Interviews

About the interviews

The interview series puts practical questions to the people who work at events: performers, venue staff, caterers, technicians and planners. The aim is to capture what experienced professionals know that rarely appears in a contract or a brochure, such as how much time an act really needs to set up, what makes a load-in go smoothly, or which questions a planner should have asked at the start.

What you will find here

Interviews focus on working detail rather than personality. Expect discussion of riders, ceiling heights, set lengths, sound checks, dressing rooms, timing within a program and the small courtesies that make vendors want to work with you again. Where a contributor describes prices or rules, we check them against the relevant guide or encyclopedia entry and link to it, so you can read the fuller context. Every interview is edited for length and clarity, and contributors are not named when the conversation is about general practice rather than their own business.

Using interviews in your planning

Read interviews alongside the matching Academy lesson or encyclopedia entry. A performer's view on riders makes more sense next to the tech rider definition and the performer tech rider template; a conversation about rigging is best read with the article on ceiling heights for aerialists. Treat each interview as one experienced voice rather than the final word, and compare what you read with what your own vendors tell you.

Suggest an interview

If there is a role in the events industry you would like to hear from, or you work in events in the GTA and would like to be interviewed, get in touch through the write for us page. We are particularly interested in voices that are under-represented in event planning coverage: stage managers, riggers, bartenders, security leads, accessibility consultants and the volunteers who run community events. Interviewees are asked to speak about their own work and experience.