7: Have fun and smile
Everybody wants to be on a winning—not whining—team. If you win overall, people will come back and continue to work and volunteer, pouring their hearts into the event.
6: Be flexible
Stuff happens. It just does. At a Michael Card concert I worked, the piano player became very ill the day prior to the concert. Rather than panic, the promoter of the event recruited a very gifted pianist to sit in.
Was it ideal? Was it what Michael wanted? Did it turn out great? (The answers in order are NO, NO, YES)
The pianist hit the ball out of the park, he sight-read the music during rehearsal, practiced between rehearsal and show time, and absolutely nailed it!
5: Know when to say “no”
OK, back to that “cool” edge-blended video backdrop… Sometimes you have to just reel it in and say no and move on. I always say that it’s better to do 75 percent of the program (cut out the last 25 percent) at 100 percent quality rather that 100 percent of the show at 75 percent quality.
4: Pace yourself
The older I get, the more important this becomes. The adrenaline rush is great, but the crash after it is terrible.
Know your limits—take breaks, eat healthy (and regularly scheduled) meals, go for walks, take some “chill time” when things hit a fever pitch…
3: Don’t overdo the caffeine
My overall intake of caffeine tends to spike around Christmas production time. The short term gain in energy is not worth it in the long haul. (Althought I must admit that sometimes I forget this one…)
2: Ask for help, call an expert
Why do we hate to do this? Almost every time I break down and call tech support or ask an informed friend to help out, the problem gets fixed rather quickly, and then I’m invariably left asking myself why I wasted five hours before making the call.
1:Maintain the right spirit
We can’t give what we don’t have, so if we don’t have the right spirit, we will fail. This comes in the form of being lousy to work with while not being of help and inspiration to others. We must show up ready to serve.
I hope your Christmas productions go off without a hitch, although realistically, that’s hardly ever the case. Keeping this survival guide in mind can help make things better from a technical standpoint, but more importantly, it can help us enjoy and appreciate the spirit of the season, and this transmits to those around us. And that’s the real point.
Gary Zandstra is a professional AV systems integrator with Parkway Electric and has been involved with sound and production at his church for more than 30 years.