How a Live Event Workflow Plan Gets Built, Step by Step

Every plan we write begins with the running order, because the order of events decides what the signal chain has to do and when. A kit list tells us what exists; the running order tells us what must happen at ten past eight when the second act walks on and the playback roll needs to land on cue.

Hannah and I sit down with the producer and technical director and read the show line by line. We mark each point where a source changes, where audio moves from one place to another and where a person has to act on a count. Those marks become the skeleton of everything that follows.

We also ask what has gone wrong at previous events. Most teams can name two or three recurring faults within a few minutes, and those usually point at the parts of the chain that deserve the most careful drawing.

• Running order with timings, as it stands
• Venue plan and any rigging limits
• Names of the people already booked
• Faults from previous events

Next comes the signal flow diagram. We draw it on a single sheet where possible, from cameras, microphones and playback sources through to the vision mixer, the sound desk, the routing and every output. If a diagram needs three pages, it usually means the design has grown more complicated than the show requires.

Each line carries a label that matches what will be printed on the cable or the patch point. That sounds fussy, but the label is what a tired engineer reads at midnight when a feed drops. We also mark where signals are split, converted or delayed, since those are the places where timing and format problems appear.

Once the diagram is agreed we walk it with the technical director, tracing a single camera from lens to screen and a single microphone from stage to loudspeaker. Gaps tend to show up in that walk-through, not on paper.

A signal chain only works if each person knows where their responsibility starts and ends. We write a short role sheet for every position: what they control, who they report to, what they say on the talkback and what they do when something fails.

Overlap is the thing we look for hardest. When two people both believe they own the graphics feed, or neither does, the fault turns into a conversation during the show. We settle ownership in the plan so that it is not settled live.

Talkback groupings get the same treatment. Camera operators, audio and the director rarely need to hear everything, and a channel crowded with chatter hides the one instruction that matters. We propose groupings and let the crew change them after the first rehearsal.

• One named owner for each source and output
• Talkback groups listed by position
• A stated action for each likely failure

We build the rehearsal schedule backwards from doors or the transmission time. The final full run goes in first, with a buffer after it, and everything else is fitted in earlier. Teams that plan forwards from the load-in tend to find their rehearsal time has been spent on rigging.

Early slots go to the technical checks that do not need performers: line-up of cameras, microphone checks, playback tests and routing. Later slots bring in presenters and acts, starting with the awkward transitions instead of the easy opening.

We leave a short slot unplanned on purpose, usually after the first complete run-through. It is there for the fix everybody discovers they need, and it has saved more than one show from running late into doors.

We are an advisory business, so we do not run your gallery. Where it helps, one of us attends the final technical rehearsal to watch the plan meet reality, noting where the paper and the room disagree. Those notes go into a short written update that evening.

The plan stays a working document. Changes to the running order, a late guest or a swapped camera position all alter the diagram, and we revise the affected sheets instead of leaving crew to carry the differences in their heads.

After the event we ask for a brief debrief with the technical director. What worked goes into the template for next time, and what did not is traced back to the step where it should have been caught.

The test of a workflow plan is whether someone can read it in the dark with a headset on. We keep sentences short, put the signal diagram and the running order on facing sheets, and avoid colour coding that only works on a good screen.

Printed copies go to each position, with one master held by the technical director. Digital versions are convenient for planning, but a laptop screen that times out mid-show is no help to anyone.

We also trim the plan after each revision. Notes that no longer apply are removed instead of piling up, because a cluttered page is read less carefully than a clean one.