How long will it take me to setup my Fireworks Show?
The last thing you want is to fire your show late, as that will not make for a very happy customer. Sometimes it might be hard to judge how long it will take to setup a certain show, especially if you have not worked that particular venue before. After collecting data from numerous shows and much analytical thought, I have devised a relatively simple way to determine how long it will take to setup your fireworks show based upon a few variables. These variables include the number of crew you have, the experience of each crew member (quality factor), the number of shots, along with a few others such as if your shooting out of mortar boxes (using sand) or from a barge. If the quality factor is chosen correctly, this is a fairly precise way to determine your needed setup time.

The Graph

How was the graph created?
The graph to the right is what you will use to determine your setup time. The stars represent actual data taken from my shows, and the strait line is the mathematical "guess" you use to find your setup time. The mathematical "guess" is based upon the least squares method of statistical modeling. In layman's terms, it predicts the line based upon the data points that I provided. You can see that the predicted line is very close to the data taken from actual shows.

How do I read the graph?
The graph's horizontal ("X") axis is the setup factor found from equation 1 below. Don't be intimidated by the equation below, it's actually quite simple. The vertical ("Y") axis is the time it will take to setup your show. To sum it all up:

• Horizontal Axis = Setup Factor
• Vertical Axis = Setup Time
  

How do I get the Horizontal ("X") Axis Value?
The following equation is used to obtain the X-Axis Value:

Quality Factor Scale
The quality factor is the most important part of the equation, so time must be spent understanding it. The following is the list of quality factor values and the corresponding criteria. Your quality factor choice for each member of your crew must match closely to what I would have chosen for them in order for the equation to be accurate, so keep in mind that I have a pretty high standard, choose your quality factors wisely.

Quality Factor:

• Q = 10, only given to a person with tons of experience, can do everything without asking a single question, and works extremely fast.
• Q = 9, someone who works really hard, has lots of experience, and is really motivated.
• Q = 8, someone who works just as hard as a "9", but less experience.
• Q = 7, someone who works hard, lacks a lot of experience, but can handle any task after only being shown once.
• Q = 6, someone who works at an average pace, moderate to low amount of experience, not a lot of initiative, but does what you tell them to.
• Q = 5, someone who works at an average pace, little experience, not much initiative.
• Q = 4, someone who works relatively slow, most likely due to their inexperience, and for the same reason, not much initiative.
• Q = 3, someone who works really slow, poor work ethic, has to be told what to do next every step of the way regardless of their experience.
• Q = 2, someone who is pretty much useless, stands around most of the time, not willing to learn, has to be told over and over how to do something.
• Q = 1, absolutely useless, did not hardly work at all, took no initiate to learn anything.
• Q = 0, is not used since it wouldn't make sense.

Examples
Example 1: For a show with 500 shots, a crew of 7 with quality factors of 4, 7, 5, 5, 6, 8, 3, and no sand, barge, or set pieces, your setup equation (equation 1) will look like this:

Setup Value = [(1)*(1)*500*7] / [0.1*(4+7+5+5+6+8+3)*log(7)]

Which would equal = 1090

Now taking that value and matching it to the horizontal axis of the graph, and then reading the value of the vertical axis that corresponds to the point of the "least squares" line, (shown on the graph below)

You now have a setup time of around 7.5 hours.

To show how much influence the quality factor has on the output of the equation, we shall use the same example using a better crew, with higher quality factors:

Example 2: For a show with 500 shots, a crew of 7 with quality factors of 4, 7, 7, 8, 6, 9, 6, and no sand, barge, or set pieces, your setup equation (equation 1) will look like this:

Setup Value = [(1)*(1)*500*7] / [0.1*(4+7+7+8+6+9+6)*log(7)]

Which would equal = 881

Now taking that value and matching it to the horizontal axis of the graph, and then reading the value of the vertical axis that corresponds to the point of the "least squares" line, (shown on the graph below)

You now have a setup time of around 6.25 hours, a difference of over an hour with a good crew, which would make sense.