It seems to me that the people running sessions could take a little more direct control.

I am not a muscian and have occasionally "sat at the back" and seen the sort of thing that is annoying people around here. Similarly I have seen individual muscians take over and run into a number of different tunes. Maybe there are conventions but would "One singer/muso=one song/tune" type of rule work better?

This usually is what applies at the singarounds that I go to. At Club type events things need to be different to allow for Guest spots so not everybody in the room will get a chance to do their bit.

As I see it their are many ways of running sessions that all usually work it just requires all that participants need to understand the arrangements on the day/night and accept them.

Oh and by the way I had a great time at Chippers even though my stewarding prevented me from seeing some things and forced me to see some others - buts thats how my festival usually work out.

Dave Earl