Tips wanted for Scheduling

christmasdave

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So while I've been learning and setting up, I've been playing with, importing and creating sequences both from here, the share drive, some purchased and my own. A a resulty I've ended up with about an hour worth of sequences.

Hoping for some advice from the wise ones that have been doing this for years what you think best way to schedule a show is. I'm currently planning from Sun-Thu to just have a 20 min show repeated each hour until 10ish, then was thinking on Friday and Saturday nights to play the whole lot back to back. I guess what I'm wondering is if I should have 'breaks'. For example, is it best to play 30 mins then have a static sequence for 30 before another 30 mins?

I understand that different addresses and street layout, etc will impact each persons own way of doing it, and think this will actually offer some great tips for us newbies!

Being a first year I have no idea what to expect! So, what experiences have you all had and what would you recommend based on those?
 

algerdes

Al Gerdes
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Lebanon, Illinois
You have pretty much got it. What traffic do you expect? When will they be there?
Do you have to have a "break" to get things moving along out on the pavement?
Each is different. Each situation has to be looked at separately.
"Breaks" do cause folks to move on, sometimes. :)
 

OzAz

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The problem with having 'breaks' is you can't know when people are going to turn up. If people turn up during your 30 min "static break" they are going to leave disappointed.

A 20 min show constantly on repeat is fine, unless you get heaps of traffic then you might want to reduce it to 15 or even 10 mins. I have a 1 minute 'static' sequence that has a voice over "welcome to the show... " at the start of my ~15min show so people know when they've seen the whole show (some people don't work out they've already heard a song twice :) ).

If you're not getting heaps of traffic then yes you can do a much longer show on weekend nights, though no guaranteeing how many will stay the whole hour.
 

burto51

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I have a number of sequences now up until this year I ran the "a show" of about about 30 to 40 minutes worth every night , starting at 8pm and finishing at 10pm Sunday through to Thursday and extended the show till 11pm Friday/saturday.

This year I plan to have two shows with some sequences repeated in the same format as last year.

I find that people turn up at any time so you cant plan on that.

Depends on the points raised above.
 

christmasdave

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Awesome replies! thank you :)

I'm getting the feeling that too long between 'shows' is not necessarily a good thing, as like you have all mentioned, you don't know when people will turn up. I have no idea if I'll get lot's of traffic (foot, car or other), but the neighbours seem to think we might (I did a special neighbours only halloween show to introduce them all to it).

It seems like repeating the playlist with little time between is the standard?
 

Notenoughlights

400,000+ twinkly lights
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I run a constant loop of about 8 - 10 songs. After every second song I set a sequence that has 1 minute worth of static string lights with a butterfly effect across all pixels for people to get their photos, works very well until someone waits until the last few seconds and all the lights go out to start the next song 🤣
 

djgra79

My name is Graham & I love flashing lights!
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I usually have enough sequences to last 20-30 mins and they all just repeat. I wouldn't call it a show as such. Every 2nd sequence I have safety and donation announcements but that's it. If people stay for 30 mins they've seen it all.
 

Katekate

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I just repeat all my songs. people either watch a few songs then leave, or they stay until they hear a song twice.
 

bpratt

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Jimboomba, Queensland
I run my show of about 45 minute last year on repeat, but that included the Bluey sequence 3 times through it.

If you have a popular show, and need to get people to move on a minute or two gap of 'nothing' should do the job. I think anything longer of say 5+ minutes would give the indication that the show is over for the night.

Those who tend to turn up a few minutes before you go in to 'quiet' mode, will think the show has finished totally for the night if you leave too long a gap.
 

Katekate

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Another technique I have seen to keep things short and move people along is to have your sequence go something like

ABCADEAFG

This keeps people moving along as if you have a 3 song loop, but still keeps all your sequences up.
 

Freman

Uh Oh Elf
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I was pondering this last night, I have a static "effect" background but wondering how I can have it show that the next show will be at like 8:30, 9:00, etc on the tree, maybe even a count down in the last 10 seconds... just so people know when to show up if they've driven past in the idle period
 

Dreamin

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I have 40 sequences which goes for 2 hours with announcements. It's long, but last year I found the flow went well, people didn't stay for the whole thing, they just watched a few and moved on. I changed them daily so people could come back at the same time and see something new if they wanted. It was busy but not crazy, and to be honest I love them all. There are all different varieties of music, speed, some singing some just music. It worked well for me. I really couldn't pick just 10 and run that as a loop unless I had different sequnces each day. Everyone has a different angle I suppose.
I don't over advertise though, I don't really want local new or such on my door step making it crazy.
 
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