Successful Stage Itinerary Management for music Festivals.

Running a music festival with hundreds of artists over multiple stages for several days will test even the best project managers. With large scale events rarely will things go to plan so what can event organisers do to minimise any hiccups and present a timely, seamless and professional artist line up to satisfy event goers. 

Key to managing so many artists at a music festival is collaboration with all parties involved including artists, artist liaison mangers, stage producers, onsite hospitality managers and those responsible for travel and accommodation. The planning process could involve many people and therefore an effective central depository of up to date information should be easily available to those that need it along with an effective and reliable communication process. There are key steps that organisers need to go through before they get to the point of being able to issue an official running order and itinerary and typically include: 

• Artists agreements and contracts confirmed.
• Artist advancing process established and working.
• Specification sheets confirmed.
• Central calendar for logging all key logistics for example:
  
  •  Artist transportation schedules.
  • Artists arrival times.
  • Soundcheck times.
  • Dressing room times.
  • Performance Act start and finish times.
    

For the stage manager or producer, they will rely on the key times for soundchecks, dressing room times and most importantly the act start and end times. With this it is possible to produce the running order and performance act itinerary that will include a buffer time between acts to allow for set up and an allowance for potential delays. With all the relevant information and times, the finalised running order can be published to all relevant parties. 

For improved management of the running order itinerary event organisers should post schedules in an electronic online format, this allows for last minute changes to be made along with notifications to relevant people. Having a dynamic stage itinerary running order will mean that changes can be made on the fly with key people being informed as and when changes happen. This is a far more efficient way of managing the act running order as opposed to relying on a paper version that could be out of date a few minutes after it was printed.

The technology exists now to make the stage running order itinerary management efficient and accurate to avoid any confusion or unnecessary delays. All concerned know who should be where and when and the audience gets to experience a seamless performance for numerous acts who transition quickly and without fuss.

Using an events software management platform like FestivalPro music festival event organisers get all the functionality they need to manage stage running order itineraries. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The FestivalPro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features for managing every aspect of stage itineraries and artist’s run sheets with links to dynamic calendars that clearly show any potential clashes and allow for changes to be made using simple drag and drop. Changes are made in real time and notifications can be made to relevant people at the same time with all data, schedules and times held in a single place online.     

Photo by Wendy Wei from Pexels

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