I don’t know how many times I have to say this…STICK TO THE SCHEDULE! Not sticking to the schedule means someone will end up being disadvantaged one way or another. Not sticking to the schedule means you are creating room for abuse. Not sticking to the schedule means you will find yourself between a rock and a very hard place. Stage management…that’s what we are going to address today. 

The norm with venues in the land of the brave is that it comes with strict eclipsing time. If your event is to take place at a venue with a curfew…then you need to be anal about your schedule. A schedule will be your saving grace. A performance schedule will help you get the best out of every act while staying on track with your time. 

You cannot not have a performance schedule. An absence of a performance schedule means chaos. It means every act will arrive at 11 pm. An absence of a performance schedule means that every act will arrive at 11 pm and would want to perform last. An absence of a performance schedule means that every act will arrive at 11 pm, would want to perform last and YOU will end up having to cut performance altogether. Why would you want to put yourself in such a predicament?  

A question that will naturally come up in such a case would be…whose fault is it? You cut artists who you owe 50%. Legally, what does this mean? You KNEW that the venue comes with a time limit. YOU didn’t communicate that time limit in advance to artists. YOU didn’t communicate time to artists. YOU didn’t communicate a performance slot to the artist. YOU will have to settle the remaining 50% regardless of whether they performed or not. It was YOUR fault. YOU failed in your capacity as an event organiser. 

If you are planning an event…YOU are in a position now to avoid chaos and liability. You’ve got your acts confirmed and ready. Sit down today and compile a performance schedule. Communicate these times to the acts. If an artist arrives late for their slot…YOU have every legal right to shorten their set if time allows. If an artist requests to perform early, YOU need to facilitate that with whoever was placed in that slot. The bottom line is this…YOU are the event organiser. If YOU do not respect the schedule…NO ONE WILL!  

Until the next loop, we say “GMTM”!
NSK is a professional MC. For bookings, email naobebsekind@gmail.com
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