But you do stop for gas, groceries, etc...your location is recorded there. Big data is really big. No limits on computing power. AI rules.
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Online calendar resistance: any solutions?
- Thread starter mstillman
- Start date
One thing about shared calendars is that the business world is about 20 years ahead of us. Anybody with a professional day job uses a shared calendar, most likely Outlook or something like it. So it's not like we're afraid of technology. We're immersed in it.
Online calendars are not perfect, and have been around long enough that in most businesses, unwritten rules have evolved for how to schedule meetings. People are not called into mandatory meetings just because they have an open time slot. Asking people first is customary. I'll bet any band that starts to use an online booking system, will require some trial and error in order to get something that works for everybody.
Of course there are exceptions. For instance, when you book an appointment with your doctor, or with a tree trimming service, you probably don't talk directly to the workers and ask if their schedule is open. But at the same time, those are their main jobs, and the receptionist is also acting as a gatekeeper for them.
At least gigs have an advantage over meetings, which is that gigs are necessary and productive.
Online calendars are not perfect, and have been around long enough that in most businesses, unwritten rules have evolved for how to schedule meetings. People are not called into mandatory meetings just because they have an open time slot. Asking people first is customary. I'll bet any band that starts to use an online booking system, will require some trial and error in order to get something that works for everybody.
Of course there are exceptions. For instance, when you book an appointment with your doctor, or with a tree trimming service, you probably don't talk directly to the workers and ask if their schedule is open. But at the same time, those are their main jobs, and the receptionist is also acting as a gatekeeper for them.
At least gigs have an advantage over meetings, which is that gigs are necessary and productive.
this is the model my band uses and it works very well...although we are all in just one band...but yeah it works great. Whenever someone is unavailable it is put in as a no book with their name next to it..
When I first got on TB there were guys still arguing against the need for cell phones. I love the technophobes, it makes it so much easier for the rest of us to get the good jobs. As far as the argument that it takes too much time, that just BS. Most days you won't update the calendar at all and when you do, it usually takes less than 5 minutes, I often make updates in under 1 minute.
As a BL, I want to make it as easy as possible for the club owner to book us. If I can look at an online calendar and accept a job while on the phone or sitting in front of him, that guarantees the job won't go to another band. It's just a matter of time before this tool is accepted, just like every other tool that met stiff resistance in the beginning.
As a BL, I want to make it as easy as possible for the club owner to book us. If I can look at an online calendar and accept a job while on the phone or sitting in front of him, that guarantees the job won't go to another band. It's just a matter of time before this tool is accepted, just like every other tool that met stiff resistance in the beginning.
Like the OP, I tried to get our band to use Google calendar, helping everyone set up thier phone to use it, etc. It's been an utter failure because one member will not use it. This one member happens to be the one with the most family and other commitments. This same guy also doesn't answer texts for days on end and has missed rehearsals, giving us the old "I didn't get the memo" BS. If it were my decision, he would have been gone long ago
So what it comes down to is some people just don't communicate well by whatever medium you try to use. Are those people worth working with?
Yep.
I chose Google Calendar (GC) because of low barrier to entry. Some already use it. To paraphrase an insurance company, "So simple a drummer can use it."
What not everyone knows is that in about 10 seconds you can add a N/A (or any other) event from within your own GC to the band's GC, as long as they're shared. Then the band member doing the booking can easily check date availability.
What not everyone knows is that in about 10 seconds you can add a N/A (or any other) event from within your own GC to the band's GC, as long as they're shared. Then the band member doing the booking can easily check date availability.
+1.
Not to pick on Google Calendar, but I know of one band that uses it for scheduling/communications, and even has it integrated into their website to display upcoming gig dates for fans. I'm personally not familiar with it, but I would imagine there are various privacy settings for public vs. private info. During one visit to the band's site, I noticed that the calendar showed the dollar amount they were getting paid for several upcoming gigs. On another visit, I noticed that one of the band members had indicated blocks of days when he would be away on vacation, and hence unavailable for gigs. Not exactly the kind of information I'd want to be broadcast to the entire planet.
I appreciate you pointing out this gaffe. Splitting hairs, but I'd score that a human error carried out by technology, rather than a technology error.
When people post daily photos of their vacation on Facebook and their house is burglarized, do we blame FB?
I surmised as much, too.
No, I blame Zuckerberg directly. Stay in college, kids!
The BL's that hire me simply text me a date and if i can't make it they hire someone else. No shared calendar. They accept the gig up front with the client and fill out the band from there. Most of the time it's about the same band members playing in various configurations, sometimes it is not depending on who is available. Keeps things spicy for me and the BL alike. Also means i don't have to be married to a certain project, which is hard for me to swallow with a busy day job and personal commitments. If i were to start a project with intent on gigging and making money, this would be my approach.
When I was running the show, I simply went with whatever form of communication worked best for each band mate - then consolidated the information on my end. Some people only wanted emails, others text, and believe it or not some wanted to hear my voice the other end of the phone. There's no point in trying to get musicians to conform.
I find it's not a matter of the minimal amount of time it takes to update your status on a Google calendar. It's that most people keep their own personal calendars and either forget or don't want to update a second calendar because it's duplicate work.
When I had a full-time job, I kept a work calendar that was separate from my personal calendar because everything I did at work was done during work hours. There was no duplication between the two. But I've found it's very hard to get people to put something on a personal calendar and then go to a band calendar and duplicate that information.
A band I'm in currently tried to start this up just recently and I knew it wouldn't work. I offered that it might be easier for all to share their personal calendars, assuming everyone is on Google. But, of course, not everyone wants all their personal information shared with their band mates. The whole idea lasted less than a month and nobody is using it.
If music were your livelihood and you were working under professional management, I think it would be much more important to treat the calendar like a professional tool. But most of us out here are not in that category, so I don't know what to suggest to get all the cats on board with something like this. It just never seems to work in any band I've seen it tried.
When I had a full-time job, I kept a work calendar that was separate from my personal calendar because everything I did at work was done during work hours. There was no duplication between the two. But I've found it's very hard to get people to put something on a personal calendar and then go to a band calendar and duplicate that information.
A band I'm in currently tried to start this up just recently and I knew it wouldn't work. I offered that it might be easier for all to share their personal calendars, assuming everyone is on Google. But, of course, not everyone wants all their personal information shared with their band mates. The whole idea lasted less than a month and nobody is using it.
If music were your livelihood and you were working under professional management, I think it would be much more important to treat the calendar like a professional tool. But most of us out here are not in that category, so I don't know what to suggest to get all the cats on board with something like this. It just never seems to work in any band I've seen it tried.
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