Bzzzzz.....

So this weekend I got the chance to go see an "A" level Christian artist at a local church. Literally this guys is probably the best in the world at what he does and it was very cool that this church brought him in. I felt very awkward for the church and him though as everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong. His monitors went out, his Mic stand collapsed, the pa belched various noises through out the night, not all of his gear was placed on stage, bad cables, 2 incredibly intoxicated ( or demon possessed) fellows walk in half way through and started yelling etc... What do you do when things go wrong? here are Pete's 5 or so things that you can do to help thwart disaster in a production.

    1. Pre Plan- Make sure  you have a stage layout and input list of everything the artist is going to need. Make sure you know every inch of the signal flow. Make sure the people that are their are well equipped to do what they are trying to. When you can Make sure you know the production from top to bottom. Anticipate where you may have trouble and make a mental or written note of it.

    2. Check double check and triple check everything. Are all your connections good?  Everything working? (oh yea.. do this before people are walking in.)

    3. Serve the artist. Your there to make sure the artist has everything they need be it the worship leader, presenter, Pastor whatever... You there to serve them and get them what they need to be successful. Make sure they are. Ask them what they like and don't, if you can do it, honor their wishes. ( at one point on this night the artist asked someone to get him a wedge for a monitor after his in ears went out. ... no one moved even after repeated asks)

    4. Have a backup plan. Be two steps ahead. Don't take your eyes off the stage. When things break.. and they will.... what are you going to do? Know in advance, be able to react and fix the situation before anyone knows what happened. Nobody reacted to any of the various mishaps... most of them were very simple fixes.

    5. Be transparent. If you have a great night as a tech. then that means no one should know you exist. At one point in this night the soundman was standing up yelling at the artist on the stage the various things that were wrong and how he ( the artist) could fix them from stage... not good.

Believe me I'm not bagging on the crew or this church. I have had to painfully learn all these lessons over the years. Most things can be avoided with careful pre planning, proper implementation/training and a good backup plan.

ps. The artist still rocked and was a pro through out the whole thing!

Comments

[Ernie Stevenson]

Great post! Words of wisdom and probably experience I'm sure. We have all been there.

[James Higginbotham]

Great things to consider! It isn't easy when things fall apart, technology fails, people don't show, etc.

I wrote a post recently about how to consider the different problems you may encounter and prepare (as best you can) for when they happen:
http://www.agileministry.com/2006/05/10/project-risks-when-bad-things-happen-to-good-projects/

[Peter Bishop]

Thanks Guys for the comments. James I'm heading over to read your post.

[Ryan]

This was a great and practical post. I definitely think that we so often neglect to make sure we plan ahead, and to react as fast as possible when something goes wrong. Both things (planning and reacting) so how much you care about the situation. Thanks for this.