Session Leaders
Hello! Thanks for volunteering to run sessions with us this year; we really appreciate it. This shouldn’t be too difficult as these sessions mostly run themselves!
You should now hopefully be invited to a group chat with most if not all of your good selves and the committee (Rich Arrowsmith & Ray Cunningham). If you need us at any point, give us a shout on that chat. If not, message the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SheffieldSessionsFestival) or email us using the contact form on the website - it’ll be monitored over the weekend.
Just a few things to note
Dealing with the venues: If the Bar staff ask you & the musicians ask you to do something; be that to move out of the way of doors/toilet access, or stop at a certain time, please do! We really rely on their goodwill to run the festival - so let's keep them in our good books. If trouble kicks off, please give the committee a shout and we’ll come over. But ultimately, just try and be as nice as possible and encourage others to do the same!
Working with sessioners: Run the session how you normally would! While we only invite lovely people to run sessions, please make sure to be be nice and welcoming. We want everyone to have the best weekend possible, and this festival is open to everyone. So if e.g. we get newer muscicans giving it a go but causing a bit of friction - give them a quiet polite word instead as a first step. But if anyone is causing real trouble; give us or the pub’s staff a heads up.
Drinks: Please encourage people to buy drinks, and please call people out if they bring their own drinks or bring drinks from other venues. Our venues work with us for free, so only drinks purchased at the venue can be consumed there!
Ad-hoc Sessions: We love sessions, it’s why we run the festival. If people want to start a session in a non-programmed space, please get them to check with the bar staff and ideally play outside if space is available during the day and the bar staff agree.
Counting: If you get a chance to have a quick count of how many people are at your session, that’d be great. We don’t know how many people actually come to the festival as we don’t sell tickets, so we like to try and guestimate it at the end of the festival
Donations:
We collect! Please encourage people to donate to the festival via the buckets provided - This goes directly back to the festival and every penny is appreciated.
Buckets can stay with the venue, though you may also bump into our resident steward/star, Dave the Hat. He’ll have a lanyard and probably, as the name suggests, a hat.
Hopefully the festival is great fun for you, but if you have any doubts about anything please just get in touch and we’ll get back to you, or over to you as soon as possible.
Thanks again,
Rich & Ray