# What is a run of show? A run of show is the minute-by-minute plan of a live event: every segment, its owner, and its timing. Here is what one contains, a template, and how to run it live. A run of show is the minute-by-minute plan of a live event: every segment in order, with its start time, duration, owner, and the cues that connect one moment to the next. Crews also call it a show flow or rundown — the document that answers "what happens now, and what happens next" for everyone working the event. This guide covers what a run of show contains, how it differs from an agenda, a template you can copy, and the step most guides skip: turning the plan into a live document the whole crew follows during the show itself. ## What a run of show contains The format is a table, and the discipline is that every row answers the same questions. Per segment: One craft decision per cue: does it fire on the clock or on a trigger? Clock cues suit anchored moments — doors, a broadcast window — but a lighting change tied to 14:32:10 breaks the moment a speaker runs ten seconds long. Cues that depend on people are safer anchored to a line or an action ("on 'please welcome'…"), and the run of show should say which kind each one is. - Start time and duration — the clock backbone of the day. - Segment name and owner — what is happening and whose moment it is. - Talent and staging notes — who is on, from which side, with what in hand. - Technical cues — audio, video, lighting, and stream actions tied to the segment. - Buffer notes — where slack lives, because some segment will need it. ## Run of show vs. agenda vs. script The three documents serve three audiences. The agenda is for attendees: public, rounded to friendly times, free of logistics. The script is for the people speaking: exact words for scripted moments. The run of show is for the crew: precise, technical, and internal. The common failure is publishing one document for all three jobs — an agenda with cue notes confuses attendees, and a run of show rounded to attendee-friendly times can't run a control booth. Keep the run of show internal and let the agenda be its public projection. Large productions go one step further and split the run of show by department — sound, lighting, stage management each get a view with their own cues in full and everyone else's as context. ## A run of show template This structure covers most events; adjust columns to your production's needs. A conference-morning example: | Time | Dur | Segment | Owner | Cues / notes | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 08:30 | 30:00 | Doors + walk-in loop | FOH | Lobby countdown on screens | | 09:00 | 05:00 | Opening + housekeeping | Host | Mics live at 08:58 | | 09:05 | 20:00 | Keynote | Speaker A | Confidence monitor: wrap-up at 3:00 left | | 09:25 | 05:00 | Transition + seating | Stage mgr | Walk-up music | | 09:30 | 25:00 | Panel | Moderator | Count-up display; hard out 09:55 | | 09:55 | 20:00 | Break | FOH | Foyer countdown to 10:15; buffer lives here | ## From spreadsheet to live run of show A run of show on paper stops being true at the first overrun. The live version keeps the plan and the clock in one place: in MaestroTimer, each row becomes a named timer with its duration, speaker, and notes — the room's timer list is the run of show, and the agenda view is its live, shareable projection. Link the timers and the show advances exactly as the plan says; schedule the anchored moments — doors, resumption after lunch — to start at their clock times. Wrap-up thresholds put each segment's warning on the confidence monitor automatically, and when reality diverges from the plan, adjusting the live timer updates every screen at once: the run of show bends without forking into competing paper copies. ## Getting it in front of the crew The live run of show is links, not printouts: the agenda view for backstage and volunteers, the viewer for stage-facing countdowns, the controller for the show caller, the moderator view for a host sending cues. Before doors, the live connections view lists every screen attached to the room — the last check that the run of show is actually reaching the people it choreographs. ## FAQ ### What does run of show mean? The internal, minute-by-minute plan of a live event: segments in order with start times, durations, owners, and technical cues. Crews also call it a rundown or show flow. ### What is the difference between a run of show and an agenda? The agenda is the public, attendee-facing schedule; the run of show is the crew's precise internal version with cues and logistics. The agenda is a simplified projection of the run of show. ### Who creates the run of show? Usually the event producer or show caller, with input from stage management and technical leads — and one person should own the master copy so changes have a single source. ### How do I make a run of show that updates live during the event? Build each segment as a named timer in a shared room: linked timers advance the order, the agenda link shows everyone the live state, and changes from the controller reach every screen at once. **Make your run of show live** — MaestroTimer runs in the browser: each segment a named timer, the agenda as a shareable live view, wrap-up cues on the confidence monitor, and one controller for the show caller. 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