Stage Plots

[maydavidj]

Since we started a college service in the same room as our youth service, I've been thinking about ways to make it easier on both of our sets of people to get the stage the way we want it. The college service is Sunday night at 8:00 and the youth is Wednesday night at 6:30. I was wondering if any of you guys send stage plots or something of the sort to let the other people that may use your room what you need put back or how much of their stuff to take out.

Here is a link to one I made.

http://www.churchmedia.net/MXC/data/500/Stage_Plot_Wednesday_DILLON_LEAD.jpg

[Adam Ogden]

Hey David-

That's a pretty good idea. We have three rooms (other than the main auditorium) that are set up for full bands, and they have a lot of cross-culture use too....High school, Middle school, WOW, Men's Breakfast, etc, etc. We just opened up our new huge youth building
(before landscaping was done)
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/145/425959451_6b034ee788.jpg
And for the first time in Canyon Ridge history, we had dedicated youth space...and a lot of it. Before like most churches, we had "a room" that wasn't a youth room, it was merely the youth room because it was big enough to hold them all...no theming....no real sense of ownership, etc. Now, we get to say that this building is theirs. There are three major rooms inside of it (the Preschool auditorium, the elementary auditorium, and the Middle/High school auditorium). These rooms are dedicated to the use of THOSE ministries. If other ministries want to come in and reserve the room, that is great.....but they know that they will have to use whatever stage design is there, and whatever band arrangement is on stage.

As far as actual instruments, we limit that as well. We have a drum kits in each room, that is a good sounding, standard 5-piece kit....any drummer could sit in, and be ready to go. We don't allow changes to it. We have a digital piano in every room, and everything a guitar player would need, except their guitars. Therefore, we pretty much tell them to bring their own instrument, and leave the rest to us. It saves them from lugging extra gear around, and it saves us from having to constantly reset the stage.

We monitor this by our reservation system. When someone wants to use the room with a band, the put in the reservation for the room (with also goes to the Setup/EVS Department, so they know how to set chairs etc). The AV part of that reservation requires them to provide an input list. We check the list compared to the abilities of the room, and approve/deny the event based on the info. they provide. By the time they arrive, we have everything set up, ready to go for them.

We used to use stage plots in our main auditorium a lot, especially when we moved the band every week into a new setup or postion or layout. We have since gotten over ourselves, and rarely move the band, and if we do, it's by series, every 4-5 weeks....but it did help a lot.

[maydavidj]

That's sweet. We're talking about building a new youth building, but it will be atleast a couple years I'd say. Our biggest problem is that we share parts of the sound system with the main sanctuary. We have to lug monitor wedges, amps, and etc from the sanctuary to the youth room. It's gotten so bad that I made a train... I have a TV cart, and 2 furniture dollies roped togethor and use them to pull all the equipment. Everyone who works at the church knows who's coming when they hear chuga chuga chuga on the hallway floor. I'm gonna get some batteries for the keyboard that I transport and use the train wistle voice :cool:... On Wednesdays, the stuff goes to the youth room for their Wednesday night service. Then on Thursdays, it all has to be back in the sanctuary for band rehearsal. The college band who uses the youth wing on Sunday night is small enough to only use the stuff that's already in the youth wing.

[Adam Ogden]

wow...that sounds fun.

Yeah, moving the gear back and forth really changes things :). Have you thought about, or tried buying the equipment that you transfer back and forth, so that you don't have to do that anymore? I know budget is always an issue, but the cost of your time, plus the added wear and tear on the gear having to move it all the time might warrant the idea.

It's encouraging though, to see your attitude. Having to deal with that type of thing every week would drive some people crazy, maybe even make them bitter....to see you making the best of it, and even having a little fun with it, really shows your heart for service, and that a little personal sacrifice is worth it. Keep up the great work....I'll send you a conductors (train, not band) hat ASAP. :D

[amprodirect]

Brilliant Adam!