Ankit's Star Check

Guests tap a star rating from their table through the night, and the band sees one big number for the last twenty minutes.

Who this is for

Ankit Sonkar runs a band and DJ setup out of Bhopal. Seven musicians, two light boys, a hired tempo, and about forty functions between November and February. At 11.40 at a farmhouse off Kolar Road, he is standing behind the mixer with one hand on a fader and his phone in the other, trying to work out whether the crowd has gone quiet because they are tired or because he has played three slow songs in a row.

How the job is done today

He guesses. He looks at the dance floor and counts heads. Sometimes the groom's cousin comes up and says everyone is enjoying, which the groom's cousin always says. The real feedback arrives four days later when the booking agent calls to say the bride's family felt the sangeet portion dragged, by which time there is nothing to be done about it. Two bands he knows keep a WhatsApp group with the client family, but nobody types into it during a function. Google reviews come in twice a season, usually from the one guest who was annoyed about parking.

The screens, in order

1. Set up the function — Before leaving the house, Ankit puts in the family name, the venue and the date so the night has something to attach itself to.
2. Guest star tap — A guest scans the card on the table and taps one to five stars in about two seconds, with no name, no sign in and nothing to type.
3. Stage number — The one screen Ankit actually uses, showing a single number the size of his palm that he can read in the dark at a glance.
4. Night so far — A rough line of how the evening has moved, for the ten minutes when the food is being served and he can look properly.
5. Morning page — A plain summary of the function he can send to the family or forward to the next client who is deciding between him and someone cheaper.
6. Bands — Where Ankit adds another band, their functions and until when they have paid him.

What it keeps track of

• Functions — which band, family name, venue, date, start time, finished or still running
• Star taps — which function, how many stars, exact time it came in
• Table cards — which function, which table or gate, how many taps came from it
• Bands — band name, owner, phone number, paid till which month

The one decision that matters

The stage number can either be the average for the whole function or the average for the last twenty minutes. Whole night is easier to build and easier to explain, but after the first hour it barely moves. A dozen fresh taps cannot shift four hundred old ones, so by the time the sangeet is dragging the number still says 4.3 and Ankit learns nothing. Go with the last twenty minutes. It jumps around, which feels wrong on a screen and is exactly right on a stage, because he needs to know what the room thinks of the song he is playing now, not what it thought of the baraat.

What to leave out of the first version

No comment box for guests. Text cannot be read one-handed under a light rig, someone will type something filthy at every third wedding, and then Ankit is moderating instead of performing. Also no online payments for the bands who buy it. There will be four of them in the first season, all people he has known for years, and they will pay him by UPI when he asks. Building billing for four friends is a month spent on the wrong thing.

How you would know it worked

Halfway through a function, without asking anyone or looking at the floor, Ankit drops the slow song he had queued and puts on something faster because the number fell. Ten minutes later it has come back up, and he never had to put down the fader.

Build it

Paste this in and let it run.

I run a wedding band and DJ setup in Bhopal and I want a phone app for myself that I can later sell to other bands. Guests scan a small card on their table and tap one to five stars, as often as they like through the night, with no login and nothing to type. On my phone I want one screen with a very big number showing the average from only the last twenty minutes, readable in the dark with one thumb while my other hand is on the mixer, and it should turn green or red as it moves. Let me set up a function before I leave home with the family name, venue and date, and the next morning give me a simple page about how the night went that I can forward on WhatsApp. I also want a place to add other bands and their functions by hand, and note which month they have paid me till.