Control ProPresenter 7 Video Playback from Ross Dashboard- Cue/Load, Play and Stop Video

What you need:

–A Ross Switcher with the Pro7 machine as an added “server” device.

-Dashboard computer should be on the same network as the switcher and Pro7 machine

-A MEDIA playlist on Pro7 with less than 20 videos in it. (Not a regular playlist)

-This uses the AMP protocol, and the Ross devices consider Pro7 to be a Server.

-This is for playing back video, not controlling lyrics or other presentations. ( I suggest a separate lyric machine)

Renewed Vision has added Rosstalk to ProPresenter 7 (Pro7). That’s great. But Pro7’s Rosstalk feature only talks to Ross devices, it does not listen. You can control certain functions on a Ross switcher. There are many ways that can be helpful. But you can’t control Pro7 from the switcher.

But what if you specifically wanted to use Dashboard to fire videos from a Pro7 machine? 

It is possible, if you have a Ross Switcher that allows you to add devices like Media Servers, We have a Ross Carbonite (The older one, not the Black series.). 

Add Pro7 to The Ross Switcher–

To add the Pro7 machine you need to add the device on the switcher panel, not Dashboard. Go into the menu and add a device, choose a server and put in the Pro7 IP address when prompted. Remember what slot you used, that will show up in Dashboard. Make sure to set the device up to “roll clip” when you switch to it.

Configure Pro7 to talk to Dashboard-

On the Pro7 machine, configure the preferences to communicate using the AMP protocol. This article will help: https://support.renewedvision.com/hc/en-us/articles/360060251553-Devices-AMP. If your switcher is set up, when you hit Connect it will change to green. Right click the media playlist and “select for communication.”

Now your Dashboard can talk to your Pro7 machine. The Dashboard software can send a few commands, like cue, play and stop. Here’s how to set up a macro to load a play a particular clip.

In Dashboard, Custom Controls, pick the control button you want to use.  Go into the shot editor, find the bank and button. 

Load the clip-

Modify Event list, select devices, server. Then select Cue. The settings should default to your server and slot for the Pro 7 machine. If not, select those. Channel 1. Then type the exact file name of the video clip you want to load. Insert command.

Play the clip-

Modify event list, device, server and select play, server and channel 1. Insert command.

Now, hit record in the custom control editor, put your Pro7 machine in preview and hit auto trans. Stop recording. Name the command and hit done. Switch back to the shot box and test the macro.

When you need to change videos, just edit the custom control and change the name in the Cue and hit Replace Item, Done.

You can also set commands to stop and play the Pro7 machine. It will only play a clip that is already loaded.

Limitations

You can only fire videos from this machine on this one media playlist. You could set up another Pro7 machine the same way and load it into another slot on the switcher, but you would need an entire extra Pro7 machine.

Cautions

ProPresenter is presentation software, not a professional video playback solution. It plays video fine. but it can glitch, and need to be restarted. Contrast that with the Grass Valley K2 device we had been using. For all its quirks, it played video every time. The 2nd week we were using the Pro7 set up the audio on our service intro video was just a square wave. I thought we had gone back to dial up internet. Restart Pro7 and the problem was fixed. So, restart each week. Listen to the playback (don’t just watch meters) and don’t think you have to keep updating a solid machine. Only update the video playback machine when you need it. Run lyrics and other presentations off another device.

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Don’t spread gossip online. That’s it, that’s the post.

Proverbs 18:8 “A gossip’s words are like choice food that goes down to one’s innermost being.”

This is an admonition to fellow Christians to be mindful of what they believe and spread online. Maybe we think that because we don’t actually know the people, it’s not gossip?  It is gossip. It’s wrong. 

I get that it scores points on “Christian Twitter” to dunk on the Moderates/Libs. It’s always the mega church pastors that get hit, right? Mega churches put out sermons on video. So everyone can see what they teach. 

From time to time you see 1-2 minute clips from megachurch sermons pulled out to prove they have gone soft on sin. At no time is any benefit of the doubt given. The pastor can’t have misspoken, can’t have been taken out of context. The sermon may be 35 minutes of multiple points and sub points, but this 60 second clip is all that matters.

The clips are never plain. It’s never one of these guys saying, “I believe homosexual behavior is not a sin.” It’s never that clear.  The new clip is often tied back to another clip previously used for the same purposes.

The supposed heresy often contradicts what the church has previously, publicly said. Their belief statement on the web likely doesn’t reflect this new theological view.

The position is, the bad church/pastor publicly publishes their teachings where anyone can see them, but are, at the same time, secretly teaching heresy/bad theology. They have secretly decided to call sin holy and good. Not only are they wrong about their belief, but they are nefarious liars, saying the “right” thing in some places, but secretly leading the sheep astray.

This is the claim of some. These people take to social media and trumpet their discovery of false teaching. By all means, let’s get the mob back together. Who’s got the pitchforks and who has the torches?

You know what you don’t see? “I heard this and it disturbed me, so I called the pastor in question…. I reached out to the church highlighted in this clip…” Nope. Why would you ask a liar, right? They might be able to explain away your major issue. You might find out the clip doesn’t reveal the full theology of the speaker.

And then there are the guys who make a living out of doing this. They post hours of video proving some ministries have it all wrong.  You know what you never see? A video where they investigate and find out the critics were wrong. You will never see a headline that read, “We heard there was heresy, but we only found truth!”

Why is that? 

Why do regular Christian people retweet/repost/repeat unproven gossip? Why do people watch these expose’ videos? Proverbs 18:8 has it right. Gossip is so tasty.

Controversy breeds interest. If you feel you are right, or at least “righter” than them, you feel superior.  There’s a bit of allure to this “secret knowledge” that these posts and videos give out. You can be in the know. You can be someone who was not fooled. 

It’s “I may not be perfect, but I’m not that bad,”  combined with “I know things others don’t.”  Delicious, yet rotten to its core.

Here’s 3 problems with sharing these things:

1. You don’t know anything. You just don’t. Unless the person you’re criticizing said clearly, ‘This is my belief” you cannot know their theology from a few minutes of one sermon. You have to jump to too many conclusions. You don’t have enough information to use inductive logic properly. 
2. The experts you are listening to don’t know anything either. Every time I watch one of these long videos that “proves” something, it’s filled with conjecture. They have a list of things that, if you tilt your head and squint just right,  will prove what they are saying. But if anything is not exactly what they suggest, the house of cards tumbles down. I get it. They dug up some dirt, they got an insider feeding them info. They connected the dots, they put the jigsaw puzzle together. Those who subscribe to these theories refuse to entertain other possibilities. Because if they think for one second one piece of evidence might not be correctly interpreted, then their entire theory crashes down. 
3. It’s not biblical. This isn’t how you deal with false teachers. Before the internet you would never jump to public condemnation before you took several more steps. Matthew 18 lays out a pretty good path to conflict resolution. There are 4 steps. Even if you claim that public posts online counts as taking something to the Church, there are 2 steps before that point.  If you are really concerned about this brother, this congregation, then you will go to them and confront them in love. You will get the truth. But, if you are honest, you care more about feeling better about yourself than correcting a brother. 

That’s hard to hear. The tendency to believe the worst about fellow Christians is a cancer in the Church. The habit of attacking people who are wrong (or we think are wrong) rather than lovingly, biblically correcting them is a terrible thing in the Church. Spreading online gossip is spreading lies. Reposting these hit pieces doesn’t do one thing to grow the kingdom of God. 

When I see a post, I’m tempted to reply with “Wow, what did the church say when you reached out to them about this?”

Brother and sister, I implore you. Don’t share these posts, don’t spread gossip. I know it’s “choice food” and it feels so good. Resist. If you are truly concerned, reach out to the pastor, leader, congregation in question. I know that takes more time than hitting retweet, but it’s the right thing to do. 

If you can’t reach out, then pray. Everyone can do that. 

Upgrading the Audio in a 2010 Fit: Subwoofer and a Stock Radio

I decided not to change out the stock radio in my 2010 Honda Fit Sport. So, I’ve been doing upgrades here and there to the audio system. I had previously decided to not add a subwoofer to this car.

But, I had an old 10″ Infinity Subwoofer in a sealed enclosure and an old Phoenix Gold amp with a built in crossover. It’s rated at 300 Watts when bridged to mono. Someone had ordered this one painted white instead of the normal black. It’s pretty old (and dirty), but works well.

Since I was not swapping out the stock radio, I did not have easy access to RCA outputs for a subwoofer. Once in a wile I would miss the low end a subwoofer can bring, but not enough ti change out the radio. Then I basically ended up with a Line Out Converter for free.

A Line Out Converter (LOC) takes high output signals, like from the speaker lines of a stock radio, and converts them to RCA outputs. I had never used them before. The plan was to siphon off the audio from the rear speaker channels. The LOC gives me a remote turn on for the amplifier as well as two RCA outputs. To install the amp I needed a power cable from the battery and a ground.

This was easier said than done. The Fit has a small engine bay, and it seemed to be impossible to find a grommet to pass the wires through the firewall. I ended up, after some Googling, running the power cable through a hole in the fender, and then through a grommet near the door. The cable is covered by the inner fender lining, so you cannot see it, and it should be protected. I wrapped some electrical tape around the cable as well, for an added layer of protection.

I was able to get the power ran around to the battery, through the carpet and under the seat.

The amp fits right up under the seat. I used velcro to secure the amp, so I can remove it if needed. The LOC is supposed to take audio from the left and right speakers. But, I didn’t want to run the audio from two locations. I was curious if this would work. So, I hooked both left and right positive and left and right negative into the LOC inputs. Then I attached the remote turn on, and ground to the remote and ground of the amp. And I ran the RCA cables. And tied into the left rear speaker.

At this point, it should be done. When I turn on the stereo, the signal on the speaker wire should trigger the remote turn on and the amp should fire up. I had no idea if pulling the signal from just one side would give enough power. I know, if the low end is stereo I will miss it on the subwoofer. But I’m willing to try it.

Just a quick test, and I can already see the signal level is plenty high. I had to significantly reduce the sensitivity (Turn down the knob) on the amp. It was way too loud.

So, I still have some tweaking to do, and time will tell if I need to run wires to the right rear speaker or not. But I have enhanced low end in the Fit now. The LOC was very easy to use.

What Have I Been Doing?

Aside from the post the other day, it’s been more than 6 months since I posted anything here. What have I been doing?

Family– Family is good. I now have two kids who have graduated from High School, one more to go. House is generally good, but we still need to finish up the mess left from the rotten balcony. We are still heavily involved in homeschool speech & debate.

Work– Work has been crazy busy. At church, we lost a video staff person and the last remaining Communications person. For 6 months, I was doing 2.5 jobs as I covered for my team’s loss and helped out with some Communication tasks. They hired a new Communications Director, so that workload was lifted.

It is really hard to hire people since the Pandemic. Very few applications, and the ones we have moved on have not worked out. Character, chemistry and competence are what we are looking for.

Freelance– I’ve been doing a few projects for Church Media Squad. Just when they need help over holidays. I have done a few other small jobs.

The biggest project is the ballet documentary. I say documentary, it’s more of a documentary-style keepsake video. So that changes things. After more than 2.5 years of shooting generally, 1.5 years of focused work, I have a 50-minute piece that covers the last 50 years of the Longview Ballet Theater in East Texas. I was hired to shoot and edit this project. I’m not a huge ballet fan, but the story is compelling. Because this a keepsake, there are parts of the video that I would likely cut if it were up to me, but the clients will like them. I am close to wrapping this project. It’s been a long time working on it.

What’s next? I’m not sure. I have some creative ideas. I’m ready to hire the open position on my team. I’m ready to finish up the house, as soon as prices come down (ha!). I am thinking about a short doc project.

So, that’s it. Hopefully it won’t be another 6 months before you hear from me again.

Upgrading Audio in a 2010 Fit: Sound Deadening Project

I’ve been writing about upgrading the audio in my 2010 Honda Fit Sport. I did not want to rip out the dash, so I have been working on some alternative upgrades. But, one upgrade that could have huge benefit is to reduce the noise coming into the cabin.

One of the first things I noticed when I got the car was that the road noise was terrible. Most small cars are loud, but this one was especially loud, harsh. Add to that, some of the roads in ETX have this weird surface that is even louder.

But, I did not want to tear the entire interior out of the car, and deaden everything. I wanted to try to deaden what I can without too much tear out or expense. So I got 18 square feet of 80 mil Kilmat, a butyl and foil sound deadener. It is self adhesive.

After some research, I chose to apply it in the front floor, hatch and around the rear axle.

Here’s how it worked out:

18 Square feet doesn’t cover 100% of these spaces, but it covered a good bit of it.

The DB meter is a free app off the Apple Store. I doubt it is specifically accurate, but I hoped it was consistent from pre to post deadening.

As you watch, you will notice that the mount I was using for the pre- recording is different from the post- recording. The mount broke in between videos. An iPhone XR has mics on the front and bottom. The old mount had a hole in the bottom to let cables and audio through. So, the post- recording is still similar, though somewhat more open to the mics. If anything, this makes the DB meter more sensitive, and puts the post- deadened audio at a disadvantage. but I don’t think it had much impact, over all.

You can see the change wasn’t huge, but it was significant, in that the frequencies that were deadened were the higher ones. It makes the driving experience more pleasant by reducing the harsher noise.

The added benefit is that the frequencies reduced are also the one where music and melody play. While, low bass sounds won’t be helped, I’ve noticed that music sounds clearer at speed.

So, is it worth it? The deadener costs a little over $30 (at the time of writing). The install was done in a few hours. It did not require seat removal. The overall volume reduction was not huge, but what was reduced were the frequencies that interfere with music most and make the road noise harsh. Overall, not a bad investment.

Update: Android Tablet + CarPlay on a Long Trip.

I’ve been writing about this new car audio set up in my Honda Fit.

I took it on a longish trip, about 7 hours one-way, over Thanksgiving. Before I left I swapped the 5W Qi charger for a thinner 10W charger, and that worked great. I actually moved this set up to a different car for this trip, but the operation was the exact same.

The only issue I had was having to reboot a few times at the beginning of the trip back. I’ve had that a couple of times around town, as well. Normally when the temperature is cold. (Not sure that’s a cause, but seems to be a correlation, anyway) After a couple of reboots, it starts working.

Once it’s running, the CarPlay software didn’t miss a beat. The 10W charger kept the Kindle charged up, and my phone charged up.

UPDATE: Have now used the system on a longer trip, 15+ hours of driving one way. No issues. It worked great. Charged fine, no glitches. I have had a few times around town where the Waze app doesn’t follow correctly. And a couple of times when it rebooted several times before thing worked right. But on that trip is was stellar.

Even with the glitches, it works well enough to be useful.

Upgrading Audio in a 2010 Honda Fit – Part 3: Charging Android Tablet While Using CarPlay Adapter

In my last post I went through the steps to get CarPlay to work on an Android tablet. Today, I am happy to report that wireless charging seems to work well.

The key is using a tablet with wireless charging capability. The Kindle Fire HD 8 Plus can do this, and that’s what I’m using. I bought a cheap ($10) charging pad. It’s only 5W. I may upgrade later. If so, I want to get a thinner one. The mount, with the charger and the Kindle, is still holding solid, but a thinner charger may allow for a thin case.

Here are the pieces, minus the iPhone, mini audio cable and car USB charger.

• 

  CarPlay In Action

• 

  Charging

• 

  Not a lot of depth left

• 

  Charger

Total cost was under $135. That’s way less than a CarPlay capable Head Unit with professional installation. And the dash of my Honda Fit didn’t have to be ripped out. I’m interested to see how it handles over time. I can see the mount needing adjustment at times. I need to manage the cables. But I like this set up quite a bit.

Upgrading Audio in a 2010 Honda Fit Without Replacing the Factory Radio – Part 2: Kindle Fire and CarPlay

2019 Kindle Fire HD 7 running CarPlay

In my last post I talked about trying to make my 11 year old car stereo a little more modern, without tearing out the center section of the dash. I used an Amazon Echo Auto for a while.

Then I fell into an interesting idea of using an Android tablet to run Apple CarPlay.

Companies make these little boxes. They allow you to hook up your iPhone (wired or wirelessly, depending on what you want to spend) and the box works with an app on the tablet, and shows the CarPlay content. Near as I can tell, it’s fully functional.

Obviously, there are some weird things. When I first loaded things up, the orientation of the table was portrait, so Car Play showed as portrait, even in landscape position. I had to power down the tablet completely to fix that. But it was fixed. Might be other stuff later.

So, here’ the list of what you need. I will link to a couple of things I bought, but similar ones may work as well. I’m not an Amazon affiliate, so these are not affiliate links. Just plain links.

CarPlay Adapter. I bought a wired version of the CarLinKit adapter. Be aware, there are clones of these, but the often brick when you update the firmware, or so the internet says. Download the free app onto your tablet. $40.

Android Tablet. They say any Android table running 4.4.2 will run the app. I suggest one that can charge wirelessly, for reasons I will explain later. I happen to be shopping during the 6th birthday for Alexa or something, so I got Kindle Fire HD 8 Plus for $55. They are normally $110. I thought $55 for a wireless charging, Android capable device was a steal. Unless you plan to go find a Chinese tablet on eBay or hope to catch a used one on FB Marketplace, you will probably be spending at least that.

OTG cable. I didn’t know what an OTG cable was. I still don’t know what the acronym is. But these are bales that let you use peripherals with devices like tablets, game systems, multimedia players, etc… In it’s most basic form, it converts a USB A plug from the CarPlay adapter into whatever you need to plug into your tablet. The Kindle Fire 7 is Micro USB, The Kindle Fire 8 is USB C. There are tons of these. Just search for a USB A to whatever-connection-you-need OTG cable. I got a 3 pack for about $9.

Tablet Car Mount. This is actually pretty important. Depending on the size of your tablet, you may need a pretty heft one. There are lots of $10-15 ones available, but the reviews are not great for real world use. I wanted amount that used my CD slot. Choose the one that will work the best for your car. I settled on this one, spent about $20. It seems to work OK for now, on regular streets.

AUX Input on the Radio. You need a way to get audio into the factory stereo system. The Fit has a mini plug. I imagine you could use bluetooth as well. You will be taking the audio from the valet into the stereo.

That’s technically all you need to make things work. $124. Not bad to get Apple CarPlay into your car without replacing the factory radio.

CarPlay Installed in the Honda Fit. Kindle Fire 7.

So here’s my experience. I started out using a 2019 Kindle Fire HD 7. Mainly because I had it available. The problem is that I don’t use the battery well on this device. It drains little, sits in standby and the gets thrown onto charge. These are cheap Amazon tablets. They work well, but my battery does not last long.

Here’s how the car mount works. There are these paddle things that slip into the CD slot a bit, then you tighten a bolt to make them spread apart and hold in place. It seems pretty tight. I am more worried about the swivel tablet mount moving that the CD slot part.

Once I have things completely finalized, I plan to manage the cables, and velcro the CarLinKit box to the mount.

I started out with the Fire 7. It is a good size. I actual bought a different case for it. My only complaint was battery life. My 7 inch Fire was 3 years old and I have not been “training” the battery to last a long time. I was unsure what to expect with the battery life and use the adapter.

I used the tablet in the morning for about an hour. Then again, briefly at lunch. I left the tablet on stand by in between. By 5 pm it has drained the battery entirely. Not great for a long trip.

So that took me down the rabbit hole of how to charge through the same micro USB port that you are sending data through. You can plug in the adapter, use it while you want. And then plug in a charger. That defeats the whole purpose of the box.

I spent a lot of time search and looking for information about this. I looked at a lot of OTG cables that claimed they could do both, or at least not drain the battery when in use. People were talking about soldering wires and stuff. After a couple of hours, I gave up. The Kindle Fire HD 7 does not seem to be able to charge and use the data functions at the same time- through the Micro USB port.

Now what?

Enter wireless charging. I used to have a couple of these laying around, the wireless charging pads seem to work even if the USB port is passing stats. The Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus allows for wireless charging. So, I snagged one, and am eager to test it out.

In the mean time, I have tested the general charging state of the new HD 8 Plus. So far it seems to have about twice as much battery life as my 7 inch version. Which means I can probably get a day and a quarter out of one charge.

Upgrading Audio in a 2010 Honda Fit Without Replacing the Factory Radio – Part 1

I recently bought a 2010 Honda Fit Sport. It’s a fun car to drive. It’s a little loud at highway speeds, but I like it quite a bit.

The problem is the 2010 audio system. This is the higher end Fit, but does not have the navigation system. I looked for a used one of those, but could not find one. Just saw a picture of one. This version has both a USB and mini plug aux input for audio. It does not have Bluetooth or much of a screen to communicate much of anything.

It doesn’t sound bad for an 11 year old audio system. But I use bluetooth all the time. Going back to a wired audio connection isn’t ideal.

In previous cars, I would just rip out the stock stereo and replace it with an aftermarket one. This car is a little bit more complex than my older ones.

The dash and radio is more integrated. Instead of a separate radio, which can be easily removed, the center console has this weird oval shaped entertainment area. It has hazard lights, air vents and the climate controls are placed around the edges.

And, it looks like removing it requires more than just popping the bezel off and removing a few screws. Now, Amazon sells complete replacement units. but they are Chinese made radios, with terrible reviews and reliability.

Of course, you can buy an aftermarket stereo kit. In addition to being more complicated than other cars, it makes your dash look odd. You can see an image of the kit below. I’ve decided against it.

So, the first thing I tried was adding Bluetooth. The easiest way to do this, for me, was to use an Amazon Echo Auto device I had. The Echo Auto can connect to a radio through Bluetooth (which I don’t have) and a mini stereo cable. Then you connect your phone to the Echo Auto.

In essence the Echo Auto becomes a Bluetooth bridge between your phone and the stock stereo.

Aftermarket Stereo Kit

Amazon Echo Auto in use.

The Echo Auto comes with an air vent mount, but I wanted it a little lower profile, and didn’t want to block two of the only 4 AC vents in the car. I bought a CD slot mount from Amazon. I also placed a magnetic mount for my phone on the air vent.

Overall this works pretty well. Except the air vent blows right on the Echo microphone. And there are a lot of cables visible.

When I start the car, the Echo powers up, and my phone connects automatically. It can take a few seconds to fully connect. But it’s not bad.

As someone who uses Audible, it’s pretty cool to just start the car, and say, “Alexa, play my audio book” and have it pick right up where I left off. Or play my Amazon music playlists. Or, you can just play audio from your phone and the Bluetooth bridges right into the stock stereo.

So, I’m good? No, of course not.

After the wreck that totaled my Matrix, I had a rental car. For the first time I had access to Apple CarPlay, and I liked it. I liked it a lot. Plug in the phone and all the relevant functions are displayed. Hands free control. Maps navigation.

I want that. But, the only way to get it is through an aftermarket stereo, right? And not a cheap one. It would be a $300ish one.

I started looking at the CarPlay Dongles for Android stereos. I was trying to find out if I could get a cheaper Android aftermarket radio and still use CarPlay. Turns out, you can. You can download an app, hook up a dongle, plug in your iPhone and use CarPlay on an android stereo. Any Android stereo using software version 4.4.2 or later.

But that still means ripping up the dash. I’d rather not.

One morning, I woke up and had this crazy thought… can you use these dongles with any Android device? Could you use it with an Android tablet?

Yep. You can. I’m not the first to wonder about it, and won’t be the first to do it. There are several posts, blogs and videos talking about the process. It’s the same as loading it up on your radio. The challenge is charging the tablet wheel using the dongle.

Here’s what I will need:

Android Tablet- The Kindle Fire, which costs just $50, will work. You can use almost any tablet. But unless you’re going the eBay-from-China route, the Kindle Fire is probably one of the cheapest solutions. I happen to already own a Kindle Fire 7.

Apple CarPlay Dongle- These can be pricey, but I found a wired version from Carlinkit for about $40 on Amazon.

Tablet Car Mount- I’m not sure which of these I will buy. There are several that run between $20 and $30 on Amazon. These mount in the CD slot. I want one that will be solid, and hang lower than an air vent mount.

OTG Charging and USB Cable- The Kindle Fire will only last a few hours. I need to find a cable that allows me to plug the power cable into the tablet and attach the dongle via USB. This seems to be a challenge for most trying to do this sort of thing. One guy said he had a cable that would not add charge, but would hold charge while plugged in. Driving around town this won’t be an issue, but on long trips it will be come important. I’ve got one in my wish list that claims to be able to charge and pass USB signals at the same time.

In the meantime, the Echo Auto will work until I can get it figured out.

Make an Impact, Judge a Round of Speech & Debate

TL;DR Summary: Sign up to judge a round at the Piney Woods Derby, a speech & debate tournament happening at Mobberly on Nov. 4-6. It’s fun and there will be prizes. Visit pineywoodsderby.com and click the link under Make an Impact.

I wanted to let you know about an event in Longview where you can have a direct impact on members of future generations. Let me explain.

On Nov. 4-6, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, there will be about 80 Junior High and High School students on competing in a speech & debate tournament. These are Christian homeschool students. You can have a direct impact of these students through your feedback as a judge for a round of speech or debate.

Before you say you’re not qualified, let me assure you that you are exactly who we want to come and judge these students. We use parents, alumni, and people from the community- just like you- to judge rounds. And- we train you in how to do it. Our students are learning to communicate with all audiences. And your feedback lets them know how they can improve, and what they are doing well. These kids are amazing, and they work really hard to compete in tournaments like this one. I don’t think it’s possible for me to oversell how awesome these students are. But don’t take my word for it, check out what others have said about these events: 

https://youtu.be/kxhLxDvzh1E

You could judge a speech round, which might be something these students have written themselves, or may be a funny speech, or a serious speech. You could judge a debate round, where competitors are debating the merits of artificial intelligence policy or modern medical techniques. Or other interesting topics.

And, for every round you judge, you will be entered in a drawing for prizes.

So, you get to have a real impact on a Christian student, you get to hear some amazing speeches or debates, and you could win a gift card or other prize just for judging. Win/Win/Win.

How do you sign up? Visit pineywoodsderby.com. Click the link under Make and Impact, Register to Judge Today. There you will see all the relevant information. It’s a 2-3 hour commitment to get trained, and judge the round. You can judge one round, or as many as you want.

PS: There will also be free snacks.

PPS: Still don’t think you’re qualified? Watch this: