Event Run of Show Generator

A run of show is the sheet you hand to somebody who is not you, so that the evening happens without you standing next to them. The hard part is not the list of items — it is the arithmetic. Speeches are twenty minutes whether or not the food ran late, the room is booked until eleven, and every schedule that has ever been written in a spreadsheet has quietly ended four minutes after the venue locks up. This puts clock times on every segment, holds the fixed ones at exactly their length, and gives the contingency its own visible block instead of hiding it.

Event shape

A single session slot, run so that it hands the room over on time.

Start time

24-hour clock. Times after midnight are shown as the next day.

Total length (minutes)

10 to 12 hours. The sheet always ends exactly here.

Contingency (minutes)

Scheduled as its own visible block rather than padded into the others.

Lines per segment

How many notes to draw for each segment.

18:30 to 21:30.

Your timed sheet will appear here.

What this generator does

Puts a clock on an event. The countdown planners on this site count *days* back from a date — what to do six weeks out, two weeks out, the day before. This is the other half: the minutes on the day itself. Segments carry real start and end times, fixed segments keep their length whatever else changes, the flexible ones absorb the difference, and the whole sheet ends exactly when your window does.

How to use this tool

Pick the shape of the event and set the start time on a 24-hour clock.
Set how long you have in total, and how much contingency to protect.
Press build for a timed sheet from setup to close.
Copy it and hand it to whoever is running the room.

Understanding the controls

Event shape: Conference session, reception or workshop. Each has its own fixed points — a conference session's setup and handover are fixed, a reception's welcome and last orders are, a workshop's break is — because those are the parts that genuinely cannot move.
Start time: A 24-hour clock time. Everything else is derived by running forward from here, and times after midnight are shown as the next day rather than as 25:30.
Total length: The window you have the room for. The segments always total exactly this, which is the point — a sheet that overruns on paper will overrun in the room.
Contingency: Scheduled as its own labelled block rather than padded invisibly into the others. A hidden ten per cent is a lie about how long the speeches are; a visible fifteen minutes is a decision somebody can spend or cut on the night.
Lines per segment: How many practical notes to draw for each segment — the things that actually go wrong if nobody is watching for them.

Worked examples

18:30 start, 3 hours, 15 minutes contingency: Doors, welcome, food, speeches, social and carriages, ending at exactly 21:30.
A conference session at 14:00 for 60 minutes: 10 setup, 5 welcome, 26 session, 12 questions, 5 handover — 14:00 to 15:00, with the handover fixed.
A 22:00 reception running 4 hours: Times wrap past midnight and the sheet says so; the last segment ends at 02:00.
A reception in 15 minutes: Refused, with the fixed total quoted, rather than a sheet with a two-minute meal service on it.

Common use cases

A wedding reception where the speeches and the food are the fixed points
A conference session that has to hand the room over on time
A workshop or away day with a real break rather than a notional one
A community or charity event run by volunteers who need it written down
Any event where somebody other than the organiser has to keep it moving

How this generator works

The fixed segments are subtracted from the window first and never touched again, which is what makes 'the speeches are twenty minutes' a promise rather than a preference. The rest is shared out among the flexible segments in proportion, by largest remainder, so whole minutes still total the window exactly. Each segment's start time is the previous one's end, so there are no gaps to lose time in. If the fixed parts alone are longer than the window, the sheet is not produced at all — the honest answer to a ninety-minute agenda in a sixty-minute room is that it does not fit.

Randomness and fairness

The draw picks which practical notes appear against each segment. The timings are not random at all — they are derived from your window, the template's fixed points and the proportional shares, so the same inputs always produce the same schedule.

For how randomness is produced across the whole site, see how Generate Random works.

Assumptions this tool makes

The window given is the time you actually have the space for, including setting up and clearing.
The fixed segments in the chosen shape are genuinely fixed for your event; where they are not, use the total and adjust after copying.

Limitations and good to know

It schedules the time; it does not book anything, contact anybody or know your venue's rules.
The segment notes are generic good practice rather than advice about your specific event.
It handles one continuous window — a two-day event needs one sheet per day.
Nothing is saved between visits; copy the sheet before you close the page.

Common mistakes

Setting no contingency: Something always overruns. Fifteen minutes you can give back is worth more than a schedule that was never going to hold.
Setting the window to the event rather than the booking: Include setting up and clearing. The sheet ends when your window does, and the venue's clock is the one that counts.
Treating the flexible segments as fixed on the night: They are the ones designed to absorb an overrun. The sheet marks which is which so the person running the room knows what they are allowed to shorten.

Practical tips

Print it and give a copy to the venue, the caterer and whoever is on the microphone — the whole point is that it works without you.
Write the name of the person responsible next to each segment after you copy it.
Build a second sheet with a shorter window as your fallback, so a late start has a plan rather than a panic.

Privacy and your data

Everything stays in your browser. No names, venues or event details are collected, and your start time, length and contingency are never uploaded, stored or written into the page address. Analytics sees only that the tool ran and how many segments it produced.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from the event countdown planner?: That one plans the weeks before the event — what to do at six weeks out, two weeks out, the day before. This plans the day itself, minute by minute, with clock times on every segment.
Why did it refuse to build a sheet?: Because the fixed segments alone are longer than the window you gave it. Shrinking somebody's speech silently would be worse than saying so — lengthen the window or reduce the contingency.
Can I change the segments?: Not inside the tool — the shapes are fixed so the timings can be guaranteed. Copy the sheet and edit it; the arithmetic is the part that was hard.
Does it work for an event that runs past midnight?: Yes. Times wrap properly to the next day and the sheet says so, rather than printing an hour that does not exist.