The Justin Guitar Community Open Mic events (OMs) are voluntarily run and organised by and for the Justin Guitar Community.
These online OMs bring together Justin Guitar students from across the globe in a live, social event of music performance and online chat. In terms of performance, they are seen by many as a step up from uploading and sharing home recordings in the Audio Or Video Of You Playing (AVOYP) area - located within this category: Record Yourself - Progress & Performance - JustinGuitar Community
The Open Mics are online, so virtual in one sense, yet organised and structured to emulate, as closely as possible, a real Open Mic in the real world.
For further information and a little of the back story see here: The Community Open Mic Events category
As interest in the events has grown, and given that they are now being cascaded to a wider audience, the organisers thought it prudent to publish some parameters for future events - thus making them more manageable going forward, while continuing to serve the interests of the Community.
The OMs are hosted using the Zoom meeting app and take place on a six-weekly basis allowing the Community to host about eight events per year.
Invitations to join a coming OM is posted in the Community soon after a preceding event. This allows for the scheduling of events to be established and to give the performers time to prepare.
HOW DO I JOIN
Before each Open Mic a Call For Interest post will be published here: Coming events - JustinGuitar Community
This will take the form of an invitation for people to sign up for the next event, in respect of the details below (See ACCESS & ELIGIBILITY).
All that is required, is you declare your intention to Perform or join the Audience and **importantly, state your local time zone in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Information on UTC here: Coordinated Universal Time - Wikipedia
You can check and confirm your local time in UTC using this map for reference: For reference - Time Zone Map
The date of coming Open Mics will be provided as will the cut off date for Performer entries. This will be approximately two weeks after the Call For Interest has been posted.
This desired show time is two hours - including the MC’s opening (introduction, protocols and etiquette etc.), live performances then the close. To meet this duration there will be a maximum of 22 places for performers. This allows each performer a slot of about five minutes, with time for a brief introduction (banter) then one song (or two short songs).
There is no limit on audience numbers, as long as they stay within the maximum participant currently allowed in Zoom.
Once the performer entries are submitted, the organisers will evaluate the time zones involved and determine whether to host a show favouring the Americas and Europe (EMEA/WEST) or Asia, Australasia and Europe (EMEA/EAST). Start times for these two regions would be as follows (subject to daylight saving adjustments):
- EMEA/WEST 19:00 UTC – (Saturday) 20:00 London and 15:00 New York, (Sunday) 05:00 Sydney
- EMEA/EAST 10:00 UTC – (Saturday) 20:00 Sydney 11:00 London 06:00 New York
Please be mindful of both possible start times, when making your application. As you can see your UTC Time Zone declaration is critical to the planning of events.
ACCESS
Access to the Open Mic events is provided by a hyperlink to the Zoom meeting. This is communicated via Direct Message to both performers and audience members, usually one week before the event. This is to allow participants to verify access and resolve any issues that may arise.
Please note the link address is NEVER openly published on the Community pages and only issued to those accepted to attend the event.
For more information on how to access Zoom and set up your audio and video connection for the Open Mic events, please refer to this guide: Open Mic Tech Talk - How to Setup Zoom
ELIGIBILTY
The Open Mic events are open to all members of the Community and to those of all playing levels from beginner upwards, with the following criteria.
Performers
Requests will be accepted from all members of the Community, who have said hello made their introduction, ideally including their learning path with JustinGuitar here: Introduce yourself … - JustinGuitar Community
and
Been active in AVOYP by sharing one or more recordings here: 
Audio-Video of You Playing - JustinGuitar Community
When making your request, if you have performed at the previous Open Mic, please consider your fellow Community members, who may be applying for the first time.
Audience Members
The events are open to all members of the Community, including first time posters.
First time posters, expressing an interest in the OMs, will be encouraged to introduce themselves and, if they eventually wish to perform at future events, share some recordings (as above), in order that they become eligible.
And finally
These Open Mics will not only enhance playing skills but will also grow your confidence and self-belief and in the long run make you a better player. You only need to look at the comments from first time performers in the Open Mic chats topics to see how much benefit playing in these “gigs” provide and the positive effect being involved has on the performers. Open Mics Archive: Recordings + After-Show Chat - JustinGuitar Community
So come and join us and have some fun at the next Open Mic. If you are not quite convinced you are ready, just join the audience and get a feel for the event as it happens. That way you’ll see there is nothing to be afraid of when you make commitment to sign up.
Thank you for your support.
The Justin Guitar Community Open Mic Organisers