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How Can I Make it Easier to Plan Programs?

When it comes to planning a program for your puppet team, it is important to know how much time you have, what plays you have, what plays you’ve done, how long each play is, and where they are located.

When all our plays were on cassette, I used to get the tapes out and look through them to figure out what plays we could use. I’d write down the name of the play and the time. (Most of our cassettes had the time next to the title.) Then I’d list them in the presentation order and figure out what puppets we needed and who would work what puppet.

It worked, but then I found a way to streamline it and it may be something you’d like to try.

Using a spreadsheet program, develop a puppet program planning chart. On the top row, list things such as: the name of the play, time, where it’s located (cassette, CD, hard drive), the theme, names of the characters in the play, what puppets you will use, which puppeteers will do the play, and any needed props.

In ours, I use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with three worksheets: one for puppet plays, one for puppet songs, and one for puppet scripts. Now, when I plan a program, I’ve got all the information I need in front of me and it speeds up my planning time.

It also makes it easier to assign who will work what puppet because I already took the time to plan out each play.

Since I’ve developed the charts for my team, there’s no sense in you having to set up the charts yourself (unless you want to).

If you head over to my website (www.experiencepuppets.com/worksheets.html), you’ll find them as a free download. Once downloaded, you can change them to fit your needs. Also, I know everyone doesn’t use Excel, so you’ll find them in 3 formats: Microsoft Excel, Lotus 123, and Open Office Calc.

Hope this helps.

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