7 equipment room quick tips

From gear room chaos to gear room bliss

As many of you know, handling equipment and having many team members rushing in and out of the equipment room can leave a bit of a mess!

Gear is being returned to the wrong gear cage or placed on the wrong shelf, and there might even be a crucial piece missing. This leads to other team members wasting valuable time trying to find the right gear. And you don't want to be ‘that guy’, you know... 😬

We get it, so we’ve compiled some quick tips for organizing your equipment room to help you and your team:

1. Mark shelves with names and arrows

When it comes to clearly marking your equipment racks and shelves, we say: go for it!

For better visibility, we recommend using clear indicators, including the item's name and arrows pointing toward its location in the rack. ⬆️ ⬇️

At San Bernardino Valley College, they also add icons of the gear's category:

2. Create a shelf position overview

Having a label with the correct name and an arrow is a great step towards getting more organized. But what if you have lots of gear AND lots of racks AND lots of equipment rooms…? It can become quite challenging to manage them effectively. 🥴

Say hello to the shelf position overview!

Give your items an exact equipment room position by marking them accordingly:

• Use R01, R02 … to mark the equipment room. Alternatively, you can use these labels to mark the rack if you have your gear in a single facility.
• Use SH01, SH02 … to mark the shelf position.

💡Tip:
Create a dropdown custom field inside Cheqroom’s Equipment Management app with the item’s shelf position. This will allow you to filter your items based on their location in the equipment room.

Hang the overview by the entrance of the equipment room. This will allow you and your team to quickly see the position of the item you need before entering the room.

This will save everyone time and stress. And hey, now they’ll also know the correct position for when they return it.

Your life as an equipment manager just got way easier. You’ll see. 😉

3. Keep an area clear for packing

When you need to assemble items for checkout, packing, or unpacking, having a designated area can come in handy.

No room for a table? Keep one shelf cleared and mark its purpose:

💡 Tip:
Sharing storage space? Tape the floor.
Ah, tape… It can be useful in many ways. So, why not use it on the floor?

When sharing a storage area with other departments or teams, putting tape on the floor might be a good idea.

When each department or team has its own color, they should spend less time searching for the right gear.

4. Build charging stations

The last thing you want to see when setting up your camera gear at a different location is a low battery warning. But how do you motivate your team to charge the batteries after they’ve used them for a longer period of time?

It’s time to roll up your sleeves and build a pegboard!

💡Tip:

Did you know? Pegboards can be used for anything! At ITCH Media, for instance, they're using a pegboard for storing their cables:

A pegboard with battery charging stations in the equipment room offers easy access to everyone, and it will become part of their routine.

This means the next person in line has one less thing to worry about, and we’re pretty sure they’ll be very grateful!

💡Tip:
Make sure to label the batteries according to their position or the kit they belong to.

5. Leave some buffer equipment

We don't want to pick favorites, but… When you’ve been working with the same gear for a while, you can’t help but have them.

You might prefer working with a specific camera, and you're actually not a big fan of a particular type of lens.

And so when it comes down to kits (e.g., a camera bag or travel case), it’s nice to have the extra flexibility to mix and match. Leave extra items as a buffer in a separate tray instead of putting all your equipment in kits.

6. Add Asset Tags to your Kits

The next step is to add a unique label or key tag to each backpack or travel case that is used as a kit.

Why is that so relevant? When you’re in a hurry, just grab one of the complete kits and scan the asset label on your way out with a scanner or with Cheqroom’s mobile equipment management app. Easy-peasy!

💡 Tip:
Use a permanent marker (ok fine, we can say Sharpie) to write your contact details on the back of Cheqroom Plastic Key Tags.

💡 Tip:
Asset tags are not only for kits; you can label ALL your equipment! Our asset labels come in all sizes and shapes, AND they’re customizable! Cable labels? Check! Mini labels for your gimbals? Check! Dot labels for Bulk Items? Check! ✅ Check out our Asset Label Store here.

7. Kits: The Carabiner Method

Picture this: You’re in a hurry and grab one of the first kits they see, only to realize later that a vital piece of equipment is missing. 🙄 Sounds familiar?

That’s why we want to help you out with this quick tip: the Carabiner Method for Kits.

What you’ll need:

• Plastic containers or filing trays in various colors, with different numbers or labels, as shown in the picture.
• A matching set of carabiner tags, which can be easily snapped on and off.
  

How it works:

• Bags without a carabiner are complete and good to go.
• However, bags with a carabiner are missing something.
• This missing part is in the corresponding plastic container.
• Grab the part from the plastic tray, add it to your bag, and remove the carabiner. It’s as simple as that!

More of a visual person? Check out this video about the Carabiner Method.

That's a wrap, 7 fantastic tips to unlock the equipment room paradise! Now, it’s your turn to implement them. 😉 Efficiently manage and locate your gear, save time, and reduce stress.

Want to learn more about Cheqroom? Contact us or start a free trial today.