So here we are, just a few days from moving offices. Later this week we’ll be tasked with one of the most tedious, time consuming and important jobs we’ve ever tackled; breaking down, moving and hooking up four entire edit suites in less than 24 hours. Luckily, in previous employment, I’ve completed moves like this twice before, so I feel like we are going to handle this well, due mostly in part to the following tips:
How to Successfully Move an Edit Suite
Break down tips:
Label every single cable as you unhook everything. Labeling is the most important thing you can do at this stage. As you go to unhook a cable from a piece of equipment, if it isn’t already correctly labeled, do so.
Don’t bother buying expensive cable labels. Instead, check out this method that is cheap, easy and that lasts a surprisingly long time. The only materials you need are an ink pen, post-it notes, and scotch tape.
Keep all equipment and cables from one edit suite separate from all other equipment and cables. In our move, we will handle this by placing a single person in charge of a particular edit suite. They will be in charge of labeling cables and breaking the bay down.
Moving tips:
Move each suite one at a time or keep them as separate as possible. For us, the person that breaks a particular bay down will also transport the equipment and cables from that bay in the old building to the same bay in the new office.
Double check and Triple check that everything is unplugged when you start moving equipment. Something as simple as a thumb drive left in a CPU could cause major damage to your equipment if it’s accidentally snapped off or broken.
Hooking up tips:
Place all the equipment where you want it first, then start cabling. Run power cables first, then anything computer related, then your audio and video cables. Be sure to run your power and audio/video cables at right angles to avoid interference. If all your labeling is correct it should be only a matter of time before you’re back up and running.
Hopefully, these tips will help you one day, whether you’re moving a single edit suite or several suites like we are. Just take your time and label, label, label and you should be fine.
redarrowRyan