Field notes
Preparing a calendar clinic ten days before lock
What feature desks should gather when audience evidence has to arrive before pages close.
A Calendar Readership Clinic works when the draft calendar is almost final and still movable. Ten days is tight; it is also realistic for many Thai weeklies.
Bring counterparts, not wishes
For each planned package, identify an earlier counterpart from a comparable season. Exact matches are rare. Near matches with honest notes beat invented perfection.
Mark packages that cannot move
Sponsored adjacency, festival covers, and printer commitments should be labelled before the clinic starts. Audience evidence cannot relocate a signature that has already been booked with the plant.
Keep the room small
Section leads and one circulation voice usually suffice. Larger groups turn the clinic into a town hall, and the annotated calendar never finishes.
Expect incomplete peace
Some packages will keep their place despite weak historical response because the desk has a mandate. The clinic’s job is to make that choice conscious. If you need facilitation, see our clinic engagement.