However, I, as the Match Director, do sincerely apologize to the 3 of 4 shooters who elected to not finish...2 elected not to finish because of the late time constraint of the match lasting longer than usual and they had to leave; also, 1 was still sitting in the range's waiting room unbeknownst to us while we broke down the stages 
One other shooter elected not to finish because, well, his ammo wasn't firing despite light primer strikes....but the cylinder in the revolver looked cool as it, well, revolved with each trigger press 
That first stage did take a lot longer than normal---but you also had quite a few shooters new to IDPA, and it was simply a very difficult stage. As such, it was just going to take longer. Not your fault that it took awhile, and by the second stage we had gotten ourselves an organization and it went faster.
If people have to go due to time constratints, that's how it goes, and it is too bad those folks couldn't finish---but again, that's not your fault.
In a similar fashion, if shooters aren't in the shooting area when their name is called and aren't checking to see what the shooting order is like, then again, there isn't a whole lot you can do about that. While you are the match director, we are adults. (Except for the juniors, and they normally are in there helping the entire time, so they don't have this problem.) As adults, we are responsible for being where we are supposed to be.
The match staff shouldn't have to wait on shooters not being ready, and shouldn't have to scour the building looking for people who aren't at the line ready to go when their names are called.
If there are medical reasons for someone not being able to help reset the stage, that's one thing (if you don't have a medical reason, you should be helping)---but even with that, if you can safely negotiate the stage, you can also safely go into the range area periodically and check to see if you are coming up on the shooting list.
I know you feel responsible, Aldo---but it isn't your fault, because it ISN'T your responsibility to make sure all your shooters are where they are supposed to be. That's on them. (On
us.)
Yes, there were a couple or few PO'd folks because they would have like to have left earlier in the match. And I accept responsibility for that faux pas...we usually alternate shooters (i.e., one does Stage 1, and the other does Stage 2, and then we switch those two to shoot the other stages) based on the date and time of their online registrations in order to honor "the early bird gets the worm". However, today we just had the entire group shoot Stage 1 and then pushed to get everyone through Stage 2....which apparently messed with some folks plans to leave earlier. Oh, well, that experiment won't happen again. 
I'll note that if they had wanted to do it the other way, they could have spoken up when you
asked everyone what their opinion was. Exactly ONE person wanted to do it a different way, and several wanted to do it the way you ended up running the match. While people (being people) will of course complain, they don't actually have much basis for it when they didn't speak up in the first place.
I note also that if people come up, let other people paste/reset the stage for them, shoot, and then leave, it really makes it hard on everyone else. After all, we are all needed to help reset the stage---just like folks reset for you, you should reset for them.
As a local club, we really want to foster a community where everyone helps---that it is a
normal thing that
everyone helps. Everyone helps reset the stage, everyone helps pick up brass, everyone stays to the end and helps tear down---because otherwise, some shooters get the idea that other people will paste/reset, that other people will make the stages and tear down the stages---in other words, that they can sit on their rear ends and watch other people do all the work so they can shoot.
That's a great way to have a local club fall apart and die, because there is too much work to do, and if multiple people aren't always helping, then the few people who DO work get burned out, and it ends. (That's what happened the last time IDPA was attempted in this area.)
Everyone helps. Through the whole match, even if you shot early. Sure, sometimes people HAVE to shoot through and leave early. That happens. But it should be a rare thing---in general, it is just good manners, being a good shooter and competitor, and wanting to have these matches continue that should make
everyone help through the entire match.
