[SML] RE. Production calendar question

[Dougherty, Jim]

Some suggestions:

- Have your production calendar include milestones rather than specifics on how you'll get there, especially milestones that affect different constituencies.  It will get more detailed around your technical rehearsals and productions, but if every action by everyone is in there the information will get lost in the details. For events in the future, dates of the event itself may be sufficient.
- Use something like Google or Outlook (ideally whatever everyone on your team is _already_ using) so that sharing is easy and live, the learning curve is short and it's easy to find and read.  You may end up needing more than one calendar (one the season, one for SM/rehearsals, one for fittings, and one for the build of a specific show, for example) but each can be turned on and off by individual users with the above apps.
- Decide with your colleagues what system it will be, and just use one.  We went through a frustrating period (full disclosure, we may still be in that period) where there were different apps used for calendars by stage management, production, etc.  Nothing like having to search through Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and Google Calendars to see the whole picture and find discrepancies (except perhaps getting a dental crown).
- If possible decide who is responsible for calendar updates and maintenance so that there aren't too many people changing dates around.  Several of the common calendar apps have levels of permission and sharing can be turned on and off as different people join and leave your team.
- For the Academics in the house, Canvas can link to Google drives and calendars and make files/calendars/etc. easily and centrally accessible.

- Jim Dougherty
Middlebury College Theatre Department