When rolling out FellowshipOne Check-In, one of the most common things to consider is the Check-In station. More specifically… where, how many, who will be manning them, etc. This best practice article will address these issues.
Location
A couple of things to think about with the location of the Check-In stations:
- How many doors lead to the children’s area? It might be necessary to place Check-In stations at both entrances into the children’s area. As well, you might need to control the traffic flow into the children’s area.
- Traffic Flow of parents & Children?
Visitors
If your church has a visitor center, then yes I place a Check-In station there. As well, if you don’t have a visitor center, it’s highly recommend that there be 2 things:
- a place to fill out the children’s guest card &
- a separate kiosk or two for the visitors.
Space
This usually poses more of a problem for churches that have older buildings. The older the church, the more of a challenge it is for multiple kiosks. Sometimes you might have to pull the check-in stations a little bit further away from the area you’d like it because of space limitations. Be open to this, but make sure that you have adequate signage to show where Check-In is located.
Volunteers
It’s really important for churches not to man the check-in stations with staff, directors, teachers, or existing children’s volunteers unless they’ve already been doing check-in (the old way) previously. A Check-In volunteer is a new position & can be served by people that didn’t have a place to serve already in the church. College-aged students usually work well at this position since working with a touch screen monitor & a computer is nothing new to them.
Mobile Kiosks vs. Stationary Check-In Stations
Mobile Check-In kiosks are great for flexibility purposes. However, there are places where a stationary Check-In station makes sense.
Power & Network Needs
Locations are sometimes limited by the ability to get power &/or network connectivity to that area. It is highly recommended to use hard-wired network connectivity as it is common to see connection issue with mobile kiosks that do not have a strong enough connection.
Attendance
Look at the attendance for the highest attended service & think about the traffic flow & which Check-In stations would be serving that traffic flow. An average of 100 individuals can check-in within 15 minutes per kiosk. Of course, this is dependent on how long the family stands in front of the kiosk & goes to the service &/or Activity. So, on the conservative side, it’s not best to keep the 100 number as a hard rule. So, based on traffic flow & attendance, determine the number of Check-In stations required to check everyone in a satisfactory time.
Number of Stations
Additionally, if you decide 4 Check-In Stations will be perfect, you should go with the number of 5 or N+1 & in some cases N+2. It’s recommended to this especially when you will be using Check-In in the near future for Adult classes & activities. This will ensure the best experience for members & attendees when checking their children for the very first time. When doing anything new for the very first time, it will take a little longer until everyone is up to speed. For example, check-in volunteers have had the training, but this the first time using it & some could be a bit hesitant at each of the screens until they get used to it. Also, parents will have to figure out those infamous last 4 digits of their home phone numbers. This N+1 or N+2 concept then allows you to move the extra check-in station(s) to the adult Activity locations when things level out at the children’s areas.
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