Ceremony Rehearsal Checklist

Ceremony Rehearsal Checklist

Prep Your Ceremony Laptop

Quick reference of Important Settings
  1. Windows Media Player should be set as the default media player
  2. 1920 x 1080p resolution (unless otherwise requested)
  3. 16:9 Aspect Ratio
  4. Ensure the scale in the display settings for all monitors is set to 100% 
  5. Ensure display is extended from ceremony laptop (not duplicated)
  6. Turn off notifications
  7. Disable screensavers
  8. Disconnect from WiFi 

Ensure You Have All Necessary Scanning Equipment

  1. Ensure you have the display laptop, necessary cables, and adapters. 
  2. Refer to the Equipment Guide to confirm you have all required equipment.
  3. Check that the laptop is fully charged and has access to a power source for the duration of the event.
  4. Ensure there is additional power access for the QR scanner if not plugged in directly to the ceremony computer.
  5. Quick reference of Important Gear:
    1. Zebra DS2208 QR Scanners - 1 for each computer, plus one backup.
    2. BZB Gear USB extenders
    3. 100’ Cat6 Cables 

Decide on the Location of Your Equipment

Location of Your QR Scanners

  1. Option 1: Close to the stage, just out of the entry point of the video feed frame. This is ideal for Automatic Scanning where graduates are automatically displayed once scanned, eliminating the need for a staff member to man the ceremony laptop.
  2. Option 2: At the bottom of a ramp to the stage. This is often used with Manual Scanning mode, which builds a queue of graduates in your software and requires a staff member to manually advance through each graduate in the queue.

Decide on a Location for Your Ceremony Computer:

  1. Option 1: On the stage next to the scanners. This allows you to plug your QR scanners directly into the ceremony laptop.
  2. Option 2: Next to the stage, within line-of-sight of the QR scanners and stage. This requires QR scanners to be connected to the laptop using USB extenders and CAT6 cables.
  3. Option 3: Behind the stage with the A/V team. This setup requires the same as above, plus an additional external display monitor so the software manager can see the stage and graduates crossing.

Setup Your MarchingOrder Director Station:

Follow the instructions in the MarchingOrder Director Station Setup Guide.

Connect with A/V

  1. Connect the Ceremony Display Laptop to the Video Team: Use an HDMI cable to establish the connection.
  2. Connect the Ceremony Display Laptop to the Audio Team: Use the 3.5mm audio jack for the audio connection.

Open MarchingOrder Director Software

Launch the software on the ceremony laptop.
Select Begin Ceremony Display.
​

Run a Test Display

In ceremony display mode, select Slideshow from the menu at the top of the screen.
Choose, Testing Slideshow. 

Note: The testing slideshow cycles quickly through a large queue of graduates, playing only 2 seconds per slide and intentionally cutting off audio. This is normal and is only meant to verify that the audio and video feeds are working as expected on the A/V teams' equipment.