Song Visuals Reference Guide

I am an organization guru.  I'm a firm believer that if you're organized, you can actually be more lazy:)  

While going through our Primary Closet & taking inventory on what was there from past choristers, I decided that I needed ONE list to refer to at any given moment that would tell me if there is a visual (flip chart or poster) already made.  Who likes making visuals for the same song more than once?  If somebody else has already done the work (and you like it), why not put it to use?  

Back in October of 2010, I had tackled the flip charts.   I placed the flip charts in 3 ring binders.  I categorized them in 4 groups: Reverence, Seasonal, Miscellaneous, and 2011.  Pretty obvious, huh?!  And they are in alphabetical order in the binder:)  The 2011 Binder is small and only for the years' program songs.  Sometimes I'll take other songs from another binder, & if we're singing it often in a month (like Search, Ponder and Pray in February), I temporarily keep it in the 2011 Binder.  When we're finished with it, I return it to its proper binder.  

Below is a picture of how the binders look.  I can easily find the song I'm looking for!

On the very first page of each binder I made an alphabetized list of what songs were in there.  

Then I made a MASTER LIST to place in my weekly chorister binder.  I can refer to this at any time & it'll tell me exactly which binder the wanted song is in.  I keep all of the binders in the closet and right in front for quick & easy access.  This system has saved me more than a few times already!  You never know when he spirit will tell you what song needs to be changed from your schedule that day:)

So now that I have the flip charts under control, I needed to tackle the poster shelf.  This had TONS of posters piled on it!  I spent a couple of weeks quietly sitting at the closet & writing down what was in there.  There were plenty of songs in there that I hadn't known were there!  There were also a lot of "game boards" and wiggle song charts.  Whatever I couldn't figure out, I pulled out & took it home with me to try to piece it together.  I put labels on each poster like this.  I place them on each long edge of the poster for quick reference.  

Time to make a new Master List!  I included Poster Shelf to it and added extra spacing between each song.  This way I can hand write in any additions as I go along.  Then I can update it every 6 months on my computer & replace it in my weekly chorister binder.  My first to hand written additions will be Hosanna & Jesus Has Risen found on the Poster Shelf:)

How do you keep yourself organized?