I've decided that, given freedom of set design, I want the panelists bank (the two rows of three) set at stage left (not center like we had it at BayCon), and canted twenty degrees or so so, with the contestants at stage right and canted the opposite way. That way the contestants can see the panelists more easily. (BayCon set things up the way I requested. I just didn't think the set design out properly.)
I like having the opening titles animation, but it's not at all mandatory. If we ever stage it in a large venue, I hope we'll have rear projection or a ceiling mounted projector. One thing I kept doing at BayCon -- and it was inevitable, given how we had to arrange things -- was walking in front of the projector as I had to go back and forth to the announcer table so Eric could announce new contestants, prizes, and commercials. Of course, with fewer tech constraints, we have a fixed microphone at that table so I don't have to go over there.
And to those of you who were telling me that Gene Rayburn's microphone was corded: I stand corrected. I forgot that 1970s technology would have made a wireless microphone much more troublesome than it is today.
