4 Ways to Spruce up your Facebook Page!

One part I love about my job as an assistant is helping musicians carry out their branding on their social media pages. Often, musicians have the branding in place on their website, but their Facebook page doesn’t match it. I can’t count how many times I go to a musician’s page and see so many small things they could do to make it look fantastic! I’ve become accustomed to updating musician’s pages for them so that their branding matches across the board, one of the many tasks I do for my clients.

Considering a Facebook page is most likely the place people will go to check out your music after your website, shouldn’t you pay more attention to make sure it reflects your brand? Short answer – yes.

Here are 4 ways you can spruce up your Facebook Fan pages.

1. Put a cover on it

Some pages I’ve come across feature a picture of themselves as their cover photo, along with a picture of themselves for their profile picture. Going that route doesn’t allow for anything to stand out and it can feel cluttered – like a bad photo collage. Do you have an amazing logo? Make it your profile picture and then feature a photo of you as the cover. Have a new album or tour? Make the cover about that, featuring dates and links, and choose a great shot of you for your profile picture. Keep in mind the size of the cover it 851×315 pixels and if you are creating a cover with information on it, keep in mind where the profile picture box will be on the left. I use this handy template whenever I am building a new cover.

Beyonce’s Facebook admin does it just right here, using her new logo and contrasting it with a photo.

2. The info under the profile picture.

For this info box, keep it simple and be sure to include a link! I’ve seen pages not utilize this space correctly by either a) not including a link or b) include too many likes! Choose one thing you’d like to focus on – whether it’s your new album, new website or your twitter account – and write a quick sentence or tagline with the one link. For example:

More than just a girl with a guitar – (link to website)

Get Kelly’s latest album, ‘Girl with a Dream’ here (link to purchase)

3. Choose the right Facebook Tabs

You’re a musician – you tour, you have merch, you have an email list, you want people to buy your music, right?. So why not feature those revenue streams as well as fan connecting streams on your Facebook page?


^On my page, I feature what’s important to my followers.

First of all, get rid of the ‘Number of Likes’ Tab. This is super unimportant to people visiting your site – plus, they can see how many likes you have under your name if they need to know. That tab can be used towards a link to your newsletter sign up, your blog or a link to your online store. One thing you cannot remove is the Photos tab, but find the apps you can include and use the space you have wisely!

4. Personalize your Facebook Tabs with Images and Text

Once you have the best Facebook Tabs picked out for you, it’s time that you personalize them to match your branding. You do NOT want to keep the generic tab cover or title. If you use Mailchimp for your newsletters, as many of us do, adding their app to your page gives you their generic picture / title:

So, instead of ‘Newsletter Sign Up’ which doesn’t even fit in the title, keep it short with ‘Email List’ or ‘Mailing List’. Then, get rid of the apps tab image and replace it with a branded text image (Note: the size of these images have to be exactly 111 x 74). Take a look at John Mayer’s tabs. His team created matching images that reflected his branding and is easy to read and more importantly,UNDERSTAND. Job well done by John Mayer’s Facebook admin:

So, how do you change the Facebook Tab Image?

Here’s a quick tutorial:

Take these four ways to freshen up your page and you will change the entire feel of your page for visitors in just a few hours. After seeing what it could look like after a few minutes spent with it, why would you go back?

7 Ways a VA Can Create Your Best YouTube Trailer

(Shared on Music Think Tank)

Ah, Youtube. Where more than 1 billion unique users visit each month and over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube—that’s almost an hour for every person on Earth.

Chances are you have an account but since they upgraded all channels to Youtube One back in June of 2013, I bet you $10 you haven’t gotten around to uploading a killer promo trailer to drive in subscriptions to your channel. Did I just get a free lunch?

So, why is it important to have a YouTube trailer?

A YouTube trailer is your moment to create a new fan. And with booking agents and festivals looking at social media numbers, you want to be able to grow your following whenever you can. Plus, you could probably use this trailer to promote yourself – a video EPK if you will – which can make you stand out from the other applicants.

I am all about musician’s finding support in their careers, sharing the importance of having an assistant as a musician and how they can create time in the day for you.

Having a virtual assistant could make creating a Youtube trailer practicallypainless, quick and effective. While you are writing a new song or practicing a new riff, your VA could be taking care of this with minimal direction.

Today, I’m going to show you the best way to work with a VA to get you a great video promotional trailer in now time. With free and low cost tools like iMovie and Final Cut Pro, even if your assistant isn’t quite a pro, they are very user friendly.

Here are some tips to make the process go smoothly for you and your VA:

1. Make sure they are comfortable with a video editing program.

They don’t need to know how to create flashy effects, but make sure they can fade in / fade out, add text, and trim clips. These are the very basics and what you’ll need to make a great video. How do you make sure? ASK! If they say yes, ask to see examples. If they say no, ask them if they are willing to learn. You can ‘test them out’ by asking to clip a video you have to make it shorter, or ask to combine two videos fading in and out of each other.

2. Select what videos you want to feature.

One client I work with has over 180 videos on his channel. Another has 8. With either situation, you can create a fantastic video. What to focus on is quality, energy and what best reflects you as an artist! With my client with nearly 200 videos uploaded, we focused on the top 10 viewed videos of all time. I’m going to assume you don’t have nearly that many and we’ll go into what you need to include from the videos you do have.

3. Find the following in your videos.

  • Live footage – Quality is key here. Find your greatest, powerful and most beautiful moments on stage.
  • The crowd and/or fans – Get footage of fans excited to see you. Of crowds jumping up and down. You want their energy and enthusiasm to convert visitors to also become a fan.
  • Your top viewed music video – Show a successful video that made it mainstream or a well produced music video. This shows professionalism to your fans.
  • Your personality – Do you have any clips of you on the road, joking around with the band? How about backstage jokes or interview bloopers? Show your fans a glimpse into your personality so they can relate to you. Double points for showing something entirely unique, like a trick or special talent other than you music.

4. Give exact clip markers of what you want to use to your assistant.

Give exact time markers, for example:

“In my music video, “Seven Stars”, pull 1:29 to 1:56.”

This will guarantee you will see exactly what you want.

5. Order up the clips

If you know the order you’d like to go in with the clips you’ve chosen, give your assistant those directions. If not, let them be creative and put something together first. Sometimes it is easier to know what you want going that route and after you’ve seen something, you can arrange it to exactly what you’d like.

6. Add any text

Once you get the flow of the video down, now is the time to add any intro or outro text, press quotes within the video and/or links to your sites. You don’t want a ton of this, but if you’ve got an awesome quote from New York Times saying you’re the best show in town, you’ll want to tell that!

7. Keep an eye on the clock.

My final piece of advice is on the length of the Youtube Trailer. There’s no exact length limit, but the shorter the better. I would recommend nothing over 2 to 2.5 minutes and with that you should be able to fit only the best clips within that time frame.

Put your assistant to work and create a fabulous and unique video that you can share to get noticed!

What can go wrong, will.

Hey you, I hope you realize January is already over.

Seriously, how did the month go by already? SO much has happened that it’s just exciting to see what the rest of the year will bring! Currently, I’m undergoing a branding and picking out my brand colors, finding a graphic designer and nailing down the plan for a new website. Check out my Pinterest of brandspiration and below are some potential logos!

But before I entered the fun world of branding, I had quite a crisis to handle, specifically when the big snow storm stopped Manhattan a couple weeks ago. Oh yea, if you are near NYC, you remember. I was lucky enough to have a group scheduled to fly the very day it hit...and it went something like this…

(Preface: A group of 4 musicians are trying to fly to Missouri the day before the performance. The members names are Joe (lead violin), Sarah (violin 2), Chris (viola) and Katy (cello) *names changed)

The morning the snow hit, I started my work day per usual, when I get a call from violinist, Sarah. She tells me that she tried to check into her flight and it was cancelled. I checked online and confirmed with her. I told her to keep heading to the airport since there’s a chance they could still fly. She then added that Katy is already in security, they took her checked bag, so there still could be a chance. (I already knew, there was no way since flights don’t go ‘uncancelled’ after they are. Fun fact.)

I call the presenter who’s arranging their pick up at the airport when they arrive in Missouri to give him a heads up that the flight is cancelled, a lot of them are, and I’ll try my best to get them on the next flight. He needs to know what is going on because a) he needs to know if the show will go on and b)he’s agreed to pay for flights! So any changes has to be through him. I then contact the travel agent and speak to her about changing their flight and she can only find a flight for the NEXT DAY, leaving at 12noon, allowing the band just enough time to arrive, get to the venue, rehearse and perform. I say, “We have to take it!”. It’s settled, everyone go home, and we’ll try again tomorrow.

Except, you might remember, they took Katy’s bag. Turns out – they FLEW it to Missouri without her! How? Why? It didn’t matter. I told Katy to give me the tracking and I’d make sure it got there so they could pick it up when they arrived.

That evening, I’m having dinner in my apartment, and I suddenly have the urge to check their flight status…do you want to guess what I saw? YES. IT WAS CANCELLED. 15 hours before it’s supposed to leave it’s already cancelled?Sweet Jesus, I had to start all over again.

I emailed both the presenter and agent that evening to give them a heads up so that they would read it first thing in the AM and hopefully make it a priority to find a new option. I called the airline myself and there were no choices for a flight with 5 empty seats to Missouri. It was disappointing. A late convo with Joe, he said he hasn’t missed a performance in decades. I thought to myself, we’ve gotta keep pushing!

The next morning, I get a head start and start calling the agent the minute their office opens. I literally beg her to find us SOMETHING. I don’t know what sort of magic she had in her fingers, but she found the only flight that could work, leaving that afternoon, getting the band just in time to the performance but with no time for rehearsal…I tell her to hold them immediately until I got an okay from the band.

Joe, being down and out thinking he will miss a performance, tells me YES, LET’S GO. Joe calls the shots so I quickly text message the rest of the band that it’s ON and be at the airport in 2 hours. Woo!

I call the presenter and tell him the good news – yes, they were cutting it short, but they were going to make it! He told me he moved the concert back half an hour to help us out which was immensely appreciated. There was a ray of hope for this concert!

Now, I had to figure out Katy’s bag situation. Luckily, her bag DID make it, but it was in a different terminal than they were going to arrive in. Knowing they had no time to spare, I cleverly asked the driver to pick it up for them. They were happy to do it and I set it up right away.

Did the group make it? YES! Funny thing though, they were 15 minutes late because the van that picked them up from the airport in Missouri broke down. When I heard that, I only thought, OF COURSE. But they made it to the performance, played to a full crowd, and celebrated with a late night pizza. I poured myself a glass of wine to virtually ‘cheers’ them from NYC to a safe trip and successful performance!

MY TAKEAWAY

There are few things to learn from this story.

1. Stay persistent – Yes, even I was close to giving up when I have the internet telling me 1000s of flights are cancelled, but knowing how much it meant for the group & the presenter to get there kept me going. I asked about leaving from different airports, having only 1 person go solo, etc. Take the time to stop and think of options and you just might find one…or just enough time will pass where you will get the answer you were looking for! Keep your promises and don’t give up.

2. Have support. – Do you think this could have happened without a person acting as liaison between the agent, airline, band and presenter? Let me sum it up for you kindly…NO WAY. Without having a designated person on your team, crisis like this won’t be handled correctly and they would have missed their performance. If you don’t have a lovely assistant holding the fort, ask a trusty friend to help you figure out a sticky situation.

3. Know who to call. –  knowing who to contact helped make things run much smoother during a crisis. While traveling, make sure you have contacts at the venue handy!

4. What can go wrong, will. – Well, not all of the time! But, I’ve learned to prepare for the worst. Booking the flight the day before the performance was smart to allow exactly what happen not totally crush the plans. So, when booking your flight, give yourself time and cushion for delays if you can.

So, I hope you enjoyed my story of excitement and suspense from the week – I’m looking forward to warmer months so I don’t have to worry about snow storming through travel plans for my clients! 🙂

Shipping Wars

Being a musician, having to organize mailings and send out materials happens more often than not. Whether it is albums, merchandise, promotional materials, hard drives, sheet music…it all comes with a price.

Working with various levels of clients for years, I learned my way around shipping and also became a familiar face in the post office, at FedEx, at UPS..(and even at the other FedEx a few blocks away) visiting all of them at least once a week!

Being in New York, at first, I would always choose whatever is open and what is closest – but after a few years of doing this, I have become very selective in how and from where I send anything for my clients because if you get lazy, you can end up paying way more than you have to to get those posters to a venue in time.

It’s important to understand your choices in mailing and who will give you the best value. Mailing costs add up and are usually forgotten in budgeting, so you should strategize on how you are mailing your materials!

United States Postal Service – www.usps.com

PROS
Media Mail – offers the cheapest way to send media, including CDs, Books, Movies, etc. If you have the time to ship it and are in no rush, go to USPS first and ask to ship ‘Media Mail’. It usually will get anywhere in the United States in a week, if not sooner.

Cheap tracking – always recommended to get tracking with USPS. It doesn’t come standard like FedEx or UPS. Don’t waste your time, don’t take the risk, spend the extra few bucks (literally a few bucks – tracking starts at $1.95) and have peace of mind you can find a missing box or letter.

Lowest International shipping – if you are shipping internationally, USPS has consistently given me the best rates.

CONS
Limited hours – The post office is only open a limited amount of hours during the day – MondayFriday, 7AM-5PM, closed on holidays. It doesn’t leave you with a great window of time and certainly doesn’t help you in emergencies.

Crowds – Because of its limited hours, you can find yourself standing in LONG lines, wasting precious time in your day.

UPS – www.ups.com

PROS
Gives you options – One perk at my local UPS is that they offer USPS services as well as the standard ground and air shipping of UPS.

Online Shipping Services – It’s incredibly easy to use!
While on tour, I had to ship about 8 boxes when our tour bus left us. The hotel recommended UPS – which I hadn’t used before. In a matter of minutes I had created an online account, printed and labeled the boxes and were able to give instructions for them to pick up the next day at the hotel lobby. Extra plus, even though I didn’t know the size or weight of these boxes, an estimate is good enough for them!

CONS
Comes with a cost – They tend to be the most expensive out of other shipping companies in my experience.

No Media Mail – They do offer USPS services, but that is strictly for Priority and Express shipping. When I brought up Media mail, they gave me a blank face.

FedEx – www.fedex.com

PROS
Always open – A lot of their stores are open 24/7 and I have several locations walking distance from me. They recently saved my ass when I needed to ship a package ASAP!

Reliable – I’ve never had an issue with a package getting somewhere. In the 3 years of working with them, it’s always gone well.

Ground Shipping is fast – Usually Ground shipping means a week or more, at UPS and USPS, however, FedEx seems to work some magic and ground shipping gets anywhere in 3 days.

CONS
Not for rush mailings – If you are in a rush, it will cost you going with FedEx. One overnight envelope can be $30-$40!
My recommendation?

My experience has put USPS and FedEx in the lead as a close tie. USPS is great for when you are in no rush with what you are shipping. Also, if you have an emergency and can make it before they close, it’s great for overnight and 2-3 day shipping as well! But, if you are in a bind and need something to mail quickly, FedEx Ground is just as good, fairly priced and most locations are open 24/7.

Each mailing is going to be different, depending on where it’s going and when it needs to get there, but knowing a few secrets can help you save hundreds in the long run. And always, always, always, get tracking!

To happy mailing! 🙂

Open the window to your fans.

I hope you are surviving the cold this new year has brought – at least if you are in the east coast. I’ve turned myself into a bear hibernating whenever I can. As a Texas girl, me and winter don’t play well!

I did muster enough courage and bundled up last night to go see the Broadway musical, “Once”. Wow, what a great show! The talent that is in the cast – simply amazing. All of them were singing, acting AND playing the wonderful music. Musicals aren’t something I always get to go to, so it was such a treat to take the time and see the spectacular show.
This got me thinking, how many fans want to see their favorite artists but can’t because they aren’t performing where they are? As a musician, you don’t really have complete control as to where you play, so there are always fans that miss out. What a treat it would be for my client who lives in New York be able to play for his fans in Chicago, in Canada, really anyone in the entire world! But, booking doesn’t always happen, funds aren’t always there and your time isn’t always available.

In today’s world, there are ways to make performances happen anywhere, simply by live streaming.

We all know there is nothing like a live concert, but branching out and doing live streaming makes your followers more aware of your show, your vibe and will get them more excited and more involved in what you are doing, making them an even bigger fan!

Also, if you throw in a Q&A, you nurture their need for immediate interaction, something very important in today’s social media society. Gone are the days of the ‘we’ll get back to you in 24-48 hours’.

Online tools and platforms, most of them being free, are out there making it very easy for your fans to tune in, and more importantly, very easy for you to set up and manage!

Imagine, opening up your laptop in your living room, grabbing your instrument and logging on to play 30 minutes of new tunes and to answer questions from your fans while earning a few extra bucks if you wanted…and you didn’t have to lug your equipment on a bus or plane or have to spend dollars on a hotel.

Interested? Here are my recommendations to get you started in the world of online live streaming your intimate shows. I only went for free companies and I’ve tested out each of these platforms so you are getting REAL reviews here! There’s some good info here you won’t find anywhere else, so check it out! (Too small? Click here)

My choice?

In testing and comparing, my choice for a live stream concert and Q&A platform would be Concert Window. I love the ease of use, it was built to stream concerts specifically and it’s all online so no downloading of programs on your computer. However, I know some musicians would find it hard to give up the fact that it doesn’t record and archive the video. I would have to say that I think it gives the event more of an exclusivity – giving more incentive for fans to watch. They won’t be able to see this at any other time (which is ah ha!, similar to a live concert experience!).

It’s such an intimate and exclusive performance that there’s not reason why your fans wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to see you play from anywhere in the world.

You can do anything you want with your set, so get creative!

– Host a live 30 minute Q&A (yes, you can charge for this).

– Preview some songs for a new album release.

– Play and then also teach fans to play one of your songs.

– Why not turn to your followers and ask them what they’d like to see for more ideas.

I highly recommend whichever platform you do use that you test it out in advance. If you are planning a huge event, like a launch, be sure to start testing out these platforms at least two weeks in advance. You want to be able to be comfortable with the technology so you can sit back and enjoy playing for your fans!

Cheers to opening your world to your fans!

Musician Impossible!

Hello readers! If you are anywhere near the big apple, I hope you are staying inside and warm away from the storm! New York City keeps going despite any weather conditions…right now, one of my clients is rebranding of her online presence, message, and her career. I’m so excited to be a part of it! Days are longer with graphic design, proofings, streaming testing and planning, but the end result is always worth it.

To relax after an intense day, I’ve grown an addiction to Food Network’s Restaurant Impossible. Have you seen it yet? It’s absolutely fascinating, inspiring, eye-opening and a hint of hilarious. Robert Irvine, a successful entrepreneur and chef, steps in and helps failing restaurants figure out what they are doing wrong, give them a whole entire rebranding and gives them hope for success!


^Robert Irvine in front of one of many restaurants he’s helped on Restaurant Impossible.

A few episodes in, I saw a parallel in what these restaurants needed to go through in their saving owners from their branding mistakes (or lack of) and what I am working on in my client’s rebranding project. Not as intense, but lessons are to be learned. As different as music and restaurant business may seem, here’s what I learned from *guilty* a marathon of Restaurant Impossible:

Lesson 1. Fresh eyes! 
A term commonly used in the restaurant business, a run of fresh eyes always does the business good. In other words, from time to time you want fresh eyes on your overall look, your message and your interactions. As a musician, this is your website layout, your images, your bio, and your press quotes…A lot of things that folks tend to put up once and then forget about.

If you are feeling blah about your site or see your google analytics telling you people are leaving your site in less than 5 seconds – start by asking some friends, family, colleagues, or even better, strangers to look at your site and give them their opinion! People love giving their opinion.

Tip: An easy way to gather opinions is to build a survey and send to your mailing list as well as social media sites. Allow them to look at your site, your photos, choose their favorite press quotes, etc. and get all that great free feedback! However, participating can be swayed with a free song download or answer them any question they have as a fun reward.

Lesson 2. Consider your target.
Quite a bit of these restaurants were attracting older crowds, yet they were wanting to bring in more families and younger customers to bring in life to their dying business. One quick look at the menu by Robert, and it became painstakingly clear – the menu took 20 minutes to read through and even though there was a quantity, this hurt the restaurant as they couldn’t make all those items fresh and tasty and provide quality. Changing their menu to family-friendly meals that kids and parents will love, picking a few specialties and making them great makes sense because it brings in their target customers AND keeps them coming back for more.

See what they did there? They got exclusive. And as much as you want to say ‘I want everyone to listen to my music!’, that ain’t gonna happen. Derek Sivers says it best here:

“…know who you are, and have the confidence that somewhere out there, there’s a little niche of people that would like your kind of music. They may only be 1% of the population. But 1% of the world is 65 million people!

Loudly leave out 99% of the world. When someone in your target 1% hears you excluding the part of the population they already feel alienated from, they’ll be drawn to you.”

Tip: Write down a list of artists you don’t like, or whose fans who would probably not like you. Do the same to whom you do like and whose fans would probably like you. Look at their message, their online presence and find inspiration (or learn what you hate) and learn from them!

Lesson 3. You can’t do it all yourself.
In one episode, the owner had a difficult time letting anyone do their jobs. Losing money, she lost trust in her capable team, resulting in them acting up on the job. Robert took her aside, putting each task on a chain, and asking her one by one – what do you do in this restaurant? One by one, the chains went on her neck, getting heavier and heavier. The physical weight was a metaphor for the weight she was carrying in her job. After she realized she couldn’t do it all on her own and be successful, she took each chain and delegated them to her staff.

This goes the same for you, musicians, working to rebrand yourself. Here’s some common sense that you need to remember – You can’t do it all yourself! You may think you are saving money by designing that business card yourself, researching the perfect venue for your release party and scheduling your rehearsal, but truth is, it’s overwhelming, you’re wasting time, and it’s probably not your forte.

Tip: If you are on a budget, go to elance.com or freelancer.com and post your project around – ask for examples from any applicant you have a good feeling about and let them what they do best, in your budget & on your terms!

So there you go – interesting, right? Next time (or the first time) you tackle a rebranding, take these tips and get a head start!

5 Things I learned on the road.

Wow, what a month it has been. I got home last Thursday evening, exhausted, worn out but genuinely sad to have the tour end. I spent the next day catching up with mail ( a pile was waiting for me), with the boy who treated me to a great meal, and with a good night’s sleep! I didn’t know how tired I was! Ha!I hope you have enjoyed my photos and stories while on the road – what I did share was only the sprinkles on the sundae to say the least. I learned so much about musicians, touring, concerts and myself. Today, I want to share with you the things that stuck with me – the 5 things I learned while on the road.

1) Pack light.
I consider myself good at packing just enough for any trip. For a 3 week trip, I packed enough for each day. Just a few days in my trip, I realized I could have probably brough only HALF of what I did. Why? A big reason is because most of the venues had laundry facilities. With load in times 4 hours before a show and have a few extra hours before (and during) the show, I could have easily done a couple loads of laundry. Some of the hotels also offered laundry facilities, but most of the band waited to grab a convenient free wash at a venue – something that was new to me!

2) Research hotel / venue ahead of time.
For this tour, I was navigating a bus driver to places neither of us have been too. You’d think you could assume each venue and hotel would have bus parking, right? Wrong. I learned very quickly that you need to research where you will be ahead of time and find out exactly where the bus or vehicle of choice should be parked. When arriving in Evans, GA, we couldn’t find a sign for the event space that was apparently in a very small parking lot – FYI, HELL for a big tour bus. I was talking on the phone to a guy not giving clear instructions and trying to voice that to a frustrated bus driver who had just scraped the side of the bus by a tree in this tight parking lot. Turns out, the venue was right behind us IN THE LIBRARY (which had maybe 3-4 signs up). If I had asked or researched this ahead of time and known the venue was in the library, I would have saved minutes of frustration and the driver $100s of repair for his bus. Consider that lesson learned.

3) Get familiar with the space and staff.
5 minutes before arrival, I would call up the presenter and make sure they could meet me by the door. Once the bus stopped, I hopped off and greeted the presenter right away and ask for a tour of the space. “Show me the green room, show me the dressing rooms, show me the stage, show me the front of house, show me where the bathrooms are!” I learned to do this after the first few gigs and once I started, the days got easier knowing where everything was right away – because the band will ask YOU where everything is. Even if you are doing it on your own, get familiar with the space as soon as you can. The next thing? Shake hands with everyone on staff and introduce yourself with a smile. You want to be able to ask favors from these guys for the next few hours- whether its a run to CVS for a case of water or help with loading up the van after the show – and stay on their good side. Giving your CD or a piece of merchandise as a thank you also helps. Leave them on a good note.

4) Treat the band (or yourself) once in a while.
With this tour, I got caught up with making sure where everyone was, checking the itinerary every other 30 minutes, running through what I need to do the next morning, worrying if the driver knows where we’re going…it can get overwhelming. But, the sound engineer (and experienced tour manager) on the tour reminded me that if you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right. The band is away from friends, family, loved ones and away from their homes. Treat them once in a while. I found a late night pizza after the show delivered to the bus or a bottle of champagne for our last night all together did the trick. Remember that behind the planning and logistics, these are still people and they need to relax and enjoy their time on the road!

5) It’s all about problem solving and staying calm.
A heavy message I learned while being on the road managing 8 other people’s time, is that emotions have to be left at the door with any problems that WILL come your way. And you have to stay calm about it. This tour single handedly taught me that things will be okay and it built my strength and ability to stay calm & problem solve. For example, there was a last minute decision that the lead wanted to come out after the show and speak on music education (he authored his own string teaching method) and then sign CDs, I knew I had to step up and contact presenters as soon as possible to discuss the game plan. When we saw that getting our own mic/speaker to set up in every lobby wasn’t going to work (Guitar Center’s don’t exist everywhere, by the way), I had to chat with every presenter and discuss if the plan would be better carried out on stage, in the lobby, and who would take him to where he needs to go. I could have easily gotten overwhelmed or frustrated when things weren’t exactly how we envisioned, but you learn to work with what you have in order to make the show go on!

I could write pages and pages of my experience and what I learned, but I will leave you with what I can fit in this post.
I can happily say, I’m ready to tackle touring in the future and be more prepared than ever before! What tours are coming up in 2014? Can I come?

Here’s to the next adventure,
Fiona Z