A rubric and a schedule tell you what should happen on competition day; they say nothing about who’s actually on stage right now, who’s next, or what the audience and backstage screen are supposed to show while that’s happening. Most of the chaos on a multi-stage arts fest or sports day isn’t judging chaos — it’s a stage manager shouting a chest number down a corridor, a volunteer re-printing a call sheet because the draw changed at the last minute, and a projector operator fumbling through admin menus looking for the right screen while 200 people wait. This guide covers the three event-day tools that actually solve this — the draw (deciding performance order), the call sheet (the paper backup every stage still needs), and the Token System with its own Projector login (running the stage and the live board in real time) — and how eTalenter connects all three.
Already covered elsewhere on this site
This page is about running the stage floor on the day itself — not how judges score an item or how a large festival schedules its stages. Those have their own pages:
- Scheduling many stages and venues at scale — see how to manage a large arts festival with 1,000+ participants.
- How a judge actually scores an item — see online scoring for judges, or the judge scoring & tabulation hub.
- Who judges what, and across which rounds — see how to assign judges and run multi-round judging.
The draw: deciding performance order before anyone argues about it
Performance order needs to be decided fairly and published before the stage starts, not negotiated candidate by candidate on the morning. eTalenter’s Draw Cards screen does this per competition: pick an item that’s yet to begin, and Draw Now shuffles the order for every participant entered in it. For group items with several teams or a large entry list, the draw can be run in batches — up to five separate draw batches for the same item — instead of one long undifferentiated order, which is what most multi-entry items like group dance or group song actually need on the floor. A coordinator confirms the draw to lock it in, or uses Reset Draw to redo it if an entry is withdrawn late. A dedicated DrawMaster role exists so this job can be handed to a specific person without also giving them access to scoring or candidate records — the same way a judge’s login is scoped to only the items they’re seated on.
The call sheet: the paper backup every stage still needs
Even with a live screen, every stage manager wants a printed list of who’s performing, in what order, grouped by item. eTalenter generates this from Print by Competitions — a report ordered by each candidate’s call-sheet position, grouped under its own competition heading, so a venue running Elocution, Solo Song and Classical Dance in sequence gets one clean printout per item rather than one long undifferentiated list. If the call sheet order needs to differ from the draw order for a particular stage (a common request when one item’s draw was done days earlier but the call sheet needs reshuffling for the day’s actual running order), Shuffle Call Sheet Order and Reset Call Sheet Order handle that independently of the draw itself. Print one copy for the stage manager and one for whoever is calling names backstage — the paper copy is what keeps a stage running during the five minutes the network drops.
The Token System: running the stage in real time
The draw decides the order and the call sheet prints it; the Token System is what actually runs it live. A coordinator or the stage’s own operator opens the item from a stages grid and taps Start Timer, which opens a “Now Performing” display showing the current candidate with Previous and Next controls, and a Finish button to close out their turn. If someone reports out of order, hasn’t shown up, or the stage needs to skip ahead, a Candidates toggle expands the full roster so the operator can jump straight to anyone, instead of only ever moving one slot at a time. The moment the operator taps Next or Finish, the change reaches every screen watching it — the public event view, the live results display, anyone with the event open on their phone — without anyone needing to refresh. This is the mechanism that replaces the stage manager shouting a chest number down a corridor: the board simply already shows who’s on.
The live board: a separate login, not an admin screen on a projector
Whoever actually operates the projector or the hall’s big screen shouldn’t need a full coordinator login with every admin menu on it — that’s how an operator ends up on the wrong screen in front of an audience. eTalenter has a separate Projector role (set it up from Users & Roles as Projector Access) that opens straight into only what a screen operator needs: the live results presentation, the public event view, the Token System, and competition status — nothing else. One Projector login per stage or venue is the usual pattern at a multi-stage event, so each hall’s screen operator is scoped to that hall’s own item flow and can’t accidentally flip to another stage’s data mid-show.
Setting this up before the gates open
- Assign a DrawMaster and Projector Access for each stage from Users & Roles, alongside the judges and SubCoordinators you’ve already invited for the item.
- Run the draw per item once registration for that item closes — in batches if it’s a large group item — and confirm it rather than leaving it pending.
- Print the call sheet per venue so every stage manager has a paper copy before the first item starts, and reshuffle the call sheet order separately if the day’s actual running order needs to differ from the draw.
- Open the Token System per stage once the show begins, and hand the Projector login to whoever is physically at that screen — not the same device the coordinator is using to manage registrations.
Frequently asked questions
What is a “token system” in a competition?
It’s the screen that tracks who is actually performing right now and who’s next for a given item, instead of relying on a stage manager’s memory or a shouted chest number. The operator moves the item forward with Next/Previous/Finish controls, or jumps straight to any candidate if someone is out of order, and the change is visible immediately on every connected screen — the projector, the public event page, and anyone following along on their phone.
Can the performance order change after the draw is done?
Yes. The draw itself can be reset and re-run for an item right up until it starts, and the call sheet’s printed order can be shuffled or reset separately from the draw if the day’s actual running order needs to differ from what was drawn earlier. Once the Token System is running the item live, the operator can still jump ahead or back to any candidate through the roster toggle without needing to redo the draw.
Does the audience need to refresh the live board to see who’s performing?
No. The Token System pushes its update the moment the operator moves to the next candidate or finishes the current one, so the live display, the public event page and the projector screen all update on their own. Nobody watching needs to refresh a page to find out who’s on stage.
Run the stage, not just the schedule
A published schedule tells everyone what’s supposed to happen; the draw, the call sheet and the Token System are what make the actual stage floor match it, with a live board the audience and backstage team can both see without a single shouted name. Explore the kalolsavam management software this runs on, open a live demo and log in as a demo coordinator or judge (no sign-up), message us on WhatsApp, or email support@etalenter.com and we’ll help you set up your draw, call sheets and stage screens before your next event day.
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