Road / Tour Managing
Itineraries
One thing that no tour should be without is a daily itinerary, or “day sheet”. Over my years working as a tour manager, I have developed a format that suits my needs and covers most of the info pertinent to many touring situations. If you would like to use my itinerary as a starting point for your day sheet, click on the link above to download the template; (you'll need to have Microsoft Excel, or a compatible program, installed on your computer to use it) then follow these steps:
- Create a folder on your hard drive, name it something obvious like "Itineraries 2011" and put the itinerary template into that folder.
- Open the template in Excel and immediately save it with a new name. I usually name mine the show location and date; for instance: Dallas TX 090211
- Replace the info on the spreadsheet with your own.
- Once you've entered all the info, save it as a PDF, email it to all pertinent parties, print out a few for the bus, and you're good to go.
You might also want to modify your base template to reflect certain information about your tour that never changes, i.e. bus driver or tour manager info, artist name, etc.
| Tour Manager Tip of the Week: To get everyone on your tour in the habit of actually looking at the itinerary daily, write something funny or odd in it, changing it up regularly. Some of my favorites are: Next to smoking I'll put something like “causes respiratory illness” or “cigars only”. Under hotel amenities I might put “running water” or “you'll be lucky if you get a cold shower”. I have found that by doing this, the band guys will look at the day sheet more regularly, just to find the wisecrack of the day. |
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