David, As to the rotation. At the Robin Hood Hotel in Ballarat, we have come up with a system that no longer requires request slips. All requests are taken directly by the host and entered into an Excel spreadsheet on our Dedicated Karaoke PC. The performers are advised that only one request is taken at a time, if they have a song in the list (single or duet) then they MUST wait for that song to be sung before they can list another. In our 8:30 pm till 1am show we run Karaoke all the way through with no breaks. Each night we are getting through 50 to 60 requests and our regular singers love it. Even those new to the show are happy with the request format once it is explained to them. It's so easy for a patron to get a little tipsy and then want to put up 4 or 5 requests, then leave. Our format guarantees that the singers are still there when we get to their song (we get maybe four or five singers per month that are not there for their songs). Most of the regular performers know that we prefer up-tempo songs as well, so there is not much danger of boring the crowd with too many ballads in a row. This saves having to "Jiggle" the format to keep a good atmosphere. We run Friday and Saturday nights with the same format, and usually have a full list between 11:30 and 12:00 (Averaging 12 to 15 songs per hour). I know using a PC or Laptop isn't for everyone, but when you can pickup a cheapie out of the paper or from a swap meet for less than 200 dollars, you can make your request structure so much easier. (Just don't forget to turn on the Autosave function! You don't want to loose your list). I hope this can help some other hosts, as I have always found the Request Slip method a little too inconsistent to be fair on everyone. I agree that a host needs to be in control of the show, but it's too easy to play favourites. This system is just like getting a place in any other queue, that place is yours unless you don't want it, and performers will respect that. Cheers.

REPLY from David
Many thanks for your feedback abou song rotation. I guess I'm still in the dark about the difference between sing request slips, and enterting each request into Excel. Does this not simply produce a list very much the same as would be written on a sheet of paper - the way that it is done in many venues already? If you'd like to give me your business details, I'll add you to the Hosts' page...
Submitted by Stevie K on 23-07-2006

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