Team CSD
13 things to do between Easter and fall that will save you in September.
Easter’s behind you. Christmas is months away. The senior pastor is about to take some vacation time. Attendance will dip. Volunteers will rotate. And somewhere in the middle of all that, you’ll be running VBS, hosting guest speakers, and handing your board to fill-ins who’ve never touched it.
Summer feels like a slower season, but for production directors, it’s actually the most strategic window you’ve got. It’s the time to fix what’s been nagging you, prepare for what’s coming, and set your team up so that when fall hits, you’re not scrambling.
Here’s our “get ready for summer” checklist.
Before Summer Programming Starts
1. Schedule a system check: Don’t wait until something fails during VBS. Walk your entire signal chain of audio, video, lighting, and network before summer programming begins. Test every input, every output, every wireless channel. If you’ve been putting off that one thing that’s been “kind of working,” this is the time to deal with it.
2. Run a livestream quality check: Pull up your livestream on every platform you broadcast to. Watch it like a first-time viewer. Is the audio balanced? Is the video sharp or are you still running the camera settings from two years ago? Check your encoder, your bitrate, and your backup plan if the stream drops mid-service. If your internet provider has been inconsistent, summer is the time to address it — not the first Sunday of a fall series launch.
3. Check your HVAC against your room: Here’s one that gets overlooked: when the AC kicks into high gear for summer, your room’s noise floor changes. That affects mic gain, speech intelligibility, and how hard your system has to work to cut through. Walk the room with the HVAC running full blast and listen. If it’s competing with your pastor’s voice, you’ve got a problem worth solving before fall.
4. Inspect cables and connectors: Heat, humidity, and repeated use wear things down. Walk every cable run you can access. Check connectors for corrosion, loose fits, and intermittent signal. Replace anything suspect. The cable that’s been “a little flaky” will absolutely fail during your biggest service of the fall.
5. Run firmware and software updates: Your consoles, switchers, cameras, and network gear all have updates you’ve been ignoring. Summer’s low-stakes window is the time. Update, test, and verify everything works before Sunday. Do not run updates the week of a major event. Ever.
6. Know your electrical limits: Summer heat, plus full AC, plus full lighting rigs can trip breakers you didn’t know were close to capacity. Know your panel. Know which circuits your production gear shares with HVAC. If you’ve been adding fixtures or equipment over the past year, make sure your electrical load still has headroom.
Preparing Your Team
7. Train volunteers on current equipment: If you’ve added any new gear since last fall, summer is the time to train, not the first Sunday someone has to use it. Schedule hands-on sessions when the pressure is low. Let people make mistakes in an empty room, not during a packed service. And run the HVAC when you do it!
8. Build your backup plan for thin weekends: You will be short on volunteers this summer. That’s not a maybe. Plan for it now. Identify your minimum crew to run a Sunday. Cross-train where you can. Know which positions can be combined and which ones can’t. A plan on paper beats panic on Sunday morning. And find ways to invest in the loyal weekend warriors who are your ride-or-dies.
9. Document your tech setup and process: If you got hit by a bus tomorrow, could someone else run your Sunday? This is the season to write it down. Input lists, routing, scene recalls, camera positions, streaming procedures, even where the spare batteries are. Documentation isn’t just for emergencies, it’s what makes it possible for a volunteer to step in with confidence when you’re on vacation.
10. Create a guest speaker tech rider: If your senior pastor is traveling this summer, guest speakers are coming. Do you have a standard setup documented? It should include input list, confidence monitor position, stage layout, and any A/V preferences, all ready to hand off so a volunteer can set the room without calling you. Make it a one-page sheet. Keep it at front of house.
Special Events and VBS
11. Audit your VBS and kids ministry AV needs: VBS often moves production into rooms that aren’t normally set up for it. Do you need portable PA? A projector and screen? Wireless mics for skits? Figure this out now, test the gear, and stage it. Don’t find out the projector bulb is dead the morning of day one. And remember to have fun with your VBS and children’s ministry team!
12. Stock your inventory: Batteries, gaff tape, backup mics, spare cables, lamp replacements. Do a full inventory check before VBS season starts. Order what you need now while you have time to shop around, not while you’re scrambling on Amazon the night before an event.
13. Use the slow weeks to plan for fall: The real gift of summer is margin in your schedule. Use the weeks between VBS and the fall series launch to evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. If you need to make a case for budget, build it now with real examples from the year. Read that sentence again. If there’s a system upgrade you’ve been dreaming about, summer is when you scope it, price it, and present it — not October when the Christmas countdown has already started.
Production Directors who’ve been around the block know that summer isn’t downtime, but prep time.
The churches that hit September running are the ones that used the summer to get ahead, not catch up.
And to our beloved friends who are in FOH or backstage, your congregation may not notice the work you do between May and August, but we do. And your congregation will feel it the first Sunday of September when you kick things back off for fall and it all feels better than ever.
Need help with a system audit or getting summer-ready? We’d love to help, click here to connect with us.
- Team CSD