Welcome to the Tools of the Trade forum. I thought I would tell you all a bit about what this forum is for, what sort of topics belong here and then a bit about myself.
What should go in this forum?A friend once said to me that you can identify an SM by the fact that they have the correct tool for every job, and if they don't they can find something to do it with anyway. It is a philosophy I have lived my life by. But sometimes you come up against a problem and you are unsure what tool you require to do the job - do you need a leatherman or a swiss army knife? a tackle box or a road case? a scheduling program or just good old Excel? I hope this is the place you will come to. It is also for those cases where you are asked to pull a miracle out of thin air (Cigarettes that emit smoke, but have no flame, no fumes etc etc etc).
It is also a place for discussion of the tools we use - cue lights, cans systems, 2-way radio systems, computers, "the SM kit" and the like. It is a rather broad topic, but one that I hold dear to my heart.
So Who is Mac Calder (mc)Well I am a Stage Manager along with a wide range of other things. I am skilled in information technology, I have a year and a half of electrical engineering under my belt and I lived on a farm. I am also a lighting designer, sound designer, flyman and when necessary, I can also sing and perform (although I would rather not).
I am an Australian - which means that sometimes I do things differently to US stage mangers and use odd terminology. Although if you could do me a favour, and spell colour with a
u, mum with a
u and say "write to so and so" instead of "write so and so" (unless "write so and so" is followed by "a message" or some such) I would be most obliged
Some little moderation issues I haveWell there is one thing I hate - posts that are rehashed over and over again (for example the kit issue) so in the not too distant future I hope to compile a FAQ stickied up the top of this board to keep it all in the one place.
Also, just as a nicety - if you could spell check your posts before you submit, that would be great - I know the forums don't have a spell checker, however if you install the google search bar (which is what I use) then the spell checker on that works great - or you could just type it in your word processor of choice and copy/paste it across.
Another (final) thing - I don't like excessive formatting. That basically means that if I read a post in here that is wrapped in a colour tag (the entire post) or has a huge scrolling marquee with no apparent purpose I will edit it and remove the tags - formatting is for highlighting a point.
Regards
Mac.