Digital Signage is like having customizable, miniature billboards all throughout your church building! And if you use Proclaim, you can create and schedule your announcements so your content will always be up-to-date.
Skip ahead to:
- Add an image in the information frame
- Set your weather to match your location
- Add custom announcement slides
1. Create a Presentation Team.
If you’re brand new to Faithlife, you’ll need to create a Presentation Team.
Note: If you already have a Presentation Team, you can skip this section.
Begin by signing into Faithlife.com. If you don’t yet have a free Faithlife account, you can create one in a few seconds.
Click the Plus icon in the left-hand sidebar to create a new group.
Select the Presentation Team group type, then click Next.
Add a Group name and Group Location. No other Presentation Team on Faithlife.com can share your name. A green check mark indicates your desired name is available. Leave the Privacy Level at the default setting, Private, which will allow others to find your group but will require your permission for them to join. Click Next.
Add any other group details and then click Done.
2. Create a basic sign feed.
Once you have a Presentation Team, you can quickly create a customized digital sign feed. Go to Faithlife.com and select your Presentation Team in the left-hand sidebar.
Digital Signage in the left-hand navigation menu.
Your presentation group includes a sample sign feed, which you can customize. Select it (click Main).
Did You Know? You can create as many sign feeds as you need. For instance, you can make one for your website, one for the children's wing, one for your lobby TVs, and one for the youth room.
Provide a title
If you plan to have more than one sign feed, provide an identifying title for this feed (e.g., “Lobby TVs”).
Display Bible verse art
You can display a little, some, or mostly professionally-designed Bible Art in English, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Korean, Simplified or Traditional Chinese or Spanish.
Display Bible trivia
Leave Show Bible Trivia selected to rotate free Bible Trivia questions in your sign feed.
Show On Air Presentations
If your church uses Proclaim, you can have your presentation take over your sign feed while you’re On Air.
When you take your presentation off air, the sign feed will switch back to its normal rotation. If you want your sign feed to keep its normal rotation during the pre- and post-service loops, select Show only Service section. The On Air presentation will take over your sign feed only during the Service section of the Proclaim presentation.
Note: Going On Air with your sign feed runs your presentation on screens connected to your computer. On Air presentations won't take over local sign feeds.
Show the information frame
Selecting Show the information frame displays a frame around your sign feed. You can customize each of the six available slots: the sidebar and slots 1–5. The example information frame customization results in the following feed.
You can set the sidebar to display a custom church message, upcoming calendar events, or remain blank.
For each slot (1–5), you can choose between one of six options:
- None: Leave the slot blank.
- Text: Add any text to the slot.
- Clock: Show the current time (If your time doesn't show correctly, we can help you fix it).
- Weather: Displays weather for your location (learn how to change your weather location below).
- Current Date: Displays your current date in the slot.
- Image: Add any public web image to the slot (learn how to add an image below).
Change the frame color
Choose a color for the info pane by clicking the colored swatch. Use the color picker to choose the color, then close the picker when you're done.
Click Done to save your sign feed settings. The info pane will now be the color you chose.
Note: Faithlife will show the system color picker when choosing a color. Your color picker may look different than the one above.
3. Display your sign feed.
You can display your sign feed on any device with a web browser, via the Amazon Fire TV app, or on your website.
View your feed in a web browser.
To view your sign feed, select View (or you can click Copy Link and paste it into a browser).
Any device with a web browser can display your sign feed. To make your feed fullscreen, click the full screen icon, which appears when you hover your cursor over the sign feed.
Because any device with a web browser can display your sign feeds, Smart TVs or TVs with a stick computer are ideal.
View your feed on Fire TV.
The easiest way to get started running signage is with a flat screen TV and an Amazon Fire Stick. You can easily get your sign feed online for less than $300.
1. Download our Fire TV app.
You can download the app from the Amazon store on your computer or from the app store on your FireTV (search for “Faithlife Digital Signage”).
2. Link your Faithlife account.
Once the app is installed, open it following the on-screen instructions to sign in to your Faithlife account.
3. Select your sign feed.
The Fire TV app will display your configured sign feeds. Select the feed you want to display and you’re all set!
Embed your feed on your website.
You can embed a sign feed on a Faithlife Sites church website or on your own custom website to keep announcements and Bible art rotating on your website during the week. Learn more.
4. Advanced sign feed options
You can add an image to the information frame, set your weather to match your location, or add custom announcement slides.
Add an image to the information frame.
The information frame can only show links to public images. You can upload your images to Google Drive or DropBox or use your free cloud storage through Faithlife.
To use your free cloud storage through Faithlife, expand Content in the sidebar and select Files.
Click Upload files, add your image, and wait until the page refreshes.
Click the view details icon in the lower right-hand corner of the image preview (it will appear when you hover over the image with your cursor).
Select the link icon to copy the public link.
Return to your sign feed’s settings (you can arrow back in your web browser or return to Faithlife.com and relocate your sign feed in your presentation group), ensure the information frame is enabled, select Image for one of your available slots, and paste the link into the field.
The information pane will update and add the image.
Note: Image links must start with https:// to work in the information frame.
Set your weather to match your location.
When you enable the information frame, you can display the weather for your location. To show your local weather, you'll need to set your location in Proclaim. If you don’t have Proclaim, you can download it for free here.
Note: Using Proclaim has other benefits, like enabling custom announcement slides.
With Proclaim open, expand the File menu, click Open sign feed, and select your sign feed.
Your sign feed will open. If you haven't added any custom slides, it will look like a blank presentation. With your sign feed open, select Presentation in the Settings menu.
Search for your current location in the search bar. The readout below will confirm the location. Select the confirmation to set your location. A map will visually identify your address. When you return to your sign feed, the weather will reflect your new location.
Add custom announcement slides.
You can add custom announcement slides to your sign feed with Proclaim. You can even schedule when you want your sign feed to show and remove your custom announcements.
To begin, open Proclaim and sign in. If you don’t have Proclaim, you can download it for free here.
Note: Just like presentations, changes to your feed are synced to the cloud, and anyone in your presentation group can make edits.
With Proclaim open, expand the File menu, click Open sign feed, and select your sign feed.
Select the item type from the Add Item menu.
Note: Only the following slide types are currently available for use in sign feeds: Bible, Content, Announcement, Image Slideshow, Song, and Video. Motion backgrounds are not currently available, so they show up in your sign feed as still images.
Enter your slide information.
Expand the Background menu and choose a background. Browse the available media or import your own.
If you add a background from the media browser, select the background, and click Apply as Smart Media (Smart Media slides automatically adjust your text to fit the background).
Your text will auto-adjust to the new background.
You don’t have to remember to add and remove items from your sign feed. Set a schedule and your sign feed will add and remove your custom slide automatically.
Your sign feed will update automatically.
Did you know? If you have a subscription to Proclaim and use it for your services, you can add items items you’ve already created directly to your sign feed. When viewing any supported item, expand Send to sign feed and select your desired feed.
