I know is the first one but care the direction of the puppets (not an easy task), sometimes they look dead or looking to ceiling, they need to use a little bit more the hands because they are still in a floating position.
The biggest obstacle to this was the set. We had the table lifted up but it was not nearly high enough, we did not have the room to properly maneuver and it really hampered our ability to control the puppets. If I am able to do any more we're going to have to entirely rethink the set. Once that's done we can focus much more on improving the puppeteering.
Great! How did you get so many people working with you?
Mostly, I called in a lot of favors. And I provided food, having craft services available goes a LONG way towards attracting help.