Start with the question the stream has to answer
Before any cable is drawn, I ask what the event is for and who is watching. A private party with a relative joining online needs very little: one wide camera, clean room sound and a stable connection. A multi-stage festival relaying sets to an audience at home needs a proper chain of sources, switching, audio feeds and a clear point where programme and archive are recorded.
Write that purpose in two sentences and keep it at the top of the planning document. Every later decision, from how many cameras to book to where the crew sits, should be checkable against it. When something does not serve the stated aim, it is a candidate for cutting, and a smaller, steadier plan almost always makes the better show.
- Who is watching, and on what device
- What must be captured: stream, recording or both
- What the audience in the room should see and hear
Draw the signal path from source to screen
Sketch the whole path on one page, left to right. Sources sit on the left: cameras, stage microphones, playback laptops, presentation feeds. Then come the points where signals are joined or changed: the vision mixer, the audio console, any converters or distribution units. On the right are the destinations: house screens, the stream encoder, recorders and monitor feeds for the performers.
Label every line with its type and length, and mark where each run ends. This sounds fussy, but it is the document the whole crew reads at load-in. It also shows weak spots early, such as a single link that carries both the programme and the confidence monitor, or a long cable run that has no spare beside it.
- Name each source and its connector type
- Mark every conversion point on the page
- Show a backup route for the most important feed
Build the run sheet in the order the day actually runs
A run sheet is a timetable with technical detail attached. List each block of the event in sequence, give it a start time and length, and note beside it what changes: which microphones are live, which camera is leading, what graphic or playback is due. Include the quiet moments too, since changeovers between acts are when most mistakes happen and when most fixes can be made.
Work backwards from doors or the stream start. Allow time for load-in, power-up, line checks, a sound check, a camera and lighting check and a short full rehearsal of the opening few minutes. Be honest about how long each takes. A schedule that assumes everything goes perfectly gives the crew no room for the one thing that does not.
- Start each block with its cue and duration
- Keep changeover notes as detailed as show notes
- Leave a gap before the first public moment
Give every crew member one clear job and one contact
Crew coordination is mostly about removing doubt. On the plan, each position has a name beside it: who switches, who mixes front-of-house, who runs lighting, who watches the stream output, who talks to the venue. Each person also knows who they report a problem to, so a fault is passed on in a sentence rather than discussed across the room.
Agree a simple way of talking before the doors open. Short cue words over the intercom, a single person who calls the changes, and a rule that nobody adjusts a shared system without saying so. Hannah, our production manager, also keeps a printed copy of the run sheet at the production position, because screens and batteries do fail.
- One caller of cues, one backup caller
- A named person for venue and power questions
- Intercom rules agreed at the briefing
Test the stream as the audience will see it
Checking that the encoder shows a picture is not the same as checking the viewer's experience. Open the stream on a separate phone or laptop on a different connection, and listen with ordinary headphones. Compare the sound and picture with the room. Delays are normal, so tell performers and hosts not to react to what they see in the stream monitor.
Run the test long enough to catch trouble that builds up, such as a connection that drops after twenty minutes or an audio level that drifts when a second source joins. Record the test and watch a stretch of it back. Small faults, a clipped voice or a flickering graphic, are far easier to deal with at rehearsal than during the show.
- Watch the stream on a second, separate device
- Listen on headphones, not only monitor speakers
- Keep a short test recording to review
Plan for the things that go wrong
Decide in advance what you will do when a feed fails. If the main camera drops, which shot takes over? If the internet link falters, is there a second connection or a local recording that keeps the material safe? Write the answers beside the signal plan in a few lines, so the person at the desk is following a decision already made rather than inventing one under pressure.
After the event, spend a short while with the crew noting what worked and what did not, and fold it into the next run sheet. Over time the document becomes the most useful thing the team owns: a record of real timings, real cable lengths and real problems, which makes each following event calmer than the last.
- Name a fallback for each critical feed
- Keep a local recording running throughout
- Hold a brief review while memories are fresh
A good live event is mostly decided on paper before anyone touches a cable. State the purpose, draw the signal path, build the run sheet in real order, give each person a clear role, test as the viewer sees it, and write down what you will do when something fails. None of this is complicated, but it needs doing in that order, and early enough that the crew can read it twice.
