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  • 1.  MTI Virtual Stage Manager

    Posted 08-27-2014 07:56
    Thinking of purchasing the program, but wanted to get feedback from anyone out there that is already using it first.  Do you think it is worth the investment?  Problems with it?
    e


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    Erik Hart
    Michigan
    Warren Con. School of Perf. Arts
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  • 2.  RE: MTI Virtual Stage Manager

    Posted 08-27-2014 23:25

    I've used it, it is effective if you have a busy program overall.

    Ultimately, if you use it a lot it is worth the money, if you tend to forget things I would not recommend it.
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    Alan Strait
    Teacher
    CCSD
    Henderson NV
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: MTI Virtual Stage Manager

    Posted 08-28-2014 07:18
    Thanks for asking about this. I'd be interested in hearing more as I've been looking at it too and have considered the starting the one month free trial to see if it works.  I'm especially interested in the time sheet/attendance function as I teach an after school class and have to keep very accurate track of the hours the kids attend in order to verify their credit.  But I'm wondering about some of the other functions too.


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    Holly Thompson
    Worthington OH
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: MTI Virtual Stage Manager

    Posted 08-28-2014 08:43
    My choreographer and tech people are not in my building.  Giving them the ability to schedule and communicate is awesome!  I also allow my dance captain to schedule rehearsals.  I encourage parents to sign up and assign them the role of "Parent."  I then call "Parent" to everything so they know what is happening.  I also use the "ShowBill" report as the rough draft for my program.  Once I have loaded show info, kids include bios and I have a rough draft that I dump into MS Publisher.
    VSM is pretty slick.  I recommend it highly.

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    [William] [Myatt] [Drama Director]

    [Pleasant Valley High School]

    [myattw@pleasval.k12.ia.us][563-332-5151][Bettendorf][IA][USA]
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: MTI Virtual Stage Manager

    Posted 08-28-2014 09:05
    I love VSM. I have been a user for 5 years. I use it for every show and even set up calendars for Drama Club, Thespian, and Academy meetings. Every student has their own individual calendar and the systems sends out a text message and email to the student and their parent notifying them of the rehearsal they have that day.

    If you have a responsible student make them your stage manager and their job will be to send out the daily schedule. 

    The other bonuses of the program is that when you create a show it will automatically format a show bill for you as well as create contact sheets for the students in the show. 

    It is worth the money as long as you front load and put the time into it. Once it is set up it runs itself. 

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    Michael Despars
    Long Beach CA
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: MTI Virtual Stage Manager

    Posted 08-28-2014 10:20
    I used this on our production of Curtains last fall.  I will not be using it again.  The interface is really clunky--things that should be easy take too many steps.  Sorting information is limited and doesn't come out in a form that is useful.  It was more trouble than it was worth and extremely frustrating because once you've committed to it, you can't change mid production.  And yes, I did send this feedback and more to the VSM company.

    You might try GoogleDocs--just updating a schedule on a simple google website for your cast/crew.

    Good luck
    Cindy


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    Cindy Skelton
    Drama Teacher
    San Mateo Union High School District
    Burlingame CA
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: MTI Virtual Stage Manager

    Posted 08-28-2014 12:23
    I am very opposed to using any electronic means for stage managers.  1) it turns into a crutch where the SM simply fills out the "form" of the program instead of making decisions and using their own experiences to guide choices, 2) Electronic tools, no matter how well backed up, are NOT reliable and WILL go down in the middle of a show and rehearsal, 3) The Professional standard is still paper and pencil, I have seen pros use these tools but only as an adjunct to paper and pencil SMing.

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    James Auld
    Technical Director
    Las Virgenes Unified School District
    Agoura Hills CA
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: MTI Virtual Stage Manager

    Posted 08-29-2014 08:25
    I have been using stagemanagement.com for roughly 4 or 5 years and I think it is fantastic. It is a great way to stay organized amongst everything that is going on.  I do not believe that it takes away from a stage manager's responsibilities at all and have found it to be completely reliable.  It have so many great features like a sign sheets, you can have everyone type their bios into their profiles and then the site has a function to where you can download them all into playbill format.  You can mass text everyone.  You can send out notes via email to the whole cast and crew or to individuals.  You can do personalized schedules.  I am a huge fan of it.  

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    Jason Burgess
    Teacher
    Ft. thomas Independent Schools.
    Fort Thomas KY
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    Original Message