How do you use the Program tab to prepare your productions?
The Program tab is the central place where you manage different program items with
all individual components (topics). For each program item, you collect specific production data, ranging from technical riders to catering needs, which serves as the basis for your itineraries and schedules. By using templates, you can quickly pre-fill this information, ensuring consistency and saving time during the advancing process.
What are Program Items and how do you use Topics?
A Program item represents a specific activity within your event, such as an performance of artist X. Information within an item is organized into Topics, which categorize every aspect of a production. While Stager offers standard topics, you can create your own to fit your venue’s specific needs.
Creating Custom Topics: Go to Settings - Events - Topics to add your own categories. Check 'Enabled' and choose a name and a matching icon. These custom topics will then appear in your Advance forms, Program items, and Itineraries.
Topic Structure: Most topics allow you to add Text (formatted for the itinerary), Notes (internal use only), and Files (such as .pdf riders).
Tracking Progress: At the top of each item, you see a status indicator for each topic. These range from To do (red) and In progress (blue) to Completed (green), giving you an instant overview of your production's status.
Status of every topic in a program item:
How do you save time with Program Item Templates?
If you frequently host similar acts or activities, you can create Program item templates in Settings - Events. These templates act as blueprints with pre-filled topics, schedules, and technical instructions.
Creating Templates: In the settings, you define the template's name and which topics are included.
Itinerary Templates: You can also pre-set which information from the template should appear on the itinerary, such as standard loading dock instructions or the WiFi password. This itinerary cannot be published before hand.
Using Templates: To use one, go to the Program tab of an event, click + New program item, and select your template from the dropdown menu. All pre-defined data will be loaded instantly.
How does the Program tab link to the Schedule?
The moment you enter a 'Showtime' for a Program item, it is automatically added to the event's Schedule. This ensures that the core timings of your program are always synchronized with the overall production scenario.
Everything you enter in the schedule for an individual Program item, such as soundcheck times or changeovers, will automatically flow upward into the Event schedule and the Date (calendar) schedule. This creates a seamless connection between the artist's needs and the venue's complete planning.
Itinerary
If you want to share the information you entered in the Program tab, for each Program item, with external parties, then you can do that with the itinerary. You choose which information is exactly on the Itinerary before you share it. Read about the Itinerary in the following article.