A run of show template gives your event team one shared sequence of times, actions, owners, and cues. Copy the blank sheet below, fill in the readiness checks, and rehearse the handoffs before attendees arrive.
The agenda says “keynote at 9:05.” Backstage, the speaker is waiting for a microphone, the technician has two versions of the deck, and someone has already started the walk-on music. Everyone knows the scheduled time. Nobody knows who has permission to start.
A useful run of show resolves that moment. It names the person who confirms readiness, the person who calls GO, and the fallback if either cannot give a clear answer.
Copy this run of show template
Use three tabs in a shared spreadsheet: Live sequence, Cue details, and Contacts and changes. The first is the sheet people scan during the event. The others hold information they need before calling a cue or when something goes wrong.
Start with this control block above your live sequence:
Then copy this blank table. Add a row for every session, transition, room opening, and operational handoff that someone must coordinate.
Square brackets are fields to replace. Keep these five columns on the live view; don't stretch it with a dozen more. In a spreadsheet, freeze the header, wrap the action text, and keep each row readable without zooming out.
For each critical row, duplicate this card in Cue details. Its ID must match the live sequence.
“Must be true” is the dependency check. “Speaker backstage; correct deck open; audio confirms microphone live” is useful. “Everything ready” is not checkable. The deadline gives the caller time to choose a fallback before the audience notices a gap.
Keep the contacts tab access appropriate to its contents. A widely shared production sheet can use role names and a staffed desk number; private account notes and personal phone numbers belong in a more restricted directory.
What is a run of show, and how is it different from an agenda?
A run of show is the internal sequence used to deliver an event in real time. It connects what the audience experiences to the people, equipment, transitions, and decisions needed to make each moment happen.
An agenda helps attendees decide where to be. A run of show helps the crew deliver what that agenda promises. “Run sheet” and “show flow” are common alternative names; agree with your vendors on what each document covers.
Georgia Tech's event template library provides separate run-of-show and AV run-of-show templates, alongside planning checklists and photography shot lists. That is a useful model for keeping the live sheet readable: link specialist documents by cue ID instead of copying every instruction into one table.
The distinction also protects the purpose of a B2B event. Consider hypothetical planning arithmetic, not a benchmark: a team budgets $24,000 for a customer forum and plans 12 account meetings. Allocated across those meetings, that's $2,000 per planned meeting. If coordination failures leave only eight held meetings, the same allocation becomes $3,000 per held meeting, a 50% increase.
This calculation does not measure total event ROI or prove a template improves results. It shows why meeting-room access and executive handoffs deserve attention alongside stage lighting. A perfectly timed keynote cannot recover a meeting that nobody hosted.
Build the sheet around decisions people can make
1. Name the caller, the owner, and the approver
The readiness owner checks the people and resources for a segment. The show caller coordinates its live cues. The event lead approves program changes outside the caller's agreed discretion. A document controller records changes and actual times.
For a small event, one person may hold several roles. Still write them separately, so everyone knows which decision that person is making. Name a deputy and explain when responsibility transfers; an absent caller should not leave three people improvising instructions.
The MC is the audience-facing host. The stage manager handles backstage readiness and movement. Either can also be the show caller, but don't assume an MC can watch the stage, deliver remarks, monitor radio, and update a spreadsheet simultaneously.
Production authority has limits. Agree on venue and emergency responsibilities with the appropriate leads; ordinary show cues must not override those procedures. “Only the caller calls GO” coordinates the performance. It must never prevent someone from reporting a hazard or stopping unsafe activity.
2. Separate scheduled time from permission to start
Use clock times for planning and agreed triggers for execution. A row at 9:05 tells the team when the keynote should begin. It does not authorize playback if the presenter is still walking through the audience.
Here is a suggested cue exchange to agree and rehearse with your crew:
- Caller: “Standby MAIN-02: keynote introduction, audio and slides.”
- Stage manager: “Speaker in position.” Audio: “Ready.” Slides: “Ready.”
- Caller: “MAIN-02 introduction, GO.”
Split a complicated segment into numbered sub-cues in the AV document. Starting recording, introducing a speaker, fading music, and advancing slides may require separate triggers. A vague “keynote GO” should not launch four actions at once unless that sequence has been agreed and tested.
Pro Tip: Ask for an explicit readiness reply. Silence on a radio channel is an unknown state, not confirmation that the operator heard you.
3. Make changeovers visible before filling the program
Time the movement: speaker exit, applause, furniture reset, deck switch, microphone handoff, and audience seating. A five-minute changeover is a task with work inside it. It is not automatically five minutes of spare time.
Mark which time can move and which cannot. A catering window, an accessible route, and a live broadcast commitment have different constraints. Put any approved content cuts beside the affected segment, including the minimum duration and the person who can authorize the cut.
Pro Tip: Reserve optional questions or a short recap as recoverable time. Don't plan to recover every delay by shortening breaks that guests and staff need.
4. Put readiness checks ahead of the audience moment
If a workshop begins at 10:30, “demo tested at 10:30” is too late. Schedule the actual test before doors open, then recheck the required device and connection shortly before the segment. Record the exact approved asset, not a folder containing five files called “final.”
Work backward from the cue: when must the speaker be in position, who brings them there, and who confirms that handoff? If the same person is also checking in guests at that time, resolve the staffing collision before rehearsal.
Your broader trade show planning process supplies the bookings and commitments. The run sheet should show their event-day dependencies, with enough notice to act when one fails.
Worked example: a half-day B2B customer forum
This fictional example has registration from 8:30, a program from 9:00 to noon, one main room, and a nearby meeting room. All times are local to the venue. Equipment is installed and checked the previous afternoon; the morning window below is for verification and rehearsal, not a complete production build.
Role labels keep the example legible. Replace each with a named person and deputy in your working copy. The show caller controls stage cues; other releases are identified explicitly.
Teardown starts only after the venue lead releases the space under the separate production schedule. The final row does not imply that all equipment can be packed and removed in 15 minutes.
Add the cue details that make this example usable
MAIN-02, customer keynote: Stage manager reports readiness by 8:50: speaker present and briefed, approved deck open, microphone checked, and agreed recording arrangements confirmed. The technical operator holds the local backup. Caller cues the introduction after the MC's welcome. If the speaker is absent at 8:50, the event lead activates the late-speaker fallback before the program starts.
MAIN-04, workshop: Workshop lead completes the primary demo and local-video test during TECH-01, then checks again by 10:20. Caller confirms the host, playback, and room reset before seating finishes. If the live demo is unavailable, use the rehearsed local walkthrough and discussion. Preserve the 11:15 finish; troubleshooting must not consume the next segment.
During BREAK-01, a separate executive host can run two short account conversations in the nearby meeting room: 10:00–10:10 and 10:15–10:25, with five minutes between. The host confirms participants and room readiness by 9:50, then escorts guests back for seating. This requires a dedicated host; don't assign the hospitality lead both jobs.
Keep meeting identities in the private meeting plan. The shared run sheet needs the meeting IDs, location, host, and timing so the production team can avoid conflicting assignments.
Write fallbacks with a trigger, an owner, and an end point
“Have a backup” leaves the hardest decision unfinished. For each important failure, specify when the team stops waiting, what happens next, and who can approve it. The following rules belong to the fictional forum above; rehearse and adjust them for your event.
The speaker is late
At the 8:50 readiness check, the stage manager reports the missing speaker to the event lead. The approved replacement is a prepared customer discussion led by the moderator, starting at 9:05 and ending at 9:40. The moderator must have material and permission ready beforehand.
If the keynote speaker arrives during that discussion, the caller does not insert them automatically. The event lead chooses whether a later appearance fits the program; the MC receives the approved explanation. A hard switch at a known time is easier to coordinate than repeatedly promising “two more minutes.”
The keynote overruns
Suppose it ends at 9:45 rather than 9:40. The caller uses the pre-approved five-minute Q&A minimum: questions run 9:45–9:50, the ten-minute transition remains intact, and coffee still starts at 10:00. The moderator receives the shortened question count before taking over.
A ten-minute overrun would exceed that rule. The event lead must approve another change and notify hospitality, meeting hosts, and the room lead. Do not quietly shift the break when it contains scheduled account conversations.
Playback or the live demo fails
The workshop card authorizes a switch to the tested local walkthrough after one brief recovery attempt, capped at 60 seconds. The host bridges with an agreed explanation while playback changes. If the backup also fails, the host uses the prepared discussion prompts and closes by 11:15.
A backup file on the same unavailable cloud drive is not an independent recovery path. Test it on the machine and connection the operator will actually use.
Check-in or the shared sheet goes offline
The registration lead switches to the approved offline arrival list and records exceptions for later reconciliation. Guest admission and access rules still apply. The caller and room leads use the latest timestamped offline run sheet; the document controller logs changes for reconciliation when connectivity returns.
If production communications also fail, hold the affected cue until the agreed backup contact path works. An offline spreadsheet preserves instructions but cannot confirm that a person is ready now.
Pro Tip: Put the fallback decision deadline earlier than GO. The audience should not become the waiting room for a backstage approval conversation.
Rehearse the handoffs, then control the live version
Run a table read with every lead. Follow each critical cue from the readiness check to the operator's action. Then test the assets and physical movement. Finally, simulate one late speaker and one technical failure without allowing “we'll work it out” as an answer.
Before circulating the operating version, confirm these five things:
- Every live row has a readiness owner and an identified release authority.
- Durations include movement, resets, and guest seating.
- Each critical cue has a deadline and an approved fallback.
- Simultaneous roles have enough people to cover them.
- Leads can access the current version and the backup contact method.
On the day, use one master document and give each lead the view they need. Princeton's virtual-event guidance recommends a shared document and colleagues assigned to backstage tasks such as chat moderation and question collection. For a hybrid event, explicitly assign those responsibilities; the onsite room lead may not see what remote guests are experiencing.
After rehearsal, give changes an owner and a visible timestamp. The document controller updates the master; the caller communicates urgent effects. A silent spreadsheet edit is inadequate when operators are watching the stage.
Record material actuals, not every radio exchange. “MAIN-03: 09:45–09:50; shortened under approved rule; moderator acknowledged” explains the recovery. Keep planned times alongside actuals so the team can see what changed.
At POST-01, a handoff is complete when its recipient accepts it. The content owner confirms where recordings are stored; the meeting owner confirms which conversations happened and who follows up; operations assigns every unresolved issue. These records feed the post-event report without requiring people to reconstruct the day from memory.
Put the template to work
Copy the blank sheet and fill in your next event's first ten cues. Read them aloud with the people who will execute them. Wherever someone asks “Who tells me?” or “What if that isn't ready?”, add the missing decision before adding another column.
If your program includes trade show meetings, prepare the prospect list before you assign onsite hosts. Start Free Trial to use Lensmor to research relevant events, identify suitable companies and people, and prepare outreach. Bring confirmed meetings into the run of show with a host, a location, and a next-step owner.
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