How to Organize a Show as Big as FamJam

“For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.”

— Benjamin Franklin

“Good order is the foundation of all things.”

— Edmund Burke

It’s so true! Organization is the foundation to pulling off any great performance. How did we keep everything straight for FamJam? Let me show you some of the behind the scenes planning that was involved.

For FamJam, I created a spreadsheet in Google. I find when working with a team, it’s best to keep the main organization in a collaborative tool like GoogleDrive. Why? It helps me not to be the only source of information. My team could find a lot of their answers without having to rely on me to respond 24/7. Second, I always say we should be so prepared for a show that if you wake up deathly ill, the show can still run…after all, the show must go on! With everyone on the team having access to the organization/plan for the show, if something happened to me at least they had all my thinking and prep work.

Okay, here’s a peek into my GoogleDrive. Each of these lists were on a different tab but all a part of the same GoogleSheet. This way you only had to go to one place to find all of the information needed.

Call Times/Schedule:

Each location had different show times and some had multiple shows. Making a master call times/schedule in a simplified, one page sheet helped me to see the big picture of all the shows at once.

I did not share this with the whole cast and crew because it would be so overwhelming for them to see everyones schedule. Instead, we use Planning Center with the schedule and call times. This way each person on the cast and tech crew gets an individual email with the information they need and their specific call times.

Load In/Out List

We had a separate crew assigned to all the big items/equipment that needed to be loaded in and out at each location. This list gave Cade (the leader of that crew) his responsibilities so he knew what was expected of him and his team.

**Click on the image to see the full GoogleSheet**

Box Truck List

Our intern, Meaghan, was in charge of this list. We have it broken out by the person assigned to setting up or breaking down each item. Then Meaghan made sure each item was checked before Cade’s team loaded it back into the box truck. Since certain items (like the confetti shots) are not reusable, we have them marked as “load in”, but not “load out”. The last column was a list of extras that were in a bin on the box truck. If for any reason something went missing, ran out, or broke, everyone knew exactly what was on the box truck.

Props List

This is the typical spreadsheet I make for each show. It was slightly altered since this was such a big show with way more props than normal. Overall, the props or costumes are listed in order of when it will appear on stage. Since we did a few science experiments that entailed a lot of small items, I broke out those props separately which is distinguished by the yellow headers.

Here’s a quick explanation of each column:

Preset: This indicates whether or not the prop/costume should be preset; meaning it needs to be somewhere specific on stage or in the room before the show starts.
Per Show: This lets you know if the prop is consumable and that we won’t need it back at the end of the show.
Prop Item: Exactly how it sounds! It’s what we’re calling each prop or costume.
Description: This gives details of what’s included with that prop/costume or who’s it’s for on stage, or any other details that may be important.
Location Start: Tells you which side of the stage or where in the room that prop will first be brought out. As the Backstage Managers are laying out props, they place them in spots according to what’s written here.
Strike: This shows you if and when to strike an item. Most of the “strikes” are called by the producer during the show, but it helps the backstage crew know ahead so they can prep how many people and when they’ll need to be striking items.

Backstage Manager Checklist

Once the Backstage Managers laid out all of the props, we still had quite a few things to prep before the show, especially with the science experiments. This list helped them know where to get started in preparations before rehearsal.

People/Payments

I didn’t include this list since it has some personal information, but if you’d like to see an example, I can remake it with fake names. This spreadsheet included each tech position and cast member with their locations and payments agreed upon. We made this list for budget estimates and to make sure everyone was paid.

Creating lists can sometimes seem daunting, and I know a lot of people keep it all in their heads. Over the years, I’ve learned that I *could* try to keep it in my head, but it’s not the best way to lead. Creating lists like these helps me think more clearly so my mind isn’t bogged down with all the details, and I’m not constantly worried that I’m forgetting something.

“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”

— David Allen, author of Getting Things Done

I don’t know about you, but before shows I have a hard time sleeping and details will spin in my mind and start to stress me out. Knowing I have plan and lists ready helps me sleep deeper, keeps my mind fresh, helps me communicate more clearly, and delegate better.