Intermission
Half way through the performance, everything stopped. The lights came up. An announcer informed the audience of a 15-minute intermission. With few exceptions, everyone sat there waiting for the show to begin again.
Intermission was invented by venue operators for the purpose of selling more food and drink. But many venues (high school amphitheaters, outdoor stages, parish halls) don’t sell food or drink. So why do we still have intermission in these places?
Bathroom breaks? Rest for performers? Hardly. In fact, it can actually work in detriment to the show. The flow of energy is broken, the audience becomes impatient recognizing a pointless wait time that just extends the length of the program, and in some cases, people leave.
We still have intermission because that’s what we’re expected to do. Or so we think.
For those in charge of planning anything your organization does, it’s OK to ask why. It’s OK to challenge the status quo. It’s OK to try something new that might be better. And it’s OK to fail. This is the definition of leadership and it always leads to better.