During any change it is important to respect what your collaborators have come to use as their tried-and-true methods of operating. The apprehension people have to new things, especially technology like VirtualCallboard, typically comes from insecurity and a desire to minimize disruption of how things are done.
And who can blame them? After all, if the new ticket system takes twice as long to print a ticket 5 minutes to curtain then it is a burden not a help. Sure it may give you loads of new patron data, but I need it to print the ticket now! New lighting or sound consoles go through the same startup challenge when what was a simple cue now turns into a half hour lost during precious tech time.
Having a strategy of how to incorporate any new technology into your organization is very helpful. Listed below are some tips that we have compiled to help you plan your rollout of VirtualCallboard.
- Start early: Begin using your VirtualCallboard account before your productions begins and you are able to learn how the system works. It’s an intuitive system, but having some time to play will make you more comfortable when you actually begin to use it on a production. Furthermore, you, the administrator, need to be familiar with VirtualCallboard so you can help others get acclimated.
- Roll it out in stages: Orienting how people work with information takes time. Don’t change every system you have at once … you might end up disrupting how your entire team works. Over the course of four productions or a few months, follow this little diagram for how to effectively acclimate your colleagues and familiarize them with VirtualCallboard in an effective way.
- Stage 1 – Set up all your Users and begin to use the reporting and the file-sharing feature – these two are the least interactive & info can be sent directly to your company members’ email addresses.
- Stage 2 - Use the contact sheet and the email, discussions –you’re now empowering your company with the communication features which will mean everyone is accessing your callboard to reach other people and becoming familiar with how it works.
- Stage 3 – Implement the scheduling feature for rehearsal and performance scheduling. People are now fully using the site daily and you can start to phase out other tools and rely on VirtualCallboard for all your production needs.
- Stage 4 – Expand the scheduling feature with the use of fittings, calculating hours & attendance. These useful features related to the schedule will make time cards, attendance for classes and costume-shop scheduling easy and seamless on VirtualCallboard. Additionally, individuals can check their own information at any time.
- Guide and Train: Have a training session where people, especially those who are apprehensive about using the tool, can see it in action and tour it with you. This provides them a chance to ask questions and see it working live. Also, Make sure to let people know there are tools to get them help such as the “Getting Started Guide” the FAQ webpage and the feedback feature.
- Gently Remind: During the transition encourage and remind people to do everything they can on VirtualCallboard. Once people are familiar with the site, keep pressing the fact that information must be put into the site instead of presented in other ways. Training your colleagues is very important to ensure your taking advantage of the functionality of VirtualCallboard.
Taking these steps can help smoothly and gently move operations to VirtualCallboard improving operations over just a short amount of time!