How to write a run of show
A run of show (also called a show flow or cue sheet) is the minute-by-minute plan that everyone running your event follows. Done well, it keeps the day on time and tells each person exactly when they are on. Here is how to build one that survives the day.
The Event70 Team · 3 min read
- 1
Anchor to your fixed times first
Write down the times you cannot move: doors, the keynote slot you promised a speaker, the catering window, the hard stop. Everything else flexes around those.
- 2
Break the event into cues
List every distinct moment as its own line: doors and check-in, welcome, each talk, breaks, meals, the close. A cue is anything that changes who is on or what the room is doing.
- 3
Give every cue a duration, not just a start
Durations are what let times recalculate when something runs long. Assign minutes to each cue and let the start times fall out of the running total.
- 4
Assign one owner per line
Every cue needs a single named person who makes it happen: the MC, the AV lead, catering, the stage manager. If no one owns a cue, it will not happen on time.
- 5
Add cue types and the detail the crew needs
Tag each line (speaker, break, meal, segment) and note mic counts, lighting state, walk-on music and who is backstage, so the crew is never guessing.
- 6
Build in buffer and a plan to catch up
Real events run long. Add five to ten minutes of slack before any fixed time, and know in advance which cues you can shorten or cut if you fall behind.
- 7
Rehearse the handoffs, not the content
You do not need to run the whole show start to finish. Walk the seams instead: the moment AV hands to the MC, the cut from VT back to stage, the transition out of a panel. Those handoffs are where time leaks and confidence drops, so rehearse them with the people who own them.
- 8
Put it live on one screen for the day
On the day, the run of show should be live in the room, showing the current cue and what is next, so no one is shouting times across the floor.
See it in Event70
RSVPs
- JAJordan Avery+2confirmed
- SPSam Patel+1confirmed
- RCRobin Cho+1pending
- DNDevi Nair0declined
Event70 turns this into a working plan: a live run of show, an assignable checklist, RSVPs, a budget and the day-of, all on one event.
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