“Anyone else have tips to share? “
Yes, major.
At ALL times, make sure that someone is holding onto the Torah after the Hagba guy is seated until the galila is totally completed. And make sure that everything is within reach od the Galila guy; it’s even a mitzva to hand him the items as he’s doing it.
I have seen, several times, where the Galila guy leaves the sefer to fetch the items and the heavy sefer starts to fall backwards or to the side.