Technically Ready for the Holidays
If you have read my articles in the past, you know that I’m a big believer in planning and preparation. You wouldn’t know that if you saw my messy garage or desk, but in my tech world everything is in good working order or it’s getting repaired.
I’m just not a fan of surprises, so supplies are well stocked and I’m prepared for most anything – at least prepared for any surprises that I’ve encountered up to this point in my career. I expect that I’m not done learning. 😎
As we approach the Christmas season (or Easter depending on when you're reading this), your worship pastor has probably already chosen the music for the Fall programs and the Christmas service. (Actually, if you’ve read my article “My Big Red Christmas Service Folder” you’ve been in this planning phase since last January.) Your teaching pastor has probably already thought about what they want to teach during those services.
Since you have been charged with supporting the music program, and possibly the drama program, this would be a good time to get your technical act together. In fact, rather than approach your leadership with a large invoice request for supplies at the last minute, they would probably appreciate it if you could spread those purchases out over a few months.
There are a number of things you can do in preparation. For example, if you know that you’re going to need three rolls of black gaff tape for use in December, get those ordered in September. If you forget to do that now, you might be sending your son to store for some last minute nasty silver duct tape.
What would be next to impossible to pull off five days before the event might be totally reasonable if requested three months ahead of time.
Basic supplies might seem inconsequential now, but you might be surprised just how helpful it can be to have them on hand before you get into the busy preparations and setup as you approach the actual events.
Stock Up on Basic Supplies
A box of Sharpie pens.
Note paper. Lots of note paper.
Batteries, including 9V, AA, and AAA.
Your guitar player will come to you looking for a 9V battery for his stomp box during the dress rehearsal, because he too was so busy he forgot to buy spares.
If you really want to bless him, stock a spare set of his favorite guitar strings (not as a regular supply item, but to spare him the angst of getting replacements before the third performance.)
White artist tape or electrical tape for marking the console.
Good quality, small flashlights for your tech crew so they can find stuff on a dark stage. Maybe gels to cover those flashlight lenses?
AC extension cords and quality outlet strips. More than you need. What about music stand lights for musicians? Do you have enough stand lights, and do you have spare lamps for those fixtures?
Will you need to provide a rope light to guide people across the backstage crossover?
Do you have a good stock of replacement bulbs for your theatrical lights?
What about stocking some often-used gels? Do you have enough gel frames? Safety cables?
This could be a great time to go through the process of cleaning those theatrical lights. When was the last time you cleaned the lenses? Think those lenses might be just a little dusty?
Also, do you need to make up any special extension cords for the theatrical lights?
Will you end up putting some lights in unusual locations and need to get power there?
This isn’t too early to be thinking through the light plot for the upcoming event and making sure you are prepared.
What would be next to impossible to pull off five days before the event might be totally reasonable if requested three months ahead of time.
Make sure that you have plenty of extra mic cables of various lengths, guitar patch cords (1/4” to 1/4”), CAT-5 cables for linking personal onstage monitor mixers, speaker cables for connecting stage monitors, and so on.
Share the Tech Fun
Identify someone on your tech crew who has a background in electronics who maybe has no desire to mix the sound or work on the team on regular rotation and ask if they would be up for repairing those broken cables that you have thrown in that box over there.
Order the connectors, supply them with a quality solder station, wire cutters and other tools, and give them a place to work on them.
Don’t cheap out on the tools. The end result will be well worth it, especially the sense of satisfaction from your volunteer who agreed to repair them.
For goodness’ sake, order replacement parts to fix those broken mic stands. You know that you hate wrestling with that (those?) broken stands. That’s why they are stuck in the back of the tech closet.
Order the parts to fix them properly and get them back into service. What did those poor stands do you to you anyway!?! 😏
Beyond supplies, what about your audio, video and lighting gear?
Are your loudspeakers performing as expected? (My post called "Let's Test Your Loudspeakers" will help you understand how to evaluate them.)
When did you last replace the lamp in your video projector? Remember that the projector lamp is on for a lot of hours over a year. In fact the average church uses their projector enough for the lamp to reduce its brightness by about one-half over the course of a year.
So if your projector started out with a rating of say 3,000 lumens last Christmas, that brightness may have diminished to only about 1,500 lumens by December this year.
Since the Christmas and Easter services will see a lot of annual faces and new friends, consider replacing the lamp in that projector this year. That lamp may cost you a few hundred dollars (maybe thousands of dollars if it’s a seriously bright projector), but everyone will be blessed by it.
The best way for you and your team to enjoy a low-stress (stress-free?) event season is for y'all to be prepared for both the expected and the unexpected.
Having the supplies to handle the surprises doesn't have to cost much if you spread those purchases out over time. But that preparation of course means planning well ahead of time.
Toward that end, I encourage you to come up with a logical schedule, get those dates on a tech support calendar that everyone on your team can keep an eye on, and delegate to make it all happen.
