--- title: "Plan your line-up on a draft board with backups | Ticket Fairy Guides" description: "Lay out the acts you want as cards on a board, make the headliners bigger, give each slot a 1st choice and backups, and see the same cards on a timetable. Send each offer from its card, and when an artist says no, the card moves on to the next choice." canonical: "https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/plan-your-line-up-on-a-draft-board" --- 1. [Ticket Fairy](https://www.ticketfairy.com/) 2. [Guides](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides) 3. Plan your line-up on a draft board with backups Artists, offers and advancing # Plan your line-up on a draft board with backups A line-up starts as a wish list long before anyone signs: who headlines, who closes Friday, and who you ask if your first choice says no. On the board you see that whole picture at once, your team works on it together, and every offer you send from a card keeps the board up to date as agents answer. Takes: 9 minutes - [Open the Plan](#step-1) - [Add the artists you want](#step-2) - [Arrange the board](#step-3) - [Add backups to a card](#step-4) - [Add the day, stage and set times](#step-5) - [Send the offer from a card](#step-6) - [Move on when an artist says no](#step-7) - [One open offer per card](#step-8) ## Before you start - You need an owner, admin or producer role on the event to change the board and see fees. Everyone else on the event team sees the board without fees. - The event uses the Event Operating System, so it has the Public line-up section. 1. ## Open the Plan Open the event, select **Operations**, then **Public line-up**, then **Plan**. The board opens with the summary of what is booked, what is waiting for an answer and what needs you. **Note:** Nothing on the board is public. Your public line-up stays as it is until you publish it. ![The Plan board with three cards, one an extra-large headliner whose 1st choice said no, a Saturday area, a sticky note and the summary of booked, needs you and planned fees](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/features-event-management-line-up-plan--board.png) *Line-up, Plan, Board.* 2. ## Add the artists you want Select **Add artist**, enter the artist's name, pick the match to bring in their photo and genres, then select **Add to board**. Repeat for each act. **Note:** Any name works, even one the search does not find. 3. ## Arrange the board Drag cards to where you want them. Open a card and set its **Size** to XL for a headliner, then L, M or S, and give it a **Color**. Select **Draw an area** and drag on the board to group cards, for example by day or stage. **Note:** Bigger cards come first on the poster, then cards from the top of the board. Select **Preview** to see the line-up as a poster. 4. ## Add backups to a card Drop one card on another to make that artist a backup, or open a card and select **Add a backup**. Use the move up and move down buttons beside each artist to set the 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice. **Note:** A card holds up to 5 artists. To take an artist off a pile, select **Make it its own card**. 5. ## Add the day, stage and set times Optional: open a card and choose the **Day**, **Stage**, **Starts** and **Ends**, or select **Timetable** and drag a card from **No time yet** onto a stage. **Note:** A card in an area takes the area's day and stage when it has none of its own. Under **Timetable settings**, **Day starts at** decides which night a set after midnight belongs to. ![The Plan timetable with sets placed on the Main stage and the Tent, and cards with no time yet in a tray](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/features-event-management-line-up-plan--timetable.png) *Line-up, Plan, Timetable.* 6. ## Send the offer from a card Open a card and select **Send offer**. The offer opens filled in from the card: the artist, the event, the stage, the date and the fee. Check it, then prepare and send the email to the agent as usual. **Note:** To send several at once, Shift-click the cards, then select Send offers in the bar that appears. You get one email for each agency, and you check each email before it goes. The offers also show in Event Operations, Offers. 7. ## Move on when an artist says no When an artist says no, does not reply in time or is not available, the card moves to the next choice and asks whether to send the offer to the next artist. Select **Send offer** on the card to start that offer. To pass on an artist yourself, select **Pass**. **Note:** Nothing is sent by itself. Cards that need you are listed under **Needs you**. ## One open offer per card Each card has one open offer at a time. If you send an offer to a backup while the first offer is still open, the dashboard asks you to confirm, and the card shows that two offers are open. When one artist says yes, the card offers to withdraw the other offer. ![A Plan card named Sunday closer with offers sent to two of its artists at once](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/features-event-management-line-up-plan--parallel-offers.png) *Two offers open on one card.* ## Or have it done for you Fai, your AI teammate, can check sales, update your event or change a ticket when you ask. Fai builds the board for you: she adds cards, sizes and colors them, puts artists on a card as backups, passes on an artist or brings them back, and prepares the offer from a card for you to check. She can also ask an agency who is free on your dates and put the artists you keep on the board. She asks you before each change and before any email goes. ### In your dashboard, with Fai ``` On 's line-up plan, add Raye, Arlo Parks and Little Simz to a Friday area, make Raye extra large, and put Arlo Parks on Raye's card as the backup ``` ### From your own assistant, over MCP Connect your assistant to [our MCP server](https://www.ticketfairy.com/mcp-server) and ask it: The copied MCP configuration includes `--read-only`. Remove `--read-only` only when you want your assistant to make changes. Your assistant makes routine changes when you ask, and checks with you before a destructive action if your client supports that. If your client cannot ask, make the change in your dashboard. ``` Pick the event , show me its draft line-up board, then add an extra-large card for with on it as the backup. Ask me before each change ``` ## From your terminal Install the CLI from [our CLI page](https://www.ticketfairy.com/cli), sign in with `ticketfairy auth login`, and choose the brand you are working on with `ticketfairy brand use `. `ticketfairy brand list` and `ticketfairy event list` show the IDs the other commands use. Use the CLI to read the board, add cards and backups, pass on an artist and start an offer from a card. Changing or removing a card or an artist needs the version the board shows for it, so a teammate's change is never overwritten. Nothing on the board is published or emailed. You need an owner, admin or producer role on the event to change the board. ### Show the board: every card in billing order, the artist each card is on now, the backups behind them and the version of each card. ``` ticketfairy event-os lineup plan show ``` ### Add an extra-large headliner card with its first choice. Nothing is published. ``` ticketfairy event-os lineup plan card add --label "Friday headliner" --size xl --x 40 --y 40 --performer "" ``` ### Put a backup on the card. Without a rank, they go after the artists already on it. ``` ticketfairy event-os lineup plan choice add --performer "" ``` ### Pass on an artist: the card moves on to the next backup. Use the artist's version from the board in JSON output. ``` ticketfairy event-os lineup plan choice pass --reason "Too expensive this year" --expected-version ``` ### Read what an offer to an artist on a card starts from: the card's date, stage and set times, the fee and who the email goes to. Nothing is saved. ``` ticketfairy event-os lineup plan offer-seed ``` ### Create the draft offer linked to that artist, so their card shows it. Nothing is sent. If another artist on the card has an offer out, add --allow-parallel to make a second one. ``` ticketfairy event-os venue offers create --brand --performer "" --lineup-choice --show-date 2027-06-18 ``` ## Ask an agency who is free 1. ### Ask Fai to send the request Ask Fai to ask the agency about the artists you have in mind, or who they have for your dates. Fai writes the email with your event's dates, shows it to you, and sends it after you confirm. She can also send a reminder. 2. ### Sort what the agent suggests When the agent answers, Fai records each artist as available, free on some dates, on hold elsewhere or not available, with their note. Tell Fai which artists to keep, which are a maybe and what to ask about, and she drafts your reply. **Note:** Answers are never overwritten. A correction from the agent is a newer answer. 3. ### Put them on the board Ask Fai to put the artists you kept on the board. They appear as cards in a new area named after the agency, and each card shows the artist's latest answer. **Note:** An artist who is not available moves their card on to the next choice. If the agent later says they are free, the artist is back in the running. Fai asks the agency, records and sorts the answers, drafts your reply and puts the artists you keep on the board. Every email goes only after you confirm. ### In your dashboard, with Fai ``` Ask which of their artists are free on 's dates, show me the email first, and put the ones I keep on the line-up plan ``` ### From your own assistant, over MCP The copied MCP configuration includes `--read-only`. Remove `--read-only` only when you want your assistant to make changes. Your assistant makes routine changes when you ask, and checks with you before a destructive action if your client supports that. If your client cannot ask, make the change in your dashboard. ``` Pick the brand, draft an availability request to about for 's dates and show me the email. Ask me before you send it, then put the artists I keep on the line-up plan ``` ### From your terminal Use the CLI to draft the request, send it, record the agency's answers, sort the artists and put the ones you keep on the board. Sending emails the agency and asks you first unless you add --force. You need an owner, admin or producer role on the brand. #### Draft a request to an agency about the artists you name, for the event's dates. Nothing is sent. ``` ticketfairy event-os availability create --brand --event --agency --artist "" ``` #### Read the request: the email, each artist with their newest answer, and the version of the request. ``` ticketfairy event-os availability show --brand ``` #### Email the request to the agency. This sends an email and asks you first unless you add --force. ``` ticketfairy event-os availability send --brand --expected-version ``` #### Record what the agent answered for an artist. Answers are added, never overwritten. ``` ticketfairy event-os availability answer --brand --artist --answer available ``` #### Sort an artist you want to keep. ``` ticketfairy event-os availability triage --brand --artist --as keep ``` #### Put the artists you kept on the board, one card each in a new area. ``` ticketfairy event-os availability add-to-board --brand --artist ``` ## Questions you might have **Who can see the fees on the board?** Owners, admins and producers. Other people on the event team see the cards and artists without any fees. **How many cards can a board have?** Up to 200 cards, 5 artists on each card, 50 areas and 200 notes. **I removed a card by mistake. Can I get it back?** Yes. Select **Undo** straight away. Areas and notes come back the same way. A card with an open offer cannot be removed: withdraw the offer first. I passed on an artist and changed my mind.: Open the card and select **Undo pass**. The artist is back in their place on the pile. **What if a teammate changes the same card?** You see their changes on the board as they happen. If you both edit a card's details, you see the latest version and choose to use it or save yours anyway. **Does the board publish my line-up?** No. When an artist accepts, they are booked on the event with the card's stage and set times, and they appear in the public line-up only when you publish it. ## Still have a question? Book a demo and we will answer it on a call, on your kind of event. Or create your account and see it for yourself. [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) No setup fees. No monthly fee. No credit card required. ## Related guides - [More ways to use Ticket Fairy](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features) - [Make an offer to an artist's agent for your show](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/make-an-offer-to-an-artists-agent) - [Publish your event line-up and set times](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/publish-your-line-up-and-set-times) - [Track every artist booking for your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/book-and-brief-your-artists) - [Keep rider lists and notes for your event's artists](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/keep-rider-lists-and-notes-for-your-artists) - [Build a dressing-room shopping list from your event's artist riders](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/build-a-dressing-room-shopping-list-from-artist-riders) - [Advance your performers before the show](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/advance-your-performers-before-the-show) - [Every Ticket Fairy guide](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides) ## Do this on your own event Create your account, build your event and follow the steps in your own dashboard. You do not need to book a sales call. [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) ## Sell tickets with Ticket Fairy Start free with unlimited events and no monthly fee, and choose a paid plan when you need more. - Set up your event in minutes - Free events are free - Fai, your AI teammate, is built in [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) No setup fees. No monthly fee. No credit card required. ## See it on a call Book a demo and we will show you how Ticket Fairy handles your kind of event. [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) [More ways to use Ticket Fairy](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features) ### Tips for selling more tickets Practical advice from working event organizers, and every new guide as it is published. We respect your privacy. 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