. It’s disappointing, but this is why we created
a plan A, B and C — not only for this year, but thinking of years to come.
It has changed our entire outlook as a company. We started thinking we
were creating an event, but we quickly adapted to become a multimedia
company. We now have two writers helping us create case studies and
articles, and we have monthly podcasts, webinars, and now are working
on virtual events. It has been amazing in such a short time.
We will be launching a series of virtual ‘events’ beginning with
the content we created for this fall. I use the quotes because it’s a
two-month-long experience/platform rather than a one- or two-day
intensive event. Think Netflix meets Facebook: live sessions that
become on-demand immediately after; a virtual expo floor where you
can have video calls with exhibitors; peer-to-peer networking — 24
hours a day for two months.
As a society, we’ve become accustomed to our education and
entertainment when and where we want it. So, we’ve developed a system
that allows for that to happen. You can watch the live sessions for 1 hour
each day or binge 20 hours of content over a weekend.
With the physical event, we now have 16 months to build something
very exciting and special!
Are there resources available to help people familiarize themselves with CFX
and its mission?
Right now, the best resource is www.churchfacilitiesexpo.com. Our
social media channels also have up-to-date news about the event and the
industry-at-large. We’ll be launching a mobile app at the end of July, so
check for that in your app stores.
30 CHURCH EXECUTIVE | JULY / AUG 2020