Inter-school and inter-college club events are a wonderful medium for students dipping their toes in the realm of ECAs. With the decorations and cultural functions, these also serve as outlets to destress in a manner parents are more likely to allow. More often than not, these events feature a lot more competition segments than do university clubs. A combination of budding enthusiasm and manageable study pressure results in the organizers going all out – a 2-day event featuring 10-20 diverse segments. Hence, failure to adhere to the schedule is a common occurrence. In many ways, a medium of creativity and entertainment turns into a source of frustration. And that is after leaving the exhaustion of weekend commuting out of the equation.
An apparent solution may be to trim away the unpopular segments. That is worth contemplation considering the opportunity cost of the glowing eyes of the niche appreciators of the segment and the organizing team it’s a passion project of. It’s also easy to pin it on the lack of manpower, which isn’t true for half of the cases, as well as the age of the students. While high-schoolers aren’t exactly management maestros, training volunteers for a smooth time management is still doable. And that starts with proper scheduling.
A typical event consists of written segments (olympiads, story writing), submission segments (wall magazine, article, story writing), performance segments (recitation, extempore speech) and buzzer segments (quiz, spelling bee). Two crucial factors to keep in mind when scheduling are 1) props required and 2) participant intersectionality. Submission segments that have exhibitions (wall magazine, scrapbook, photography) are the easiest to schedule- an early morning submission window followed by a day-long exhibition. But if presentation is involved, like in wall magazines, it’s best to allocate a serial and estimated time frame for each entry, so that students participating in other segments can juggle both.
Written segments require only paper and have intersecting participants. Low prop handling requirements allow these segments to run with a buffer time as low as 5 minutes. The issue arises when manpower is distributed in other demanding segments, leading to a cascade of delays. So, if needed, written segments should be scheduled simultaneously with only performance segments, since one such segment requires as much time as 4-5 written segments, and doesn’t require constant volunteer monitoring. Again, participant intersectionality is a given in some performance segments. Say, turn the coat and extempore speech. Both attract a public speaking or debating background demographic and both require only mics. So, these two can be scheduled at the exact same time for everyone’s convenience, provided that there are separate judges for the segments.
Segments featuring multiple rounds, like quizzes, need time to set up the props (projector, buzzer). Participants lose interest if 2 rounds are held on 2 days. Just as it is a good practice to schedule them on the same day, it is also imperative that they are housed in separate rooms. These small considerations not only make management easier but also participation enjoyable.