Seating Charts for school singing groups?

Date: August 25, 2010

I have four singing ensembles at school and am constantly updating seating/standing charts. Does anyone know of any software for making chorus seating charts - for classroom seating and also for standing arrangements on risers? If not software, then some computer templates compatible with MS Office and/or Open Office products? Something like this could save me hours of work. Thank you!

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Replies (10): Threaded | Chronological

Martin Benvenuto on August 25, 2010 11:17am

I'd suggest you look into this, I am!

http://www.choralnet.org/view/260683 (ensemble manager)

Martin Benvenuto

Philip Steinbacher on August 25, 2010 9:34pm

Thanks...I'll check it out!

Daniel W. Ozment on August 31, 2010 11:16am

Philip,

Take a look at our video tutorial for the Seating Chart module for some tips and tricks.

http://www.screencast.com/users/EnsembleManager/folders/Jing/media/14a09d7b-dd40-4ae2-b366-e85e82c2637c

Best,

Daniel Ozment

Director of Marketing, Ensemble Manager

Jeffrey Kitson on August 26, 2010 5:26am

Google Docs has a great new Drawing feature that I've started using for my seating charts. It takes a bit of work to set-up, but once you get the hang of it...it's awesome. All you need is a Gmail account (free). Just click "documents" and then "create new" > "drawing" and you're off to the races.

Tip for Advanced Users: Someone suggested to me that you can download autocad blocks for furnature shapes instead of having to draw them yourself. I downloaded a piano block and put it in my drawing and it looks great. It works perfectly to give your chart some orientation context.

If there's interest, I can create a template and share it with anyone who wants it.

Gary Weidenaar on August 26, 2010 7:39am

RE: Interested in Template: I am!

Nancy Rodemann on August 26, 2010 9:52am

Hola Jeffery, I am TOTALLY interested in borrowing your template for choir risers/piano/whatever!. Gracias! Nancy Rodemann

Philip Steinbacher on August 26, 2010 10:24am

Jeffrey,

We use Google Mail at school as our email interface (or whatever you call it!) so I have access to Google Drawing. I'm not an advanced user, but I'm a quick study. I'd love a template if you are willing to share.

Thanks! This could be the easy, accessible solution I've been seeking!

Philip

Diane Loomer on August 26, 2010 9:34pm

Jeffrey,

I'd love to see the template if you're willing to share it!

Diane Loomer

Daniel W. Ozment on August 31, 2010 11:30am

Jeffrey, Gary, Nancy, and Philip,

Google products including Google Draw are awesome and much more helpful than what we used to have.

I urge you to consider the benefits of what we've created with Ensemble Manager.

1. Ensemble Manager's seating charts are connected to a personnel database. This means that whenever you want to create a new chart or a different chart, you can automatically fill your chart from all of the personnel information you have already entered into your database. If you use a template in Google Draw, you'll still be stuck copying and pasting names or worse still entering names each time you create a new chart, even if you use a template to create the basic shape of the chart.

2. If you need to make a change to an Ensemble Manager chart, you can drag and drop singers from one "seat" to another.

3. Ensemble Manager seating charts allow you to include your singers picture in the chart.

4. You can assign certain "seats"/groups of "seats" to certain voice parts and then auto-populate the chart from the existing ensemble rosters. Sopranos will automatically appear in your soprano chairs.

Essentially the benefit of Ensemble Manager over Google is that it saves you time when creating/updating different charts on a regular basis.

Best,

Daniel Ozment

Director of Marketing, Ensemble Manager

http://www.ensemblemanager.com

Charles Q. Sullivan on August 26, 2010 12:49pm

Not very complicated to just make your own in WORD -- open either a letter size or legal size document (depending on how wide you need to go), choice "landspace" orientation, go to Tables, and enter the number of rows you need and the number of columns (seats per row). It is fairly simple to eliminate any lines you don't want to use. You can save a blank, and then bring it up when you want to enter names, voices, folder numbers, etc. You can choose your size font and center the information in each "cell" (seat).

Charles Q. Sullivan

cqsmusic(a)hotmail.com

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