Speaker Series III

Setting up the assemblies

  1. We had to reserve the auditorium for the date we wanted and give a heads up to the teachers that we would be having assembly schedules those days.  To avoid any technical difficulties - which always happen - we reserved it for the day before as well so we could rehearse and test equipment.  Our theater manager is the bomb!
  2. This year, students looked for not only teachers, but also current students, alumni, and community members. The student committee identified potential people and had personal conversations with them to see if they would consider speaking.   Lucky for them, the four people they wanted the most accepted:)
  3. We were so pumped.  In the end we had two teachers, one junior, an alumni and a community member.  Their speeches were to be 8-10 minutes long and go from the theme of "I wish you knew..." 
  4. We decided to keep it to one assembly,  with 4 speakers, one speaker via video, and student video montages in between speakers.  
  5. This year we also leveled up and decided to involve more staff and community members.  In between speakers one and two, we planned to have about 15 staff members (parapros, counseling staff, secretaries, etc) walk out and incorporate their "I wish you knew" statments some how. As a grand finale, we wanted community members to come out and do the same thing... so we had lots of emails to send.  We ued google forms to collect their names, titles, and statements.  
  6. We got to work videotaping students from all parts of the student body finishing the statement "I wish you knew...."  We used a DSLR on video mode and in monochrome.  Editing of the footage was done in iMovie.  AND WE MADE A BLOOPER REEL.  Its the best. THANK YOU OWEN!
  7. Our Assistant Principal made a seating chart so that students had to sit with their classes. We were concerned that if it was general seating it would talk to long to get seated, and they might be distracted by their friends. We also blocked off places for the community members to sit.  In addition, we made sure ALL our staff was there.  We asked staff members from the middle and elementary buildings to come  man the phones so even the secretaries could be there.  
  8. Our community member who was one of our speakers was going to be out of town, so we had him come in last minute to give his speech via video then did a quick edit. 
  9. BEST PART - a week before the assembly, two beloved teachers approached us and asked if they could preform a song.  We were like "Whaaa??" We talked as a committee and wondered if it fit... and then we were like YES!  ABSOLUTELY. So we decided to put the in as the opener.  
  10. The morning of the  assembly we did a run through with all   that day's speakers.  They were hooked up to mic pacs and we practiced where they walked, the lighting and the video transitions. We also had an epic slideshow that had to be timed just right so that took some tweaking. AND we had to give the extra staff and the teachers who were singing their cues.  
  11. Lights, Camera, Action! We had a student videographer ready with a videocamera.  She was tapped into the auditorium's sound system so that she could capture the sound accurately. THANKS AGAIN ELLIE! 
  12. SHOWTIME!
  13. Students were released back to their classes.