Make This Year's Show Better Than Last Year's!

No matter if you’ve been running shows for the last 30 years or if you’re just starting, shows are never perfect, and there is always room for improvement. Each year can teach you something to implement or change for next year. 

But the biggest challenge for many studio owners and event organisers is finding the time to make those changes and apply what they’ve learnt.  

Before you start organising your upcoming event, take a step back and look honestly at last year's show. What went well? What would you change if you could do it all again?

Once you've got a clear picture, it's easier to spot where the real improvements can be made. There are lots of areas that could be improved or flagged, but in this article we’re just going to look at three: planning, volunteers, and show times.

Planning

Good planning is the difference between a show that runs smoothly and one where you're firefighting right up until curtain up.

Did you start planning early enough?

Planning early gives you breathing room for the things that inevitably go wrong, and it means decisions get made calmly instead of in a panic.

If timing was tight last year, that can be something we improve on this year. See our free planning checklist that walks through a realistic timeline, from your first venue enquiry right through to the final curtain call. Worth bookmarking before you start.

And don’t forget you don’t have to be the one doing everything! 

Volunteers

Last year, did you have enough people to actually run the event smoothly?

Volunteers are often the bit organisers underestimate until show day arrives and suddenly there's nobody on the door, nobody backstage, and nobody keeping an eye on the car park. Think back to where the gaps were. Was it front of house? Backstage wrangling? Selling merchandise? Managing the queue at the box office?

Once you've identified the gaps, it's much easier to recruit with purpose this time round rather than just putting out a general "we need helpers" call and hoping for the best. Be specific about the roles you need filling, how many hours you're asking for, and what the job actually involves. Parents and volunteers are far more likely to say yes when they know exactly what they're signing up for.

It's also worth having a backup plan. Even the best-organised volunteer rota can lose a person or two on the day, so a small pool of "just in case" helpers can save you a lot of stress.

For more information about recruiting and supporting your backstage team, see our blog post: ‘How to run a seamless show: tips fr supporting your backstage team’. 

Show Time

This is where all your planning either pays off or shows its cracks.

How did you sell your tickets?

Think about last year's process from a parent or audience member's point of view. Was it easy to buy a ticket? Could they choose their own seats? Did they get their tickets instantly, or were they waiting around for a reply to a Facebook message?

If ticketing was a headache last year, whether that was managing a spreadsheet, chasing cash payments, or fielding endless "have you got my ticket" messages, it might be time to make the switch to something built for the job. Stage Stubs is a free ticketing platform designed specifically for event organisers like you. No subscription, no hidden fees, just a straightforward way to sell tickets online, manage your seating, and take the admin off your plate so you can focus on the show itself.

One show or multiple performances?

This is a big decision, and it's worth revisiting every year, because what works for one group doesn't always work for another.

A single show has its perks. It's less pressure on cast and crew, it's easier to coordinate one big push for tickets and attendance, and it often feels like a bigger event because everyone's there at once.

Multiple performances spread the load. Cast and crew get a bit more breathing room, families with limited availability have more chances to come along, and you can sell more tickets overall if demand is high. The trade-off is more organisation, more cost in some cases, and more energy needed to keep everyone motivated and on form for every single performance.

Bringing It All Together

Improving your show isn't about reinventing everything from scratch. It's about being honest with yourself about what worked, fixing the bits that didn't, and giving yourself enough time and support to make it happen.

Start with planning, make sure your volunteers are properly covered, and get your ticketing sorted early so show time runs as smoothly as possible. Do that, and you're already ahead of where you were this time last year.

Find out more about how you can use Stage Stubs to support the running of your event and multiple shows, with our range of resources: 

• Make additional revenue with Stage Stubs event tickets
• You’ve done the hard work, let Stage Stubs do the rest 
• Benefits of offering a tiered seating plan for your events

Create your event and start selling your tickets in minutes. (Interested? See how Stage Stubs compares to TicketSource, or Eventbrite, and Trybooking.)