There is a difference between someone being booked to *run* a singaround, and professional artists coming in and taking more than their fair share of the singing time. If I'm running one or just calling in to one, I take my turn like anyone else. If I have other booked artists who have been booked to come in to the singaround, they get maybe two songs to everyone else's one, with a maximum of six during the session (depending on how long the session is). If a booked artist calls into the singaround I'm running, and I know they've been working elsewhere earlier, then I *may* ask them to contribute a song because I know they've been unable to get there for the whole session.

"Some booked artists make excellent SAR hosts, but many are rubbish at it." I agree, Snuffy, and I wish more festival organisers would recognize that fact, rather than thinking that anyone can run one.

"I get annoyed when people that come into SARs late are asked to sing almost as they arrive, when people have been sat in the SAR for 2/3 hours and have still only sang one song." I agree in principle, Carol, but perceptions are not always accurate. If an event is being run as a 'singaround', rather than a 'sing', then personally I am strict about the 'singaround' bit, and will stick to the 'round the room' format. This may mean that someone will sing almost as soon as they arrive, if that's where we've got to in the circle, but there are not many singarounds which will go round for 2-3 hours and in which people will not get their fair share. Now there are situations where people will abuse this and, when coming in part way through the evening, make sure they sit just in advance of where we've got to in the circle, but equally some lose out if they don't know where we've got to, and sit just behind that critical point, and therefore, if they come in late, end up not singing at all! As the host, I've been abused for both those situations - in which case, I'm inclined to mentally shrug my shoulders and decide that I just can't win! If in either of those situations, you break the circle to leave someone out or to fit someone in, you're still going to be in the wrong with someone, so I just stay strict and hopefully most people see it as fair.

Barbara