On the day, the planner becomes a bottleneck the moment anyone has to ask a question. The run of show exists to make the answers findable without you: every cue timed, every cue owned by a named person, and the recovery written for the three things most likely to slip. It is also the document nobody reads in full — so it ships in extracts, one per supplier.
What This Skill Produces
- The master timeline — cue by cue, with clock time, duration, owner, and the trigger that starts it
- Load-in and load-out schedule — sequenced by dependency, which is where most overruns are actually born
- Supplier extracts — the same timeline filtered to what each supplier needs, because nobody reads 14 pages
- Contingency triggers — the three or four most likely slips, with the decision rule and who makes the call
- The contact sheet — every supplier's on-the-day person and number, not the account manager
- The cut list — what gets dropped, in order, if the schedule runs long
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not provided:
- The event — type, date, venue, headcount, and the format
- The fixed points — what cannot move: doors, speeches, a broadcast slot, a licence end time, sunset
- The suppliers — who is involved, when they need access, and how long they need
- The venue constraints — access times, noise curfew, lift capacity, licence hours, security requirements
- Who decides on the day — the single person who makes the call when something slips
Framework: Fixed Points, Dependencies, Then Everything Else
- Place the immovable points first. Doors, the broadcast window, the ceremony, the curfew. Everything else is scheduled around them, not the reverse.
- Build load-in backwards from the first fixed point. Rig before lighting focus, focus before sound check, sound check before doors. Sequencing by dependency, not by supplier convenience.
- Give every cue an owner and a trigger. Not 'music starts' but 'DJ starts walk-in music on Sarah's cue from the back of house'. A cue with no named owner does not happen.
- Build in float where it is cheap. Ten minutes before a fixed point is worth an hour anywhere else.
- Write the contingencies before the day. Speaker late, rain, AV failure, over-running speeches — decision rule and decider, agreed in advance.
- Publish extracts. Each supplier gets their own rows plus the fixed points. The full document is for the core team only.
- Name one decider. Two people empowered to make calls on the day is worse than none.
Output Format
Run of show: [event] · [date] · [venue] · v[n]
Fixed points: [time — what] · [time — what] · Curfew: [time] · Decider on the day: [name, number]
Load-in
| Time | Activity | Supplier | Owner | Depends on | Done |
|---|
Show
| Time | Dur | Cue | Trigger | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [18:30] | [30m] | Doors, walk-in music | [Venue confirms room clear] | [name] |
Load-out
| Time | Activity | Supplier | Owner | Depends on |
|---|
Contingencies
| If this happens | Trigger point | We do this | Decider |
|---|---|---|---|
| [speaker late] | [5 min before slot] | [swap to next segment] | [name] |
Cut list — if running long, drop in this order: 1. [item] 2. [item] 3. [item]
Contacts — [role · name · mobile], on-the-day people only
Supplier extracts issued: [supplier — rows — sent date]
Venue licensing, capacity, curfew and safety requirements are set by the venue and local authority — confirm them directly rather than relying on a schedule. Where an event involves crowd safety, temporary structures, or licensed activity, competent safety advice is required.
Quality Checks
- Fixed and immovable points are placed before anything else
- Load-in is sequenced by dependency, not by supplier preference
- Every cue has a named owner and an explicit trigger
- Float exists immediately before each fixed point
- Contingencies name the decision rule and the decider in advance
- Supplier extracts have been issued, not just the master document
- Exactly one person is empowered to make calls on the day
Anti-Patterns
- Cues with no owner. 'The music starts' describes a hope.
- Scheduling load-in by supplier convenience. Produces four vans and one lift at 8am.
- Sending 14 pages to every supplier. Nobody reads it, so nobody follows it.
- No float before fixed points. One small slip cascades into the ceremony.
- Inventing contingencies on the day. The worst decisions are made under time pressure by whoever is nearest.
- Two deciders. Guarantees a stalled decision at the moment one is needed.
- Account-manager numbers on the contact sheet. They are not at the venue on a Saturday.
Example Trigger Phrases
- "Write a run of show for a 200-person launch event"
- "Build the day-of timeline for this conference"
- "What order should load-in happen in?"
- "Write contingency plans for our outdoor event"
- "Create a production schedule for the gala"