How “Meet And Greets” Have Changed

I'm lucky enough to work in an industry where I get the occasional chance to meet some stars and I've always been very grateful for that. Country stars especially are typically very appreciative of their fans and more than happy to sign some autographs and shake some hands. This past Friday, my daughter got the chance to meet Miranda Lambert. She now has a photo and a great memory that will last for the rest of her life.

The modern day meet and greets have definitely changed over the years. If you were lucky enough to score Meet And Greet passes for Miranda, you were also given a list of rules. You were allowed one photo only. No cell pics (no selfies). The one and only photo will be taken by Miranda's photographer and you can download it 24 hours later at the link provided to you.

Once you arrive, you are lined up against the wall and, one group at a time, you are herded in out out for your photo. The time you stand next to Miranda is typically less than 30 seconds. Some people were a little disappointed by this, but it does keep it efficient so more fans can have the chance to get their photo with Miranda.

I can't really say that this is typical, because each artist has their own ways of doing things, but it is definitely what I expect these days when I hear "Meet and Greet" passes. When I first started getting to take part in these, we would usually head to a room where fans would mill around and talk while waiting on the celebrity to show up. Once the celebrity arrived, they would go around the room and do their best to say hi and shake hands with everyone. It definitely gave you more of the "I met this person" feeling, but it wasn't always a great way to do things. Many times you would have one rude fan that would try to monopolize the celebrity's visit with some long personal story...or some awkward person telling them how they are "truly in love" with the celebrity. In cases like this, the blabbermouths got most of the time and the timid folks were lucky to get a handshake.

In any case, I'm happy that Miranda took time out of her schedule to meet her fans. Even though there were some who were a little let down because they thought they were going to get to talk Miranda's ear off, they all walked away with a great memory and photo.

Check out the photos from the Billings concert here.