Tour the show

By Ross Woods (2nd ed. 2013)

Your task as Event Manager is to take a show on a tour, travelling through several other cities and getting your musicians to perform at unfamiliar venues in each city.

You are responsible to get contracts signed, set the budget, set employment relationships for your team, arrange accommodation, and handle the finances. At each location, you will be dealing with venue managers whom you might not know. You also have to move all your group’s gear to each venue.

In touring a show, the things that you must get right are:

• managing many different kinds of risks
• managing a range of tasks concurrently
• scheduling well
• working with many different kinds of people
• communicating effectively in many different situations
• being calm and patient
• handling changes to plans
• solving problems as they arise
• getting paid, and
• managing finances.

 

Plan the tour

At this stage, you might already have a general picture of the tour, perhaps with a schedule mapped out. It is not your job to fill in all the gaps and make it work.

Hold a meeting to examine the tour schedule. First, brief your team on the arrangements to date and answer any questions. Discuss the implications and discuss any requirements. Then go through your other main agenda items: transport, accommodation, equipment, personnel (e.g. roadies, sound technicians, lighting), and local regulations.

Examine any constraints affecting how you will run the tour, for example:

• Touring schedule
• Fixed performance dates
• Travel time
• OHS regulations may differ between venues.
• Check that your insurance will be effective in all locations.
• Budgetary constraints
• Arrangements in industrial awards for travel, rehearsal and performance, days off, etc.

 

Venues

Get information on the venues and inspect them if you can. You information you will depend on the services you provide besides the actual performance (box office, lighting, sound technician, etc.), for example:

Technical specifications of size Dimensions Layout Masking requirements Power capacity

Backstage layout Auditorium layout Access Parking Truck access

Hours of access Amenities and facilities Canteen Bar Restaurant

 

Itinerary

Draft a detailed schedule, with transport, rehearsals, gigs, and accommodations.

Then confirm your gigs for each venue, along with what you will provide and what they will contribute. Confirm payment arrangements, preferably in writing. Do some research on you travel and accommodation.

Calculate travel days, preparation days, performance days, and days off. People will need some days off. They might want to relax and withdraw, or rest or spend at least some time with hosts or local friends. Alternatively, you might offer at least some tourists activities, especially in a city that most team members have never visited before.

Check that your draft schedule will work with everybody concerned. If it okay, plan and book transport, insurance, accommodation etc. Check that travel meets all your needs and don't leave it to chance. For example, allow extra time for intra-city travel, especially in unfamiliar cities.

 

Who needs to know what?

Make a list of who needs to know something, what they need to know, and how to contact them. People who need to be informed might include:

Your supervisor Your home-office liaison person Your bookkeeper All members of your touring party Venue managers

Local on-location agents or managers Local support performers Local support staff Local suppliers and subcontractors Accommodation providers

Publicists Travel agents/transport providers/airlines Insurance providers

Give people all information they need, normally in written form. Different people will need different combinations of information, and it is easy to swamp people with too much information at once.

• You may need to give a briefing and Q & A session.
• You will want to talk some people through it individually.
• Copy and distribute the tour itinerary to everybody.

Make sure all documents are dated. (If a document is modified, people will need to be able to identify the most up-to-date version.)

Depending on the kind of production, the information may include:

Itinerary Likely changes to the show due to local situations Transport Accommodation Equipment Personnel requirements Contact details Runsheets Venue information Front-of-house information and distribution lists

Address lists and agent lists Props lists Scenery lists Scripts Wardrobe lists Preliminary cue synopses Time sheets Technical plots, e.g. fly plots and dome plots Production schedules and bump in schedules Dressing room lists

Ground plans Performance schedule Understudy/covers lists Maps and information touring cities and towns Tickets Any location regulations and procedures, (e.g. house rules, OHS protocols, legal requirements)

 

Managing tour finances

While you are on tour, you might also handle all the regular financial management usually done by your bookkeeper such as employment, taxation, superannuation, union membership, insurance, and local suppliers.

You will need to keep an eye on the budget and cash flow, and reconcile expenditure to the budget. Put your records in writing. Expenditure and income may include petty cash float, cheque account, props budget, box office income, and invoices.

It might be your job to give staff any necessary forms (timesheets, reimbursement claim forms, hazard report forms, etc.) and collect them afterwards. You may also be responsible to dispatch time sheets back to the office and administer wages, especially for temporary staff. Administration of time sheets and wages may include advising the bank of cash requirements, and calculating tour and other special allowances.

Financial documents may include:

• cheque requisition order forms
• time and wages books
• cheque voucher forms
• petty cash forms
• delegations
• letters to financial institutions
• letters of introduction
• letters of credit

 

Changing your plans

You might need to vary the show in different locations for local reasons. You will usually have to adjust to different venues and arrangements for travel and accommodation. You will also have to make adjustments if you use local support staff or supporting artists. Besides, some local regulations might affect you. You might have very different contracts for different venues. Tight schedules might force you to have rushed rehearsals or even no on-site rehearsals).

Who needs to approve changes? You may need to negotiate between several parties before you can inform them that a decision has been made. Make sure that you put changes in writing and inform everybody who needs to know.

 

Overseas tours

Overseas tours require extra, more complex arrangements. To be the event manager (person in charge) of an overseas tour, it is preferable that you have already been on the traveling staff of at least one tour to learn what is done. Unless you know exactly who you're dealing with in other countries, it is obviously best to deal only with reputable people.

At least some briefing for the traveling team will be necessary, perhaps including some cultural orientation. Some local cultural sensitivities and work patterns may need to be accommodated.

Besides, team members might develop symptoms of culture shock if they have not traveled much before and if they have lots of contact with local people. However, it is less likely in a busy team with little free time.

 

Travel documents

The following documents may be necessary:

• travel permits or visas for personnel
• customs and quarantine documentation, including import duty exemption for any equipment you plan to take
• vaccinations
• currency exchange
• temporary work permits
• taxation arrangements for money earned in the other country.
• translations of script and organization documentation, and information on activity
• travel warnings and travel security
• luggage labels, extra passport photos, photocopies of passports
• International Drivers licenses for those who might want to drive while away
• travel insurance, which should include health insurance
• in-country visa extensions, if necessary
• carnets for air and sea freight

 

While you are away . . .

If you are away for a longer time, you may need to make check that team members will be able to pay any bills that come due while away.

It should be their own responsibility (e.g. have a family member do it, pay in advance, set up electronic transfer, pay by internet while away, etc.) but as a last resort, your office may have to do it for them.

 

Overseas contracts

Contracts for overseas tours are more difficult and it is not advisable to do them yourself until you have done them with an experienced person several times and, preferably, have your own network of contacts. At the very least, make sure you get some specialized advice.

Overseas contracts are already high risk even if you can trust the local legal system and the people you work with.

 

Are you the risk?

Make sure you know exactly what the contract requires of you and deliver on your side:

• Eventualities such as sickness of performers or other key personnel should be covered in the contract or through understudies.
• Some performers make mistakes in their press relationships (disparaging remarks, etc.). In a small tour, it might be your job to prevent this from happening, although it is the role of the publicist in a large tour.
• Why should they pay you until you have shown that you can "produce the goods"?

 

Reducing risks

Your contract will need to specify clearly who it is with and how and when you will be paid, and you need to make sure it happens. You need to be able to bail out if and when your options are cut.

Several ways to reduce risk are:

• Work with people you trust
• Be fair yourself
• Offer good value for money
• Make sure misunderstandings are cleared up promptly
• Learn how their system works
• Consider using export-import payment protocols
• Require a substantial early payment
• Calculate a percentage for risk in your budget
• Specify the jurisdiction in your agreement where any dispute would be taken to court. (Some contracts may with an agent in your own country or state, so this will be simplified.)
• Link the tour to other business (i.e. they lose most if they don't pay, because they miss out on other business).
• Have other means to recoup any losses (e.g. recording sales).

 

Risks and cheats

There are lots of way to scam foreigners, so you face many potential risks. They vary from country to country, so some of these won't apply to particular cases. But there are lots of them, and you could easily add more.

 

Political/legal risks in Australia	Change of legislation or regulations Change of interpretation of rules Loss of an accreditation or recognition
Political/legal risks in their country	Legal systems in some countries are simply too expensive or time-consuming to pursue action. Many countries depend on personal trust more than the courts, and you may be unable to rely on the courts in some countries for fair and effective treatment. For example, they might: favor one of their own against a foreigner (whether through prejudice, cultural norms, or specific laws) be too difficult to navigate, especially in another language. Work permit and taxation requirements. You may be quite unfamiliar with local legal requirements. It may be advisable to specify in the contract that the local organization in the overseas location will carry all work permit and taxation requirements. But you will need to make sure they carry out their commitments, otherwise you could be arrested or black-listed. On the other hand, the legal commitments may be yours and you may be legally unable to pass them onto another party through a contract. Radical change of legislation, regulations, or political regime Change of local government officials Change of interpretation of rules at local level Personal falling out with a key local official (including failure to pay bribes) Very slow paperwork processes Accusation of illegal activity. (In some countries, accusation is nearly the same as proof of guilt.) Status of personnel and visa difficulties Loss of local accreditation or recognitions. Protocols in local government offices, which might reflect organizational culture rather than the letter of the law. Requirements to have "partners" in the other country.
Risks between countries	Money earned in overseas tours can attract taxation difficulties in both countries. The taxation and legal arrangements you make in one country may not apply in the other. It may also be difficult to move funds from one country to another.
Bait	It is fairly common practice to offer bait to induce you to accept higher risk. For example, they might suggest a recording deal or a follow-up tour, but not lock it into the agreement. That is, you would be accepting higher risk with no guarantee of recompense.
Financial risks	"It costs more than you think and takes longer than you think." (Peter Burch) Even if everything goes well, the delays can be costly. Rapid change of economic conditions in host country Currency fluctuations creating adverse exchange rates and profitability. Unfamiliar banking protocols. Loss or delay of funds in transfer. Unable to get payment. You are very vulnerable to bad debt. If they simply decide not to pay you, what can you do? Embezzlement Problems with local accounting methods, including: Possibility of dishonest practices Weak accounting or auditing standards Standards and practices that are good but incompatible with Australian standards Costs of travel and accommodation might outweigh profitability, especially if you need to do more traveling than anticipated to maintain adequate communication. Errors in budgeting and cost blowouts It takes longer than you think to build a local market image and niche and hit a critical mass of audience numbers Their staff might request funding or other assistance apart from any agreed-upon arrangements.
Pressure to carry financial risk	You might be asked or pressured you to carry financial risk, such as putting some money into the tour, guaranteeing a loan to cover the tour costs, or being guarantor for losses. These are normally quite unacceptable. It might be okay if you are the Rolling Stones because you are assured of income and negligible risk. For nearly everybody else, however, it is probably better for the local organizers to carry all financial risks, and for you to have a set payment in place, perhaps with a percentage of gate takings above a certain limit. It is then their task to invest in publicity and seek a full profit. Even if you take on the investment, you should not invest more than you can afford to lose. It is a high risk, and you need proof of potential high earnings to match the risk. In any case, consider whether the investor agreement should be a separate agreement from your event management agreement.
Strategic relationships	The Australian person striking the deal is different from the people who will deliver the goods. Key people have a personal falling out, in particular key liaison personnel from both sides. Including extra parties in the agreement, making the relationship unmanageably complex. The local partner will withdraw to get a better deal from someone else. Australian staff might spin off their own competing business. Loss of key staff at either end of the partnership. Failure to attain and maintain win-win relationships. Difficulty in making organizational procedures compatible.
Legal risks	The actual terms of the agreement might be: forgotten by one or both parties too narrow to include later developments altered by later precedents that don’t follow the actual agreements too hard to get out of if needed The agreement might omit a clear statement of legal jurisdiction, or be unable to enforce an agreed-upon jurisdiction statement Possibility of non-compliance with local laws Overseas organizations legally challenges to a section in agreement, no matter how clear it is. Precedents affecting this or other activities in that country Possibility of forged documents. Some event organizers try to minimize their risk by contracting you to a third party (e.g. manager). They can bail out at any time, leaving you with a useless contract to a third party that can do nothing.
Cheating on services provided	Overseas organizers might cheat on services provided to the tour group, especially if they suspect that the tour might not reach anticipated profit levels. They can cheat by: providing poor accommodation and or transport requiring extra shows and publicity meetings canceling shows changing venues
Intellectual property and information	Pirating intellectual property Leaking information that must be confidential under the Privacy Act. Leaking market intelligence
Poor event management from their side	Some problems might simply result from poor event management resulting in lower than anticipated attendance and returns. Scheduling mistakes are the most common. Eventualities that you cannot foresee (e.g. traffic problems) should be their risk, not yours. Some local promoters will sign on the basis of they think they will be able to deliver, but then can't. This again should be their risk.
Lack of expertise	The Australian organization could lack a field of expertise in managing the relationship that it didn’t expect to need The overseas body could be unable to hire enough suitable staff; the risks would be higher if: The program is new There is a high staff turnover There is a shortage of suitably qualified labour There is a negative public incident that makes prospective staff unwilling to apply.
Market placement	Rapid change in marketplace: e.g. changes in local short-term fads Embarrassing public incident Embarrassing public incident in Australian operations Australian staff might leave and spin off their own operations Property problems, e.g. relocations that negatively effect market image and placement Profiteering by middle-men Entry of stronger competitor.
Publicity risks	Publicly expressed dissatisfaction by partner organization or its clients, no matter how unjustified. ("Blame the foreigners") Adverse publicity via their local government Precedents affecting other activities in that country
Cultural context	Australians may be unable or unwilling to understand local issues (marketscape, business climate, innovations, etc.). Local identity: we want to do it our way anyway, not a foreign way. Will the Australian organization be cast in a negative light if he/she does not approve of a local practice? (E.g. appearing to be colonialist, imperialist, condescending, or racist.) The appearance might also be a reality, not just an impression given. How will you do related to local industry personnel if you need to hire them directly? Different industry requirements and expectations for good reasons standards incompatible with Australian standards e.g. OHS, staff management, conflict of interest.
Transport problems	Getting flights and other transport (e.g. airline collapses, flights suspended through accident, bomb threats, terrorist attacks, etc.) Difficulty in getting suitable travel insurance in high-risk situations Personal safety problems Long intracity transport delays Getting suitable accommodation
Communication	The Australian and local persons might have misunderstandings Their leadership might miscommunicate with their staff and their general public Local top-down structures might mean: the message might not be the same when it gets to the grass-roots you get a lack of worthwhile feedback from grass-roots stakeholders (Event managers, investors, etc.) Mixed messages caused by different people communicating on behalf of the same organization. Australian spokesperson might miscommunicate with their leadership Spokesperson and liaison personnel lack sufficient authority to speak on behalf of their organizations Mail and email Letters and documents delayed or lost in mail Emails not arriving Written letters being misconstrued Inability to distinguish between personal and official email messages Culturally different roles for spoken and written communication Breach of security in communication Problems caused by rumor and gossip Misunderstanding caused by expectations, assumptions, and private agendas Cultural resistance to what is communicated, no matter how clearly expressed Higher risks: Across language barriers At the implementation stage At the program review stage At the state of assessment validation In larger organizations where more people are involved At times where one side is dissatisfied or faces problems but feels unable to express their views. Change of key personnel

 

 

Tip

Have two different people as event managers: one back at the office and one to travel with the show. There are two main reasons:

• It can be too exhausting to do both.
• It can be more effective use of personnel to have the office person doing liaison and support while setting up the next tour and looking after the shop.

 

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