Somewhere between your event brief and the moment cameras roll, everything needs to be written down — not in your email thread, not in your head, not across six WhatsApp messages — but in a single, living document that every person on the floor is working from.
That document is the run-of-show. And if your production company in Kenya isn't building one for your event, that's a problem worth addressing before go-live.
What exactly is a run-of-show document?
A run-of-show (ROS) is a minute-by-minute timeline of your entire event — every segment, every transition, every technical cue, every speaker, every video playback, and every crew instruction — laid out in chronological order. It is the production bible. Every crew member works from it. Every decision made before event day is captured in it.
Think of it as the script for the production team, not the speakers. The speakers have their notes. The production team has the run-of-show.
What goes into a run-of-show?
- Event name, date, venue, and key contacts — client lead, production director, venue manager, emergency numbers
- Setup and soundcheck schedule — when crew arrives, when equipment is live, when speakers rehearse
- Full programme timeline — every session with exact start and end times, not approximations
- Speaker details — full names, session titles, confirmed durations, AV requirements
- Video playback cues — exact filenames, durations, who triggers playback, and at what moment
- Audio and lighting cues per segment — microphone assignments, music tracks, lighting changes
- Livestream and broadcast notes — when the stream goes live, camera angles per segment, lower thirds
- Contingency notes — what happens if a speaker is late, if a video fails to play, if the internet drops
"The run-of-show is how a professional production team turns a brief into a broadcast."
Who creates it — and when?
Your production company leads the creation of the run-of-show, built from the programme information you provide. It's a collaborative document — you own the programme, they own the technical execution, and the ROS is where those two things meet.
It should be drafted at least two weeks before the event and shared with all key stakeholders for review. It's a living document — expect changes as speakers confirm and logistics evolve. The final "locked" version should be distributed to all crew 48 hours before the event. After that, changes go through the production director only.
What happens at events without a run-of-show?
Speakers run over time because no one was tracking the clock. Video cues get missed because the technical director didn't know the video was supposed to play. Microphones get handed to the wrong person. The production team makes decisions in real time that should have been made in a planning meeting three weeks earlier.
The event may still happen — but it won't feel professional. And more critically, it won't look professional on camera, on the livestream, or in the recording that gets shared post-event.
How to help your production company build a good one
Share your programme as early as possible — even in draft form. Confirm all speakers and their session lengths before the first ROS draft. Provide all video files well in advance with clear, logical filenames. Avoid changing the programme in the 24 hours before the event. And if you must change something, communicate it directly to the production director, not through a chain of WhatsApp messages.
The quality of your run-of-show is a direct result of the quality of information you share with your production team before the event day.
Planning a live event or conference? Artlink Agency builds a full run-of-show for every production we take on.
See Our Live Production Work →For a deeper look at how to build a run-of-show document, Bizzabo's event planning resources are a useful reference for both first-timers and experienced event managers.