Run of show, also known as a cue sheet is a detailed run down of what is happening on stage. No theatre or TV production would go ahead without their equivalent of a run of show, it would be chaos and look very unprofessional. I suspect the majority of business events are delivered without a run of show.
A big shout out to all those magnificent AV techs out there
The reason business events can often get away without doing a run of show is becuase of our industry's magnificent AV techs and their ability to just 'wing it' or react to whatever happens on stage. Mic up, mic down, lights up, lights down, switch vision source, etc all done without any instruction or brief. However, there are some bad ones, and if you get a bad one things can go horribly wrong!
Putting the 'show' into your events
Watch any TV chat show or game show and it's filled with theatrics. Audio stings, lighting changes, lighting ballyhoos [odd word, I know] visual stings, sound effects. Why? because it makes the whole experience so much more engaging. The same techniques can be applied in events to great effect but to do it you will need a run of show
The run of show is creativity's best friend
Think of a run of show like sheet music. Without sheet music, it would be very hard for a composer to get the musicians to play exactly what they want. Without a run of show it is very hard to translate your creative vision for the event into a reality. Your musicians are the show caller, stage manager and AV ops and just like musicians with sheet music, with a run of show, they have clear concise instructions to deliver your creative vision.
The options
Good old spreadsheets: 'Google' has run of show templates and there are a plethora of options.
Specific software: Rundownstudio and showflo are two options, great for your more elaborate shows
Joi: Of course we were going to be on the list. We have a beautiful run of show builder that is very easy to share as a webpage so all your 'musicians' are working off the same sheet music. Check out our Run of Show User Guide
Need some guidance?
Would you like to know more about how to write a run of show? If we get enough 'yeses' we'll put on a training webinar.