vision grill/kamado cooking help and techniques

is there a catch-all thread on cooking basics with one of these? or if there isn't, would some of the experts be willing to make this thread the one?

i got a vision pro S for my birthday last week.
i tried it for the first time this past weekend with a beer-can chicken. mistakes were made...

1) i guess i used way too much charcoal. i filled the bowl up to the air holes like the manual said, then put the starter element in and shut the lid with the top and bottom vents open all the way. 10 minutes later the thermometer was pinned past 700 degrees and the felt gaskets were scorched and smoking

2) so...i scrambled to try and get the temp down but its clear to me now that just opening lid added more O2. so i closed top and bottom but i never could get it below 450. i opened the lid after several minutes closed up and the rush of air coming in was like a bomb going off...seared all the hair off my forearms

so intuitively now i think i understand how these things work, at least for a long cook. the bird came out really tasty after all my flailing around

i used foil as a drip catcher/heat break on the lower grate. it worked OK

so, TL:DR
anyone care to post up tips/techniques/best practices etc for lighting, cooking, temp control, etc?