In my last post I discussed the challenges portable churches can face in getting consistency in setup.  These challenges can lead to delays in the services or distractions throughout services.  In this post, I will break down how I implemented the 5 tips for getting consistent stage setups that got us back on track.

(Photo Courtesy of Spencers Magic)

Some background:

Last year I started volunteering as a tech at a portable church that was entering it’s third year.  As a young church, it wasn’t a surprise that the previous AV tech on staff was kind of a one man show.  When “Joe Solo”  left the church, there was a huge void.

The leadership decided it would be best to build a larger volunteer setup team, rather than rely on another solo sound guy.  Smart move.  The new setup crew was a mix of musicians, singers, and other inexperienced volunteers.  Mixing duties were left to a handful of techies with limited experience.  Despite having an eager and energetic crew, the setup suffered weekly delays, distractions, disturbances.  Service start time fluctuated, and distractions during service were prevalent.  I observed how things functioned for a few weeks and when I got the opportunity to implement some changes here is exactly what I did.

1: Allot more time than you need

The volunteers spent most of the setup time in the morning trying to decode the old solo tech’s setup procedure.  The stage was flooded with people scratching their heads.  By the time the band came in, the stage wiring was usually a complete mess.  The most obvious problem was that the more experienced FOH techs came in later with the band.  The techs would often  spend valuable time looking for misplaced equipment, re-patching, troubleshooting, and then setting up the FOH station.  Not to mention, the worship team still had to do a run through/rehearsal, and the pastor/speaker needed to soundcheck.  Despite having 3 hours to get it all done, service started late almost every week.  The first change was a simple one.  We required the on duty sound tech to come in one hour early with the setup crew.  That extra hour for the sound tech ensured a timely and efficient setup from the start and the opportunity for the next tip:

2.  Work in pairs

From a volunteer perspective, loading cases on and off the stage is the easy part.  When those cases on stage are opened things can get pretty overwhelming very fast.  Breaking down the elements of the setup into manageable sizes reduces things into sections that the crew can handle.  Instead of each individual focusing on the whole setup ad getting overwhelmed, they can now focus in on doing their part.  We determined that our stage could be properly set and wired in 45 mins with 4 people.  With the sound tech coming in early with the setup crew of four, we split the setup crew into two pairs.  We choose pairs because most of our setup required two people lift and set.  The sound tech worked along side both teams.  Each pair got a short task list and they performed these tasks every time they came in.  Repetition really helped each pair remember each step of what they were assigned.  They could check each others work.  Hold each other accountable for showing up.  Some even carpooled.  We tried to always schedule in pairs as much as we could and the result was a streamlined setup.

3. Teach best practices as you go

My biggest fear in my early observations of the inexperienced crew was safety.  Fear that the messy stage would result in an injury of a crew member, musician, or pastor.  Something had to give.  Having the setup crew in pairs allowed the sound tech on duty to float from team to team during setup guiding them with best practices along the way.  With a little coaching and a lot of gaft tape, before long, the crews became superstars and could do most tasks unsupervised.  Some offered ideas on how we could become even more efficient and safe in our setup.  Once more of the crew became more comfortable with the setup, they got more and more interested in other areas like mixing FOH.  Giving your team the tools they need to succeed is often the fuel needed to lite the spark that has been squashed by frustration.

4.  Listen to your crew

When I first landed at the portable church, and as I got to know different folks on the crew, I asked them what they thought were causing the issues and also what they would do to fix it.  While I did get a range of answers, it served more as an opportunity to get into the mind of the volunteers who were growing more and more frustrated.  Gathering and implementing some of the ideas that were shared was a strategic team building exercise.  Including the team members gave them a voice and an opportunity to own the solution.  Later on the team could see the progress that they originally envisioned.

5.  Have those tough conversations

The toughest part of transforming the setup was addressing the worship team and church leaders.  Because they were not usually present during setup, they often came to varied conclusions as to what was contributing to the difficulties.  I observed a lot of mistrust and misplaced blame in my first couple of weeks.  When we hit a turning point, I felt that it would be important to gather all the setup crews, sound techs, worship teams, and leaders.   The result of the gathering was an opening in communication between the teams.  We’ll talk about restoring community and confidence between different teams in the next post.