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Competition day command center

On the day of your event, your dashboard card grows a Command Center button. This live page is mission control — keep it open on a tablet or laptop all day.

What's on it

  • Live metrics across the top — where the day stands at a glance: schedule health, scores pending, judges ready, bands checked in, shoutouts, and Fans at the Gate (how many fans have scanned a QR poster, plus a live-updating hourly arrival curve just below the strip — see Fan portal & QR posters). While a guest exhibition is on deck, the Judges Ready tile reads "Exhibition — not judged" instead of a count — exhibitions aren't scored, so an N/M readout there would either misreport "nobody's ready" or describe judges who simply have nothing to do for that band; either way it isn't the "is the show ready to advance" signal the tile means to give. The Schedule tile watches check-ins before anything takes the field: bands should be checked in 15 minutes before their slot, and if the first band misses that deadline the tile flips from "Not started" to a Late start warning naming the band — your earliest signal the day is slipping. Once the show is underway it reads "N min behind / ahead" from actual performance milestones; the line below the number tells you which milestone it uses. During a performance, the actual start's offset holds unless the performance overruns its slot. After Finish, it compares that band's actual finish with its scheduled slot end, including any class-specific slot length. That offset stays through gaps and planned breaks until waiting for the next start increases it. The next band's actual start sets a fresh offset. For example, a 3:00–3:12 slot that starts at 3:11 and finishes at 3:23 stays 11 min behind, even if the next slot is 4:00. A genuinely shorter performance can recover time. Missing legacy timing records show Timing unavailable instead of an estimated offset. Running ahead never moves a band's check-in deadline earlier.
  • The live lineup — every band's status as the announcer advances the show. Slots running noticeably behind their published time carry a small "N min late" pill (also visible on the announcer's console, so the press box can pace the show), plus their requested equipment-shuttle trailer count if you offer that service (see Manage registrations).
  • The Judges Panel — a colored dot per judge (green ready / amber standby / red needs help) and a per-band indicator showing whose score sheet is in. An amber N unsynced badge means that judge's device still holds scores or recordings that haven't reached the server — check with them before they leave the venue. If a judge flags Need Help, a red banner appears at the top of the page. See Invite & manage judges. A judge switched to paper scoring shows a Paper chip instead of a dot — the chip links straight to the paper scoring hub, where their sheets are entered.
  • Shoutout Moderation — messages flagged by the profanity filter wait here for a decision; everything else goes straight to the announcer. Approve or reject the held ones as they appear.
  • Host Actions — one-click links to everything else: Awards Prep, Publish Scores (greyed out until the awards ceremony is complete, and replaced afterward by a green "Scores published" chip with a View public results link), the Check-In Station, and the Announce console. A tabulator sees a trimmed version of this card labeled Tabulator Actions.

Broadcast announcements

Use Message under Alerts & Announcements to write one message of up to 280 characters. Line breaks are preserved. Choose the Audience before tapping Send:

  • Staff is the default for internal directions. Staff includes the competition's assigned judges and volunteers. Staff messages stay off the public spectator schedule.
  • Public also publishes the message on the spectator schedule in fans' hands. Use this for information the crowd should receive.

The Command Center, announcer console, and Tab Room show each message once with its Staff or Public label. Info, Schedule Change, Weather, and Emergency describe the message's type independently of its audience. Public weather messages show amber; emergencies show red. Dismissing a message removes it from its audience's live feed.

Who actually advances the bands?

The announcer does, from the announcer console — Stage → Start Performance → Finish Performance (their guide). Your Command Center reflects every advance in real time. As host (or co-host) you can open the announcer console yourself if you need to drive.

The day mostly runs itself through your people: volunteers check bands in (check-in station), the cash table sells shoutouts (cash station), judges score from their phones, and you watch the dots and put out fires.

Prep the devices before the show

Judge sheets, the announcer console, and the cash station can keep working through a signal drop — but only while that screen is open. When you set up the station tablets (and when you brief your judges and announcer), have each person sign in, open their working screen while there's still signal, and leave it open through the event; a screen closed during an outage can't be reopened until the signal returns. Installing MusterSheet on station devices keeps those screens one tap away at setup time.

The gate QR code

Fans who scan your gate QR code land on a welcome page with two big buttons — Live Schedule and Send a Shoutout. Use Print QR poster on your Manage page to print ready-made posters, and post them prominently — especially at the entrance, since if you enabled Require gate check-in in Settings, that scan is what unlocks shoutout-sending (and Fan Favorite voting) for each fan. The full checklist is in Fan portal & QR posters.

End of night

When the last band finishes, move to Scores, awards & publishing — finalizing results, running the awards ceremony, and the Publish click that ends the night.