When Agendas Go Wrong! How to Follow a Conference or Event Itinerary

Conference itineraries only work really well when:
A) they are realistically and meticulously planned
B) they are followed as closely as possible
C) all site details are accounted for
D) site staff (banquet staff and AV staff) communicate properly

If any one of those items are not explored, there will be a fly in the ointment. If none are explored, you will have a nightmare brewing, as not only will one problem result, but possibly (probably) a few problems down the line as a result (the ripple effect).

Let's explore some typical agenda problems and some solutions:

An event in Mississauga, Ontario, Sept 24, 2013 - I'm hiding here somewhere!

1) Running behind schedule
At any event, there is either a stage manager or meeting planner or chair person who makes sure an agenda is followed. There are always ways to keep things on time, and they'd better be considered beforehand because some people (talent, speakers, musicians, comedians, MC's, etc) get downright upset if things change, and it's just plain 'not fair' to anyone who is going to be facing an audience, not to mention the audience itself.

Typical schedule problems include presenters who just won't stop talking, a chair person who makes their own itinerary adjustments without consulting the meeting planner, audience members who make long statements rather than ask simple questions, and bands who either 'can't find their singer' when they should have already started, or won't stop playing when their time runs out. When dealing with humans, there will always be such problems, but there are also always effective solutions.

Solutions:

• Warn the presenter ahead of time that there will be time cards flashed at them with 'time left' printed in minutes. Usually, 10-minute, 5-minute and 2-minute warnings will suffice.
• Express to the presenter ahead of time how important it is for them to work within their time slot, leaving the last few minutes for questions.
• Remind the chair person (or moderator) that scheduled breaks and luncheons must be given on time, as being late affects many people behind the scenes, who are following strict, often complicated schedules. Banquet staff and AV teams rely on very  tight schedules to do a lot of planned work within a very short period of time. 
• Warn bands and musical talent ahead of time that they must start and stop on time, so they should have a properly timed set list written, allowing time for an encore. Also mention that if they play more than 2 minutes over their set time, the sound system will be shut off. Musicians are notorious for not understanding the concept of 'time', unless it refers to the music they play (it's okay, I've been performing for over 20 years; this is the truth).
• Ask bands to provide a stage plot and input list ahead of time, unless they have a standard 'backline' (guitar amps, bass amp, drums and keyboards).
• Ask the bands to share as much of the backline as possible, and to set up complicated keyboard rigs ahead of time, but off to the side of the stage. Drums and other complicated set-ups waste precious time at busy events.

2) Last minute changes
Event planners and meeting planners should be aware of ANY change that is wanting to be made. Every last-minute change must go through the on-site meeting or event planner or it will not be guaranteed. Here's an example of a bad last minute change: A chair person at a corporate conference cuts a break in half and lets the audience know. Little did they know, this directly affects any on-site corporate sponsors. On-site event sponsors are promised a certain amount of face time with the audience (it's a selling point) and they will get very upset if the audience only has enough time to go to the bathroom and grab a coffee and not be able to visit the sponsor booths.

Very often, my team is asked to play a video or make a complicated last minute change to a presentation, which can include fixing broken slide-show links, downloading and converting videos or searching for YouTube videos that a presenter all-of-a-sudden remembers but doesn't quite know how to find it. Our team is very, very busy behind the scenes and a 30 minute break often means 27 minutes of work, leaving 3 minutes for us to do personal stuff (we are humans and need breaks as well).

I've worked events where MC's would make 'special announcements' because they've decided to allow a special guest perform one song right before the third of four acts. Well, if that special guest is asked to play another song, they usually will. Then the MC may come back up and say a few more words, or they may decide that it is a good time to hand out door prizes, even though it wasn't on the agenda. Now the third act is 20 minutes late starting and the headliner will either be late as well, or ask the third act to cut their set short.

Solutions:

• Before the event, remind all chair persons or moderators that all scheduled breaks must be adhered to and give them solid reasons why that is. If they are a last-minute replacement person, be sure to thoroughly brief them and be prepared to have one of your staff use a wireless microphone to delicately interrupt and announce the break, if the briefing didn't work.
• If the break is late, despite your best efforts to avoid it, extend the break and make up the time with a shortened lunch period.
• At a live music event, hire an experienced stage manager (or get a good volunteer) to facilitate the smooth execution of the schedule and do not allow any 'special' guests who are not on the schedule to perform, unless the following acts are okay with it. If so, stress that they have 'one song' and that's it.
• If a party is going late and the party planner wants the DJ to keep spinning, the DJ must immediately advise the venue manager or rep. It is not up to the DJ to extend an event and most venues have plans right after the scheduled stop times. Have a plan in place where the crowd is gently warned a couple of times that the party will stop on schedule. Also, the drunker the crowd gets, the more chance of hostile behavior when the music stops.
• To get an inebriated crowd to slow down, I used to turn the music down, little by little, then increase the lights by a bit. Then, I would finally fade the last song out so gradually that nobody really noticed. This process takes about 15 minutes. If you stop the music abruptly, it won't go over very well, that I promise.

I hope these problems won't happen at your next event, and if they do, I trust you will have a solution ready to go as a part of your proactive event plan. Cheers!

- Buck Moore (www.b4ushowit.com)