Location location location....Remember that.. Of course, that's why you are asking this question...

Based on what you are presenting about your general location, experience..etc...

There are a couple of ways to do this...
1) Pick a well known crappie producing lake and hire that lake local guide. i.e. Cedar Creek, Ray Bob, Richland Chambers, Fork, Lavo, Lewisville...etc... (I only know the 2hrs driving radius from the DWF metromess best)

2) Stick with Proctor!!!

The reason I am pointing you to these 2 options is because they are your best options per my view...

During the Fall, crappie migrates into shallower bruhpiles and timbers, stumps, bridge columns & docks. All are structurally sounded for this particular specie. How shallow or how deep varies from lake to lake. Crappies will feed more aggressively once the steaming weather eases off. Most crappies anglers love Fall for 2 common reasons. 1) The crappie feeds more aggressively to give them that thick back and heavy wt. (don't assume that it is getting ready for non-feeding during the winter). It does feed year round, we aren't talking about BEAR...and 2) the weather is no where near chaotic like the Spring!!!

For such a brief description about normal Fall crappie, they aren't hard to catch, rather easy really...BUT....there is always a big BUT...

You have to locate them, now, that's the key. Since you are saying that you are unfamiliar with crappie fishing...then your best bet is to stick with the location you know. This means your hundred of Cedar will surely produce w/o a doubt.
If you are to step into foreign water, you need to find them in foreign territory which equals to time wasted. Therefore, to assure that you and your loved ones to have a blast with precious time, it's best to just hire a local guide where you intended to visit if it's not the lake you are familiar with.

Once you have the hang of what/where/how to locate/catch these lovable critters, you will know which part of the bridge to fish, how deep of a brushpiles to focus on, and where/how to locate a brushpile in foreign water. You also will be able to recognize a good timber vs. the bad. What likely to produce when ran across a submerged barely visible stump.. and of course...which dock and proper depth to try your luck. All these aren't hard to figure out, but it does take times and experience....

Good luck!