5 Ways to Measure How You Stack Up Against the Others

One of the many terrific scenes in the 1980 movie “Caddyshack” is when Judge Smails (Ted Knight’s character) asks Ty Webb (Chevy Chase’s character) how he shot in his round of golf that day.  When Webb replies, “Oh I don’t keep score, Judge,” the immediate follow-up that he gets asked is, “Then, how do you measure yourself against the other golfers?”  With his dry wit, Webb comes back with, “By height.”

To this day that will still get lots of laughs, but of course it’s not realistic.

As much as I preach – both in this weekly blog and on many episodes of the “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast – that it’s important to focus on the ‘co’ word that is collaboration rather than the ‘co’ word that is competition, we all still want to know how we stack up against others who are doing what we do, be it podcasting, performing, or a brick-and-mortar business.  Unfortunately, “by height” just won’t cut it.

This week’s blog focuses on just one of the many (many) ways that a performer can see how he/she measures up to others like them.

When I talk to potential clients that involve a family setting, I always say that parents will say that their child is great because they love them.  But at some point, that son or daughter needs to get out and let an uninterested third party have a say at how they’re really doing.  Mind you, it’s then that I always tack on that, “This should not be in a competition where the so-called judges are just paying sponsors who are going to say something nice to every participant and really have no entertainment qualifications to back what they’re saying, good or bad.”

So then what about when you’re in a showcase where the judges are who you want them to be?  If you don’t come in first place, how can you know if you were good or not, outside of your own opinion?  Well, in no particular order…
1.    Did they announce just the overall winner, or was second (and third) place announced too?  Or perhaps even deeper (i.e., top five, top ten)?  Keep in mind that you also want to consider how many participants there were (i.e., five? 20? 50? 100?).  Brace yourself, but, if you weren’t announced, seek out the organizer to find out – if available – what place you came in.
2.    Audience response.  Now, this one might be a little skewed because somebody could’ve loaded up the place, especially when audience response is one of the considerations of the voting.  But, when you didn’t bring a ton of people, if you still got a great reaction from the crowd, that’s a good sign.  Remember, this is what you need to accomplish when you’re performing regular gigs, so it’s not just a for-contests-only barometer.
3.    Did the host site ask you back?  Even if you didn’t win, since there are so many variables in contest decisions (especially if there are a lot of judges and a lot of participants), impressing the organizer to the point where he/she offers you a future booking at their venue anyway is a big win in and of itself.
4.    Impress an industry person.  Twice in the last 60 days I have chased someone out the door after they performed in an event that had a whole line of people getting up on-stage, one after the other.  In a pool that big, for someone to go out of their way like that to say, “I liked what you did.  I’m interested to learn more about what you’re doing.  I do management, promotion, etc.” is also something you should celebrate.
5.    Go live on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube when it’s your turn and then after it’s over, go back and look at the comments to see what the feedback was.  Mind you, “You’re really pretty” doesn’t help gauge how you did.  And sorry, but, throw out the comments from your family too.

One wildcard in all this is, do an honest assessment.  If you aren’t gigging regularly and felt you did good but lost to someone who you find out performs four times a week, there’s probably a reason that he/she won and you didn’t.  That’s “getting the reps,” as I’m also often heard saying.  And if there was thunderous applause for someone who’s 13 years old and the audience didn’t clap and whistle as raucously for you too but you’re 20-something, you need attribute the cuteness factor that the young participant benefited from.

Give yourself a final report and then get back out there and do another!

Talk about this blog with other performers in our Facebook group.