Using Elvanto

Quick notes for using items in Elvanto:

1. If the instructions you need to enter are short, add them to the 'Notes' section of the item. If, however, the instructions are long or complicated, use the 'description' section. 

   1. If you have particular directions to the visual team (e.g. a request for slides/video etc) - change the text colour to orange. 

   2. If you have particular instructions to the presenter (e.g. Bible Readers, Pray-ers etc) - please use the 'Notes' section and choose the appropriate department (Bible readers, Prayers, etc).

   3. If you have particular instructions for the Live Stream - change the text colour of the instructions to purple.

   4. If you have particular instructions for the Sound Desk - change the text colour of the instructions to green.

2. Anything in the 'description section' will appear on the Gathering Running Plan sent out on Friday to help those prepare for what they will be doing.

3. Use the 'Notes' section of each element to offer stage direction (e.g. 'Musos to intro', 'use lectern mic', 'come up unannounced' etc). These notes will appear on the Gathering Running Plan and the Stage Directions on Friday. 

4. For a regular gathering, consider including a Creed (e.g. Apostles Creed, Athanasius Creed, Nicene Creed - here. Note generally it is good for the congregation to be standing for a creed), or Prayer (Thanksgiving, Hearing of God's Word, Confession, Lord's Prayer, Psalm, Concluding Prayer). On Sundays when Communion is served, then then is no need for further liturgy. If visuals are needed, ensure it is added to the plan before 9am Friday morning in orange.

So that all members can serve as a term, have all components which relate to the gathering in place by 9am on Friday morning. This is necessary so that any Pro-Presenter slides can be prepared, and the Office admin can perform their duties in a reasonable time.

If you make any changes to the plan on Friday, please notify the office - it may be possible to include those changes in the plans that are emailed out to all team members as well as the printed plans.

If you make any changes to the plan after Friday, you will need to communicate with the impacted team members individually. Do not assume they have read the updated plan in Elvanto.

There are, by default, four main headings in all gathering plans:

1. Drawing together under God (Seeking)

2. Hearing the Word (Connecting)

3. Responding to the Word (Growing)

4. Sending out (Sending)

However, you are free to add additional headings if you feel it makes sense for your plan.

Click the   + Add Heading   button at the top of the plan to add a new heading. Enter the text for the heading and click "Save".

Most often the gathering templates will have all the items you need, and you only need to re-organise them into how you want your plan to flow and add instructions that will be important for the team members. However, if you want to add extra items, for instance, adding a responsive prayer or a Creed, click the   + Add Item   button.

You will then need to enter the title, enter an estimate on the duration of the item, in minutes and seconds, and then add the description of what the item is, in detail. 

1. 1. If you have particular directions to the visual team (e.g. a request for slides/video etc) - change the text colour to orange. 

   2. If you have particular instructions to the presenter (e.g. Bible Readers, Pray-ers etc) - please use the 'Notes' section and choose the appropriate department (Bible readers, Prayers, etc).

   3. If you have particular instructions for the Live Stream - change the text colour of the instructions to purple.

   4. If you have particular instructions for the Sound Desk - change the text colour of the instructions to green.

Note: all new items will be added to the bottom of the plan. You will need to move it to the desired point in the plan.

Elvanto contains song entries for all the songs used at all gatherings, except for Blaxland 10:30am. 

If there is a pre-existing but generic "Song" items in the plan, you can link that item to an actual song. To do this, click on the item to bring up the item details. In the right side of the dialog you should see a heading of "Linked Song", with an   Add Song   button underneath. Click that button, then enter some text to search for the title of the desired song. When you find the song, click the   Add    button to add it to the item. Click on the   Save   button to save the information.

To add a song where there is no generic item in the plan, click the  + Add Song  button at the top of the plan, then enter some text to search for the title of the desired song. When you find the song, click the   Add    button to add it to the plan.

If the song you want is not in the list, please contact Josh Schroder (joshua.schroder@lmap.org.au) and Liz Thornton (Liz.thornton14@gmail.com)  before you make changes, so the song can be added officially and with all the correct metadata. 

Note: all new songs will be added to the bottom of the plan. You will then need to move it to the desired location in the plan.

Please check with the gathering leader (if that person isn't you!) when adding songs to a gathering plan.

To remove an item from the plan, simply click the small red "x" icon on the right side of the item in the plan. Then click "Confirm" to confirm you want to delete it.

Removing songs is the same as removing an item, with one important difference. When asked to confirm you want to delete the item, you will also have a checkbox that says "Delete this song from the songs list too". ⚠️ You *must* uncheck this box before clicking "Confirm". ⚠️

Please check with the gathering leader before removing songs from the gathering plan.

To move an item in the plan, click-and-hold the four-way arrow icon on the left side of the item. Then drag the item to the new spot in the plan and release the mouse button. As you drag, you will see a green target bar showing you where the item will go when you release the mouse button.

You can change the details of an item by clicking on the item title in the plan. That will open the dialog allowing you to alter the title, timing, description and notes for that item. When you're finished making changes, click the   Save   button.

You can include special instructions to various team members that are separate to the item description. For instance, you might want to include an instruction to the music team to come up to play a song with no introduction, immediately after the preceding item. To do this, you can add notes.

When you edit an item (see the "Changing Items" section above), one of the sections is called "Notes". You can add any special instructions as a note. Enter the note, and if it only applies to a specific department (ie group of volunteers looking after a particular aspect of the gathering) you can select that department from the dropdown list.

You can add notes that apply to different departments. Simply click the   +   button to the right of the departments dropdown and an extra notes field will be added.

Click this link for information about adding volunteers to a gathering: Adding volunteers to Elvanto Gatherings