The Gathering

Last night was The Gathering, held at Ottawa's largest venue (and hockey arena). It was a good time of worship and prayer that helped tie together many of the churches in the area... from all denominations.

It was a brilliant idea, and pulled together a large team of volunteers to bring the night together.

Unfortunately, while it was good, it wasn't great. And probably for a few different reasons.

1. Marketing. They did use much better graphic design than last year (even if it was the same one design copied everywhere). But really, they didn't promote it all too well, and you can see this in the fact that the attendance hasn't grown since last year.
2. Sound mix. The Gathering used fantastic sound gear, including the new M7-CL and gear from Wall Sound. But the mix itself left much to be desired. There was a distinctive lack of fullness, and sounded a little mushy. And at many times, you couldn't hear the lead singer. Or as was often the case, one of the backups drowned out everyone.
3. Video. One single boring background for the entire night's lyrics. And the one time they used a motion background, it's animated lyrics were ahead of the band by an entire verse.

I did enjoy the evening, but it should learn from those problems, and bring new life and a stronger presence to next year's Gathering.