Ceiling Projector for High Council Room

I have been tasked with investigating investigating best practices for installing a ceiling mounted projector in the High Council room. The projector would need to be removable with not too much effort so it could be used in other locations. Has anyone done this before?

mlh78 wrote:I have been tasked with investigating investigating best practices for installing a ceiling mounted projector in the High Council room. The projector would need to be removable with not too much effort so it could be used in other locations. Has anyone done this before?

If I had that task, I would work with the PFR to ask the FM group to do the research. You couldn't do anything like this without the FM group doing the actual work, anyway. I'm guessing your stake president gave you the task; the PFR's task will be much easier if the FM group knows that the request comes from the stake president.

Keep us updated on your progress, including pictures, my Stake President is also interested...

If it gets done, I will be sure to post a picture and any advice I might have. We are working with the FM Group right now to see how they feel about getting the wiring in place and whether they want to do the mounting. I am mostly interested in any thoughts on projectors and screen set ups.

When you say removable, how often? If you're only talking about for conference or such, that may be do-able. Otherwise, I can't say and I've ever seen a projector ceiling mount designed for quick removal.

I would agree... mount it for easy removal sounds odd to me. Either have a portable projector or mount one. You can obtain a pretty decent projector for relatively low cost anymore, that seems like a more reasonable way to go.

I would add that I might take this task a little differently. In a clerk role at the stake, I would feel comfortable getting a few minutes for a private conversation with my Stake President. Often a task like, I want a projector mounted in the ceiling that can easily be removed, might turn into, Let's purchase a new projector and get that mounted permanently in the HC room. A clerk / STS should feel free to provide 'consulting services' to those they are meant to sit in counsel with.

I don't have any clue of the current situation, I'm sure it has been well thought out and the reasonable decision made already, but I thought I'd point it out just in case.

I was tracked down by mlh78 about this - we're in neighboring stakes - but thought I'd share what we've done with the larger group:

We did this a couple years ago to our High Council Room. Everything but the wiring was purchased from stake budget. The big ticket items were:
- projector (Optoma HD20 ~$900)
- powered screen (can't remember brand, but around $250-$350)
- in-ceiling speakers and amplifier (~$100)
- projector mount (~$30)
- long HDMI and VGA cables (~$100)

The FM group added:
- power outlet in ceiling where projector mount would be located
- power outlet in ceiling where screen would be located
- cat5 cable from screen to projector (for raising and lowering the screen using the projector trigger)
- speaker wire, HDMI, and VGA cables to back corner of room (to a cabinet built by a member where we store all the components)

We purchased all the equipment and laid everything out before hand so it was easy for FM to do (no guessing or measuring on their own).

The stake president took a bit of "we-really-aren't-supposed-to-do-this-kind-of-stuff" guff from FM and others, but he was committed to it and made it happen. We're really glad we did it. It's made training and conferences SO much easier.

Lessons learned:
- We made a conscious decision to NOT allow people to remove the projector from the ceiling, so we made it pretty hard to get down. We actually use it enough (probably about 7-10x per month for various meetings, trainings, and conferences) to justify never removing it. It's also a bit of a pain to get aligned, focused, and zoomed just right so it always looks good, and that's not worth messing it up too often, in my opinion.

- We realized later that the equipment we set up (DVD player, TV tuner, wireless USB VGA adapter) was too difficult for people to use. We included instructions, but it was a mess. The wireless USB video adapter was especially a huge wreck because ppl didn't want to install drivers on their laptops. We decided to buy a small computer with a DVD drive and wireless keyboard and mouse we could just leave connected to the system at all times. Then people who bring outside documents (presentations, etc) are instructed to bring them on a USB flash drive and the computer is the only video input - making everything much more simple.

- It's worth it to go ahead and do the audio while you're making a huge mess. It's such a small additional cost, and then it's easy to show videos.

- You don't need to run all the video cables (vga, composite, component, etc) from the projector to your equipment cabinet. One HDMI run is all you need. Use an input switch in the cabinet if you need multiple video inputs.

It can be a pretty expensive and involved project. It took us several weeks to complete - months when you count planning and purchasing. It's something your stake president is going to have to want enough to spend some decent money. You can also make some use of member's talents and resources to save $.

I'll take some pictures and post.

sammythesm wrote: We're really glad we did it. It's made training and conferences SO much easier.

Thanks for the detailed writeup. Looking forward to the pics.

I've also seen this same kind of setup used when the High Council room was turned into an Emergency Operations Center during an extended exercise. The visibility it provided those present received much praise.

Here are the pictures I promised.

High Council Room Pictures (on Google Picasa)

sammythesm wrote:I was tracked down by mlh78 about this - we're in neighboring stakes - but thought I'd share what we've done with the larger group...

I'll take some pictures and post.

Thanks for the detailed post and your observations on what worked and what didn't. That's one of the HUGE advantages of this forum. And, after a recent "windstorm," I can see the value of adding Mikerowaved's comment of Emergency Operations Center as one of it's secondary uses!