A festival programming a 'session' with scheduled performers with no MC? A recipe for disaster! Agree with all comments regarding competent MC's, they're wonderful and I rely on them as a performer.

As I don't wear a watch I make a point of asking the MC to ensure they clearly give me the sign for 1 or 2 songs, whichever their usual method is. I arrange my unaccompanied sets so that there are always 1 or 2 songs that I could drop before my final song if needs be. I've got a pretty good idea of timing, but sometimes song introductions need to be longer if the audience are feeling chatty.