Foe, that's a great idea!

As we get things started up in our area, open mikes are very much on my mind, and I see much to learn from, here in this thread.

One thought for our area as it develops-- If the people who come to our monthly jams graduate to being able to do "open mikes," and if we keep the jams a mutual teaching-learning experience, maybe we can head off some of the stuff that can otherweise run away with the whole program.

Another thing-- I never knew till this thread that some open mikes are on an audition basis, or that they could be. I really like the idea that a quick audition could happen as people sign up and tune up their instruments.

And how to structure the thing-- It sounds like it should be possible to say to newcomers, "OK, you get one song/4 minutes limit," and then as they come off the stage, put them on a ready-list for NEXT time if they should get a longer slot. Imagine how affirming it would be to hear: "Wow! Can you do a 15 minute mini-set next time?" And if the mini-set folks go first, as a rule, then paying customers could get a lot of good music before sitting through the less-polished folks' efforts.   

~Susan