Church Facilities Conference & Expo ( CFX ) 2021
Procopio General Manager , Church Facilities Conference & Expo ( CFX ) Operations Manager for WFX , 2006-2010 Show Director for The United States Institute for Theatre Technology , 2012- 2019
How did CFX Expo come about ? Ron Procopio : We are sort of a second iteration of what was the Worship Facilities Conference & Expo , or WFX . I was part of that event at the beginning , and it ran for about 15 years before finally running its course . This version of Church Facilities is a sort of a rebirth of that event and community with the original team . At the beginning of 2020 , we decided to pull this whole thing together . And as you can imagine , doing so during a pandemic is probably the worst idea ever . But here we are , 16 , 17 months later and we have an event about to happen , which is really exciting .
Given the impact of COVID-19 , how will this year ’ s CFX Expo differ from previous years ’ experience ? Procopio : In a lot of ways , having an extra year for us to define ourselves and build our brand , make connections , enabled us to come up with a better program than we would have in just nine months . The pandemic allowed us to grow and explore and become a better company and in essence , create a better event for the community . Obviously , the hot topic right now is around video streaming . Streaming was always something that seemed like it was for bigger churches — until it became necessary . Here we are , as the pandemic is sort of winding down and a lot of churches are saying , “ we made it through the year , how do we make it better , how do we get good at this ?”
What are the overall objectives of CFX Expo in 2021 ? Procopio : We want to reach as many people as we can . We ’ re letting everyone know that there ' s education and training for growing your production staff , your facilities staff , and your executive leadership teams , that this is a place for you to grow your ministries . How are you managing the church production ? How are you managing the building and your staff so that you can become a bigger , stronger church for your congregation ?
How has COVID-19 changed CFX Expo ’ s outlook and operations ? Procopio : We have learned so many things about ourselves this past year . When you think all things are dark and there ' s no hope , we trusted in ourselves . We trusted in God . We decided that we were going to find a way , we were going to make this work . For us , the pandemic was very much an internal , introspective sort of experience . Looking at our 2021 registration , we thought with the pandemic that there were two possible paths : people have been cooped up for a year and need to get out , or they ’ re cautious and fearful to venture out . So far , our registration is doing really well . There very much seems to be a desire to reconnect with each other .
On a typical church staff , who is most likely to benefit from CFX ? Procopio : We have three tracks of education — for production and technology , facilities and operations , and leadership . We have different topics of education and messages for each of those verticals .
What can church staff gain from a peer-to-peer networking environment like the one that CFX provides ? Procopio : When you ' re at an event , it ' s great to see people who are doing things that are bigger and bolder than what you ' re doing , but there ' s also budget challenges . If I ' m in a church of 500 seats , it ' s great to see what Watermark Church is doing , but that ' s on a level that my church can ' t afford . Often , when people go to events , they seek out the institutions that very much look like them . They have the same size venue , the same sort of challenges . The best part of networking is just wandering and meeting people , asking questions , and finding those connections . It ' s not something that I can produce as a conference manager ; those experiences happen organically , peer-to-peer .
Is there a benefit for an executive pastor , pastor or church administrator attending the Tech and Facilities tracks ? Procopio : In our messaging , we talk a lot about bringing your team . We encourage that because people bring different points of view and different experiences when they come to an event like this . If an executive pastor brings his technical director and facilities manager along , they can sit in a tech session and collaborate and learn from one another .
“ We have learned so many things about ourselves this past year . When you think all things are dark and there ' s no hope , we trusted in ourselves . We trusted in God . We decided that we were going to find a way , we were going to make this work . For us , the pandemic was very much an internal , introspective sort of experience .”
Are there resources available to help people familiarize themselves with CFX and its mission ? Procopio : We started out with a single website 16 months ago . Over the past year , we have started to develop so much content that we split ourselves into two . We created a second website called cfxconnections . com , where we are posting articles and case studies and podcasts and webinars , various resources for the house-of-worship community . We have all kinds of show specials happening , exhibitor lists . Our hope is to have a mobile app available for download very soon . We also have an early bird deadline of August 1st to get the best possible pricing .
— Reporting by Emma Green
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