Press Release - August 2017

Devoted Fringe-Goers Could See 314 Shows at 2017 Edinburgh Fringe!

A free new app that allows visitors to the Edinburgh Fringe to fit in as many shows as is feasible has proved that it is possible to see an incredible 314 different shows in the 25 days of the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe, averaging over 12.5 shows a day! But visitors would need to splash out to see them all, it would cost £1878 to see all 314.

But for those who are equally dedicated but with tighter budgets, visitors could still get to fit in 264 free shows!

Henson IT Solutions, the company behind the Plan My Fringe app have set the "Plan My Fringe Challenge" to anyone who can prove they have watched the most shows, aided by the "Plan My Fringe" algorithm. The winner will receive a certificate and appearance on the Plan My Fringe web site next year.

Mark Henson, Managing Director of Henson IT Solutions comments "We love the Edinburgh Fringe, and always try to see as many shows as we can. But it is difficult doing this effectively without the aid of a scheduling tool. So we designed Plan My Fringe as the perfect aid to ourselves and anyone like us!"

Maddie Henson, Sales Director of Henson IT Solutions says "We came up with the idea of the Plan My Fringe Challenge for the really hardcore Fringe fans like ourselves. But we also designed the app to cater for those that want more spontaneity or chill-out time, while ensuring they don’t miss out on their favourite shows. It caters for everyone!"

The Plan My Fringe app allows users to prioritise shows by rating the ones they want to see from the Fringe Brochures or Flyers handed out. It takes into account walking time between shows, maximum budgets, maximum shows each day, and even allows minimum lunch and sleep breaks to be entered.

Users can also block out time for other non-Fringe activities, or time just to chill and relax, or use the app spontaneously to find shows near them while in Edinburgh.

ENDS

Notes:

"Plan My Fringe" is an unofficial web-site and linked iPhone app (other mobile versions coming soon). Data is provided courtesy of the Edinburgh Festivals Listings API.

The Edinburgh Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. The 2017 Fringe takes place between 4th and 28th of August, and is expected to consist of over 3500 shows and over 55000 performances.

The algorithm that performed these calculations was set to allow a walking speed of 4mph, a minimum of 5 minutes gap between shows, and at least 10 minutes for lunch and dinner each day. But these can all be set by advanced users. All shows were rated equally.

The linked PDFs show the results of the calculations to prove that the claims made for 314 shows and 264 free shows are possible. Henson IT Solutions make no recommendation as to the standards of the shows that are included on these lists, the algorithm was used to simply rate every show equally then fit in as many shows as possible. During normal usage of Plan My Fringe, users express a preference for the shows they wish to see, and the algorithm will adjust to ensure they don’t miss out on their favourites.

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