OKUMC establishes 2021 policy for counting online worship

The Oklahoma Conference has established a new policy for counting online attendance. The new policy is intended to standardize counting procedures across various platforms and create uniformity in reporting. 

The policy was developed with the cabinet, district administrators and Discipleship Ministries in Nashville. The policy will be updated as the conference office discovers additional methodologies and best practices.

The policy is summarized below:

• Attendance should focus on the number of viewers who watch for at least one minute.
• The most accurate count involves a check-in (such as on Facebook Live or Zoom), but when that is not possible, multiply the number of views for at least one minute by 1.7. This will help account for people who do not check in and for folks who have more than one person watching together. 
• Attendance tracking should be cut off by Monday night. Track statistics around the same time every week for accuracy and consistency.
• Churches are encouraged to use engagement metrics such as comments and shares to promote online connections between worshipers. Though not counted on annual reports, they can inform leadership teams how well the church is connecting with its community.