As mentioned in the last entry, our open-mic night for writers – Hotchpotch – held its first event in four months.
The bottom line is that the evening went well: we attracted a sizeable crowd, the event ran on schedule, and people embraced the new donations system. While there were a lot of variables outside our control, it helped to have a robust plan to remove as much guesswork as possible.
When I brought an assistant on board earlier this year, I composed a document to show her the structure of our events, as I’d previously done it from memory.
This is not an exhaustive textbook, but rather a handbook to give an overview of how the event is run, plus best practice gained from years of experience. For example, it reminds the host to recap the introductory speech after the first break for the benefit of those who arrive later.
Because our format evolved on the pub circuit, where we could finish later in the evening. I rewrote the handbook to include a stricter end time and added in revised best practice advice.
As the handbook is a living document, it will likely be updated every month or two with new tweaks, but it really did help with our event last week.
Gavin Cameron 