How to do open mic spoken word

1. Contact the compere or organiser via their preferred method of communication. Do this as soon as possible after the call for open micers begins, because many events will fill up within a matter of hours.
2. Read the guidelines, particularly with regard to the duration of the slot.
3. Rehearse the best piece you have, that you have not already performed at the event.
4. Time the piece as you rehearse it. Make sure that it is shorter than the slot.
5. It doesn’t matter whether you recite the piece from memory, or read it from a book or paper. However, if you intend to recite it from memory, then make sure you actually know it. If you are going to read it from a book or paper, then make sure that you have the book or paper to hand at least 10 minutes before you are due to go on.
6. The only kind of preamble that is appropriate in an open mic performance is the title of the piece, and trigger warnings about any sensitive material in your piece.
   
   Don’t say why you wrote it.
   Don’t say where you were when you wrote it.
   Don’t say why the piece is important to you.
   Don’t say why the piece should be important to us, the audience.
   Don’t tell us, the audience, how to appreciate the piece.
   
   If you are a poet, then express yourself through poetry, through the piece.
   
   Let the piece speak for itself.
   
   If the piece does not convey enough information for the listener to understand it, then rewrite it — in advance of when you ask for an open mic slot.
   
   The guiding principle is, “Use the time of a perfect stranger in such a way that they will not consider it to have been wasted.”
   
   If you are certain that some people you know are going to be attending the open mic event, and you are intending your piece to appeal mainly to them, then you should not be doing open mic. The whole point of open mic is for spoken word artists to reach people they do not know, personally.
   
7. Stick to the time limit. The easiest way to do this is to read one piece, only, with no preamble.
   
   That is the best way to make a favourable impact on both the audience, and the organiser of the event.
   
   If the time limit is 3 minutes, then 3 minutes and 5 seconds might be acceptable. 3 minutes and 15 seconds is not acceptable.
   
   If you go over by 15 seconds, and every other performer goes over by 15 seconds, that might mean that the last performer, or two performers, can’t perform, because the event has run out of time. Or, possibly more likely, it might mean that the last two performers have to perform to an emptying room, because the audience is going for buses and trains.
   
   If you want to be able to perform for longer, then get booked as a headliner.
   
   You are more likely to get booked as a headliner if you stick to the guidelines while you are doing open mic.