Author Topic: FORMS: Email Nightly SM Reports  (Read 11050 times)

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TrudyS

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FORMS: Email Nightly SM Reports
« on: Oct 02, 2006, 12:48 pm »
Hi!

I haven't been on here...posting anyway...for a long time, though I do drop in from time to time just to read.

I am now the Development Director for a small pro theater but have kept my Equity card...just in case!

Question:  Most of our SM's have started sending out electronic show reports only.  IE - the report pasted into the body of an email with no attachment.
There is alway a compatibility challenge between MAC & PC users in our theater so most folks don't want to have to try and open the hard copy.

Do any of you do that?
Would you be willing to share what your formatting looks like?

Thanks!

Trudy
« Last Edit: Jun 08, 2009, 11:49 pm by PSMKay »
Trudy Soucoup/Lautz
Director of Marketing and Development 
Wolf Haven International
www.wolfhaven.org

MarcieA

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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #1 on: Oct 02, 2006, 01:12 pm »
I am a PC user who emails reports to an all-Mac company. I use Word and send the file as an attachment rather than in the body of the email and there have never been any problems with formatting. You do it the same way as sending it in the message, just choose "Send as Attachment" rather than "Send in Mail Message" or whatever it says.

At my old theatre we made a hard copy for the Mac users because they had an older system and couldn't download it at all. We just printed extra copies when we printed our own.
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stagebear

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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #2 on: Oct 02, 2006, 01:26 pm »
one theatre i worked at had an issue with some outside people getting the attached reports in a readable format. the solution was making sure the word document had .doc after the file name - never had any problems after that.

personally, i send my reports as an attachment and give hard copies to anyone who requests them. i have always found issues in formatting when people copy and paste into an email.

smejs

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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #3 on: Oct 02, 2006, 01:42 pm »
Wow, Trudy, it has been a while since I've seen you "around"!  Welcome back.

At the last theatre I was at, I got so tired of people not taking the time to open attachments, that I did write all my report straight into the email...thus avoiding any MAC/PC issues.  One less click of a button for these folks seemed to work.  Though if you really want to attach files, I think PDF is the only way to go.

I think what you're asking for is how the report looks in e-mail form, so....for performance reports...

Email Header/Subject Line:  Name of Show Performance Report - Date (And if 2 shows in one day I tend to put both in same email.)
Day:  Friday, March 24, 2006
Report #6
Cast: 1 (When I had alternating casts)

Preshow Announcement Begin (and if it changes, who it's done by): 7:33
Act One Begin 7:35, etc
Act One End:
Act Two Begin:
Act Two End   
End of Bows:   
Act One Run Time: X hr, X min
Intermission Length: X min
Act Two Run Time: X hr, X min
Total Run Time: X hrs,  X min

WEATHER:  Brief description.
HOUSE:  Drop Count # (or House Count, depending how given to you).  Then a description of general audience behaviour/attitude (did they clap at new moments, etc)

GENERAL NOTES: 
1) Anything effecting the general show (late start time, including traffic, big sections of the script that were skipped by accident, etc)
2) Next show is *** (Date and Time)

PERSONNEL:
1) Anything that happened to cast or crew, including understudies going on.

SCENERY:
1) Any issues or "no notes."

LIGHTING:
1) Any issues or "no notes."

SOUND:
1) Any issues or "no notes."

PROPS: 
1) Any issues or "no notes."

COSTUMES/HAIR: 
1) Any issues or "no notes."

MISC.: 
1) Any issues or "no notes" that just don't seem to fit in anywhere else!


Hope this makes sense.  One big caveat is to NOT press the "tab" key at any point.  That will definitely screw things up from email to email.  And I don't copy and paste my reports from Word or anything, I have my computer in the booth with me and am typing straight into it as the show goes.  Also saves formatting issues...not to mention time after the show.  I still have a paper and pencil near me to jot quick notes that I don't have time to type right at that second, but most shows have breaks to write longer things during...

I do similar emails for rehearsal reports, with a general description of what was run that day and rough hours...I don't usually put in exact break times, but always have in my log book in case someone needs to know.  And yes, it's technically improper (I think) to put a #1 of notes, but no #2.  Oh well.  And if anything affects 2 departments I put something like "Props Note #1:  See Scenery, Note #3" and vice versa.

Erin
« Last Edit: Oct 02, 2006, 01:48 pm by smejs »

nmno

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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #4 on: Oct 02, 2006, 02:03 pm »
I usually send mine as an attachment from my PC.  However, I have had some complaints but that they are unable to view the attachment, but often they don't want to deal with the extra step.  Sometimes I can understand this...  if you are opening it from home and have dial up or other slow connection it can be maddening to wait for it to open and find there is nothing for you.  Because of this, if I have a light report, I'll put in the email body: Notes for sets, props, and company management.  So costumes knows that their is nothing for them so they can open/read it when they have the time; it's not pressing.

I have worked at theatres that insist that the report be in the body of the email.  In those cases, I do a no-frills looking report (basically, no formatting, no boxes, no lines) I create my report in Word then copy and paste it into the email body.  I still attach a copy of the Word doc just in case: sometimes a random word at the end will drop off, the text continues off to the right so you have to scroll back and forth, the Word doc is clearer to print...

I prefer to copy and paste from word (especially for performance reports) b/c 1) I don't have room in my booth or calling station for a computer 2) I've had email programs timeout on me or I've accidentally hit the back button on my browser and lost everything (it's then also the same as what I do in rehearsal where I like to leave it open so that my ASMs can add things along the way (usually prop notes) which saves us time at the end of the day.) 3) I prefer to be able to print the word doc vs. the email to put into my production book.

fuzzy_7

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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #5 on: Oct 02, 2006, 02:13 pm »
My university theatre is dealing with a related issue currently. We have made the transition to only e-mail communication and it is horrible. So many people are not receiving e-mails that has become pointless to e-mail anything. Just a thought.
Derek A. Fuzzell

stagemonkey

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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #6 on: Oct 02, 2006, 02:22 pm »
Through various issues with various people and what format they can read on their computer I have always copy and pasted the report into the body of the email (lets people quickly see what they need to know).  On top of that I also attach the word document file to the email in case people like to print them out so it has nicer formatting.  I like them in word so I can print them out nicely for my production book.  Also I always send the report email to myself as well, that way I can see it was sent out and reference back that everyones name was on the email.  

To further help me in the matter I put a question on the personal information form (form I have everyone fill out so i can get contact info and such) asking "What kind of computer files can you recieve?  .doc  .pdf  .xls  .html  .txt   no idea,   and I ask them to circle what they can.  This lets me know if any specific people need me to get them a hard copy or come up with a different way of sending the information. If someone says they have no idea I can talk to them directly and find out what they need (in the past they could read my .doc fine they just werent aware it was called a .doc file.)  Basically I just find out what everyone needs are and adjust how i do it that way.

smejs

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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #7 on: Oct 02, 2006, 02:25 pm »
Quote
2) I've had email programs timeout on me or I've accidentally hit the back button on my browser and lost everything

I use Juno, and while I'm thinking of dumping it because of poor anti-spam issues, one reason I like it is that I don't have to be online to write emails or read old ones - all are saved on my hard drive.  Of course, it can be a pain to remember to delete old things...or if a computer crashes....

Actually, I have done cut-and-paste from word before for reports.  Again, tabs don't work well, but tables often do (both word and Excel).  But when I have the luxury of a computer in the booth (which is most of the time), I just type straight into an email.

Erin

TrudyS

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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #8 on: Oct 02, 2006, 02:46 pm »
Hey!

Thanks everyone!  That was the input I was looking for.

Big thanks to Erin for the info I can cut & paste and pass along to our Production Manager who can then disseminate to our SM's.  I may not be SMing anymore...but I just can't stay out of trying to keep things organized!!

Thanks again!

Trudy :D
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Wolf Haven International
www.wolfhaven.org

ORTaurean

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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #9 on: Oct 02, 2006, 03:14 pm »
The company I work with likes everything pasted into the body of the email for speedy reading.  I have a MAC - btw.  I personally fill out the report in a very user friendly form I created in Word - then I hit CTL + A (Select All) then CTL +C (Copy), then CTL +P (Print). I use the print feature which allows me to send an email with a PDF attachment of the document I'm working with.    It auto creates the PDF file and then attaches it to an email, I hit CTL + V tp paste the report info into the body, then I put the group address in and send it.  Takes two seconds.

Everybody's notes are always in the same spotm they know where to look.  My performance report is similar enough to my rehearsal report that department notes are always in the same spot for both.
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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #10 on: Oct 03, 2006, 06:34 am »
I usually email with PDF, put them in a repository online, and make a couple of hard copies. I establish at the start that any and all emailed paperwork will be available in hard copy from a pre-defined location, and that if they want a hard copy, it is their responsibility to pick them up. The exception being things like calendars and forms that are extreamly important.

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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #11 on: Oct 03, 2006, 04:37 pm »
Before the production period begins, I work out with the producer who needs nightly reports and how they should receive them. I let it be known that I am a PC user. When I do send reports via email, I attach my notes as a .doc. For hard copy distribution, I try to find a point person and solicit their help with daily distribution. This has actually worked pretty smoothly for me so far!

Balletdork

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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #12 on: Oct 04, 2006, 09:37 am »
I tend to have large crews of folks who are out of town for large portions of rehearsal periods- so in the case of out-of-towners or heavy email users I'll email.

On the other hand bunches of my staff don't really know how to use their computers... so they get hard copies of everything.

Also- my server at the ballet goes down on a very regular basis which leads to badness. I'm in favor of hard copies in general- maybe I'm old school?  ;)

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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #13 on: Oct 04, 2006, 10:47 pm »
I always copy/paste the report or schedule into the body of the email, to reduce the not reading it due to laziness.  I then also attach the document (usually .doc) to the email, so that people can easily save a copy if they are so inclined (and the production manager always is).  I've never had a problem with people not being able to open things on their computers (except for font weirdness).  We did have a situation on the last show with our set designer having a hard time opening reports on his Blackberry.  That was a new one.  It ended up being a setting on his end.

MatthewShiner

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Re: Email Nightly SM Reports
« Reply #14 on: Oct 04, 2006, 10:56 pm »
With my department, we cut and paste into the body of the e-mail, and it seems to hold up - even with tables.  We have not had an issue in about two years.  We also attach the .doc file so that if people want to print out the pretty version (with show graphic, etc).
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