A powwow is usually hosted by a specific tribe, organization, school or family.  Powwow's may be small with as little as 40 particpants or very large with thousands of participants.   They usually begin on Thursday or Friday nights, with grand entry at 7:00 P.M. Each night they end at midnight or as late as 3:00 A.M.  During the Saturday afternoon session, grand entry begins at 1:00 P.M., with dancing until 5:00 for supper break.  Grand entry will begin two hours later at 7:00 P.M.  This schedule will contiue throughout the powwow until it is finished.

Competitive singing and dancing for prize money is a fairly recent change to the powwow.  Prize money is awarded to the dancer, singing group or team with the most accumulated points at the end of a powwow.  Dancers are given points for participating in  specific contest dances and intertribal dancing. There are various judging systems that are used at a powwow, but most use the point system.  There are many different types of powwow songs that are sung during the celebration.

The circle has always been a very important symbol to the Native American people. This is evident in the structure of a powwow. For example, the dancers dance in the middle of a circle formed by the audience and drummers. The drummers sit in a circle around the drum, the dancers dance in a circle and the shape of the drum is a circle.