Thing 1
From ENS: The second of two Sunday bulletin inserts about the prayer and celebrations surrounding the investiture and seating of Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church is available for use by congregations.
Designed for use in congregations on November 5, this second insert features Jefferts Schori’s greeting to the Episcopal Church. In it she invites Church to widen ‘shalom’ by taking up U.N. Millennium Development Goals.
Thing 2, also from ENS
“Final preparations for the November 4 live webcast of Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori’s investiture are nearing completion. Satellite time has been booked, production crews are in place and excitement is growing.
“The hardest thing to determine is exactly how many people plan to view the webcast live,” said Mike Collins, director of broadcast and multimedia for the church. “We are asking people to register for the webcast in order to get a fairly accurate number of potential participants. We want to make certain there is more than enough bandwidth available, to ensure that the service is viewable to everyone interested.”
“You don’t have to register to view the webcast, and if you click the link at 11 a.m. on November 4, you aren’t going to be stopped to fill out a form before you’re able to view the service,” said Collins.
“Registering will help us be good stewards and provide the best viewing experience for the most people.”
Viewers are invited to register at webcast@episcopalchurch.org and leave their contact information as well as their preferred streaming media player.
Collins also suggested a few other steps to ensure that viewers don’t encounter technical difficulties on November 4. “It’s a good idea to make sure your streaming media player of choice, either Windows Media Player or Real Player, is up to date and working properly,” he said. “I would also encourage people to be aware of what streaming rate works best on their system. There are things that could happen on the user’s end over which we have no control, including their connection speed or how many users might be online from the same location.
“If you are using a cable modem, DSL, or some other newer technology you will probably want to choose our high bandwidth option. If you connect to the internet through a standard phone line modem, the low bandwidth option will be your best bet,” Collins added. “And there is always the audio-only option for those who desire it.