Herding Cats

Disruptions & playbooks

When a judge cancels at 11 PM, the plan is already written.

A judge drops, a ballroom floods, a truck dies outside Louisville. What separates a rough weekend from a disaster is whether the plan exists before the panic.

Best forEvent managers who get the 11 PM call
  • Free for up to 5 events
  • Plans come from your playbooks
  • Every resolution keeps its record

Something changed?

What happened?

Pick one. Every option below is a real scenario with a real plan behind it.

  • Six starter playbooks from real touring recoveries
  • Every resolution recorded — who, when, what ran
  • Built by people who've taken the 11 PM call

How it works

Report it once. Work the list together.

1

Report the disruption

A drop, a venue change, a dead truck. Every admin is notified.

2

The plan reads the event

One playbook, sharpened by real facts: bookings, days out.

3

Claim and complete steps

The checklist sits at the top of the event page, for everyone.

4

Resolve with a record

The March fire becomes August's data, not a war story.

Starter playbooks

Six ways a weekend goes wrong, already written.

Judge drops close to the event

8 steps

No-show on event morning

5 steps

Venue moves us or the room changes

6 steps

Dates or day-of timeline shifts

6 steps

Truck breaks down between cities

6 steps

Storm threatens a travel weekend

5 steps

Make them yours

Adopt one and it stops being ours.

A starter playbook is a first draft. Copy it, reorder the steps, rewrite the wording, assign owners — from then on, that's what the plan proposes.

  • Your version overrides the starter, permanently
  • Steps carry an owner and an urgency
  • Write your own from scratch for the weird ones

Judge or key staffer drops close to the event

Starter playbook
  • 1

    Check for a backup already traveling to this event

    Right nowStaffing coordinator

  • 2

    Call possible replacements, starting with people who said yes in the fall

    Right nowStaffing coordinator

  • 3

    Screen the replacement for studio conflicts

    Right nowEvent manager

  • 4

    Book replacement travel same-day

    TodayTravel coordinator

Adopt it and it becomes your copy. We never edit yours afterward.

The call list

A “yes” in September is not a “yes” in January.

Mid-season, availability sheets are stale — so the call list ranks replacements by likelihood of a yes, then travel ease, then day rate.

  • One-tap call, text, and email per candidate
  • A pre-written message rides along
  • People on overlapping events are shown, not hidden

Said yes to this weekend

Call these first — they already told you.

Silence isn't a no

Never asked, or the sheet went stale. Worth a call.

Said no

Respected absolutely — shown last, never auto-offered.

Built in the open

Built from real fire drills, not incident theory.

6

starter playbooks included

Drops, no-shows, venue changes, timeline shifts, breakdowns, storms.

1

playbook per disruption

The single best fit, adapted — never three merged into a wall of steps.

0

steps that don't apply

Nothing booked means no “cancel the bookings” step.

Product facts only — even the plain-language rule is enforced by a test that fails the build.

Fair questions

Fair pushback from people who've survived a few.

We handle this by phone, and it works.
Keep the phone — the call list is built around it. What the phone can't do: stop two people calling the same judge, or leave a record August can learn from.
Is an AI deciding what we do in an emergency?
No. The plan comes from your own playbook, filtered by facts about the event. Humans claim and complete every step. Nothing acts on its own.
Our situations are never textbook.
That's why playbooks are yours to edit — adopt a starter, rewrite it, or write your own from scratch.
What's kept afterward?
Who reported it, the plan that ran, who did each step, skip reasons, and who resolved it when. Receipts for August planning.

How the plan behaves

Details that keep a fire drill short.

  • One playbook per disruption
  • Timing changes the plan
  • Steps that don't apply are dropped
  • Claim, complete, or skip with a reason
  • Checklist at the top of the event page
  • Plain language, enforced by a test
  • Every admin notified on their channel
  • Roster updates immediately
  • Resolved with a written record

Before the next one

Write it down while you still remember it.

The best time to build your playbooks is right after a weekend that went sideways. The second-best time is now.

  • Free for up to 5 events
  • No card required
  • Cancel any time