Every event that runs to time has a document behind it that most guests never see. The run of show is the minute-by-minute script that tells everyone working on the event what happens, when, where and who makes it happen. When it is good, the crew, the MC and the client all work from the same page. When it is missing or out of date, people improvise, and the audience notices.
This guide explains how to build one, from the first draft to the version you lock after rehearsal.
A run of show is not an agenda
The agenda is written for guests. It lists sessions, speakers and breaks in broad blocks: registration, welcome, keynote, panel, lunch. It is a promise about the shape of the day.
The run of show is written for the people delivering the event. It breaks each of those blocks into every moment that needs an action: the walk-in music fading, the voice-over announcing the opening, the house lights dimming, the MC walking on, the first slide appearing, the camera cutting to the stage. An agenda might show a welcome and a start time. The run of show may need a dozen lines for those first five minutes.
The columns you need
Most runs of show are built as a table, with one row per cue or moment. These are the columns that earn their place:
- Time: the planned start of each line, in clock time.
- Duration: how long it lasts, so you can see at a glance where time is being lost or gained.
- Segment: a short name for what is happening, such as ‘Opening video’ or ‘Panel walk-on’.
- Location: main stage, side stage, foyer or wherever the action is.
- On stage: who is on stage or at the lectern, and how they enter and leave.
- MC: the exact script or the key lines the host says, in each language if the event is bilingual.
- Slides: which deck, which slide, and who advances it.
- Video: which file plays, from which source, and whether it has sound.
- Audio: which microphones are live, music in or out, and playback cues.
- Lighting: the state the room should be in, such as house lights down, stage lit or a spotlight on the lectern.
- Camera: what the cameras should show, on the screens and in any recording or stream.
- Notes: everything else, from ‘trophies on the side table’ to ‘speaker prefers a handheld microphone’.
You will not need every column for every event. A small internal meeting might need only time, segment, on stage and notes. A gala with awards, video and a live stream needs all of them.
How much detail is enough
The right level of detail is the level at which nobody has to guess. If a technician has to ask what happens next, the line is too vague. If the document is so dense that people cannot find their own cues, it is too detailed for them, and they need a filtered version.
A useful test is to read each line and ask two questions: who acts on this, and would they know exactly what to do? Write cues as actions, such as ‘Play video two, sound on’, rather than labels such as ‘Video’. Give every video, slide deck and music track a unique file name, and use the same name everywhere.
Build it from the agenda outwards
Start with the agreed agenda and turn each block into a section of the run of show. Then work through each section in order and add every moment that needs an action: entrances and exits, introductions, transitions, videos, music, awards, photo moments and applause.
Next, add the technical layer. Sit down with your production lead and go through the document line by line, adding what sound, lighting, video and camera need to do. Then add the MC script, or at least the key lines, so the show caller knows exactly which words trigger each cue.
Finally, add the moments before and after the programme that people tend to forget: doors opening, walk-in music, the pre-show announcement, and what happens on stage after the last speaker leaves.
Timings that hold up on the day
Most programmes overrun for the same reason: the timings assumed that everything happens instantly. Real events need time for things that never appear on the agenda:
- Walk-ups and walk-offs, especially from the back of a large room or for guests who need assistance.
- Applause, introductions and thank-yous, which always take longer than planned.
- Changeovers between segments, such as setting chairs for a panel, clearing a lectern or bringing on trophies.
- Technical transitions, such as switching laptops or loading a video.
- Group photographs, which can take several minutes to arrange.
If your event is in two languages, allow extra time for every segment that runs in both. Welcome remarks repeated in Arabic and English take close to twice as long, and an MC who moves between languages needs more time for each link. Our article on planning a bilingual event in Qatar covers this in more detail.
Ask each speaker how long their remarks really are, then add a margin. Most speakers underestimate, and very few finish early.
Then give speakers a way to see the time. A countdown clock they can read from the lectern, and an agreed signal from the stage manager for ‘one minute left’, will keep most sessions close to plan.
Versions, owners and who gets what
A run of show changes constantly in the final days, so version control matters. Give one person ownership of the master document and route every change through them. Put a version number and time on every page, and when you send an update, say what changed. Name each file with the event, the version and the date, so nobody works from an old copy by mistake.
Different people need different versions:
- The crew needs the full technical version, with every cue.
- The MC needs a script version: their lines, their timings, and what happens just before and after each of their moments.
- The client needs a clean version to follow and approve, without the technical detail.
- The venue needs the timings that affect them: doors, catering service, room changes and breakdown.
Print the final version for everyone who needs it on the day. Batteries run out and networks fail, and a paper copy with handwritten changes is still the most reliable tool in a control room.
The technical rehearsal and locking changes
The technical rehearsal is where the run of show meets reality. Run every cue in order, with the real files, the real microphones and, ideally, the real presenters. You are checking that every transition works, every video plays with sound, every lighting state is right and everyone knows where to stand.
If rehearsal time is short, prioritise the opening and the close, every video, every award presentation and any moment where several cues happen together. Those are the points where most things go wrong.
Expect changes. Record them as you go and issue a revised version as soon as rehearsal ends. Then lock the document. Late changes are one of the most common causes of mistakes during a show, because they do not reach everyone. If a change after the lock is unavoidable, the show caller approves it and briefs every person it affects, face to face or on the headset.
The show caller and how cues are called
At a live event, one person calls the show. The show caller follows the run of show and tells each department when to act, usually over a headset system. This keeps timing in one pair of hands and stops operators from guessing.
Cues are called in two steps. First comes the standby, which tells an operator the cue is coming: ‘Standby video three, standby lighting cue twelve’. Then comes the go, given at the exact moment: ‘Video three, go’. Operators act on the word go and nothing else. This discipline matters most at busy moments, when several cues land almost at once.
Plan for what goes wrong
A good run of show includes a plan for when things do not go to plan. Agree with the client in advance what happens if:
- A speaker is late: which segment moves forward, and what the MC says.
- A video fails: whether you try once more, move on, or have the MC cover the content, and how the show caller will signal the change.
- The programme overruns: which items can be shortened or cut, in what order, and who approves the cut on the day.
- A microphone fails: a spare is ready at the side of the stage, and the sound operator knows which channel to switch to.
Write these options into the document and mark them clearly. On the day, the decision is then a matter of calling a plan everyone has already seen, rather than negotiating under pressure.
A clear run of show is one of the simplest ways to protect an event. If you would like support building one, or a team to run the show on the day, ARZO's event management service covers planning, production and show calling. You can request a proposal with your agenda and date, and we will take it from there.
