These are my tech notes from running an elementary school talent show with approximately 75 performers.

Wiring Diagram

Sound

The primary requirement for our talent show was an audio amplification system. This consisted of: three wireless microphones, a digital piano, a phone to play music, a mixer, a monitor, amplifiers, and speakers.

From my perspective, our “secret sauce” is the use of the on-stage audio monitor. This allows the performers to easily hear the music while being able to keep the music at the right level for the audience in the main speakers.

Lighting

We had a laptop running QLC+, an Enttec Open DMX interface, and 10 LED pars. Our DMX connector in the wall is 3 pin, so we used the following setup, which converts the 5 pin DMX to 3 pin.

Projector

The auditorium had a projector installed and we used a laptop to project patterns on the curtains. We built the images using Inkscape and put them in a slide show to switch between them during the show. One of the patterns we used was stars, shown below. Feel free to download and use this in your show, or create your own!