When my son Brett was in high school marching band his director had a saying that rings true for all of us, “To be on time is to be late; to be early is to be on time!”. In other words, get to your appointment / show early so you have time to gather your thoughts, think about what you are about to do, and be prepared to give a great performance. This is vitally important, especially for us ventriloquists.
If a piece of equipment is broken while in transit to a show, if you arrive JUST in time you may not have an opportunity to fix it correctly, if at all. Your performance will suffer due to the fact that not enough extra time was allotted for such emergencies. Maybe at the last minute your client had to change venues for the show and you need time to react to this. Being early helps smooth this over.
Client comfort is also a big consideration. Many times performers will saunter in just minutes before show time and the client is anxious with fear that the performer may not show up at all. Getting there early helps sooth the client’s fears. Believe it or not, many performers feel hey only need 10 minutes to set up, and maybe that’s true. But he CLIENT needs more time to be reassured there will be a performer that day.
Getting to a date early is such a minor thing, but it has a big impact. It may be the difference as to whether you are asked back or not!
To contact Mark Wade- kidshowvent@gmail.com
This is so true. I put in my agreement that I will show up anywhere between 30 mins to an hour. I also send an email one week in advance of the show to ease their mind that I did not forget about their show.
As Eddie does, I also email and/or text a week before to ensure them that I will be there. I say I will be there 20 minutes early and then I aim to get there at least 20 minutes before that
The conventions sounds like it was fun. I would love to get to one in the future just to be around all that experience and knowledge. I certainly envy those people who went. I know the only way to change that is to go. Glad to be part of the vent community, I love reading what peoples ideas are and what they are doing.
Pip Carter Lennox Head NSW Australia