How To: Complete a Runsheet

Description

The Arinex Live run sheet is a vital document in the flow and direction of your event. Written by you, the event organiser, it is the definitive guide for your on the day event delivery team. As such, the instructions below contain detailed descriptions of the columns listed in your Arinex Live run sheet and how best to approach filling in each cell with content information..

Please note that the run sheet should directly reflect your Platform Agenda/Program.

Before you Begin / Things to remember

Where is my Run sheet Template?

Your run sheet template is in your unique event Dropbox folder structure, which is shared with you during the Production Briefing process. This template contains an example run sheet that reflects the instructions below.
Please see our How to use Dropbox for Arinex Live Events under 'Folder Structure' and our Content Guide for further information. 

Use only 1 Run Sheet -'Excel for the Web'

For version control purposes it is important that you please continue to save your one and only runsheet in the Dropbox folder.  This ensures stakeholders aren't working off different versions accidentally.
Importantly, we can see when a file was last saved, which gives us an indication of when a file was updated. Helpfully, Dropbox also has a function that identifies the User who last edited a doc. 
However, it is always helpful to advise us of when you make significant changes.

It is crucial to avoid any confusion, please open and edit the runsheet using 'excel for the web'

Our Content Guide, outlines timelines we are working to.

Save a draft early for feedback and confidence

In the Content Guide, we request a draft run sheet 10 days out from your event. This gives us an opportunity to check your work, recommend any changes, and clarify and questions or concerns you may have. From here, you should be confident with our advice, and be able to finalise your run sheet by the deadline of 4 business days prior to your event.

Uploading all the referenced and relevant content to your Dropbox by this timeframe as well.

Be aware of timelines

As mentioned, the timeframs for your content and runsheet are as follows:

10 days prior to your event for the draft versions.

4 business days prior to your event for finalised versions.

Create a new spreadsheet tab for each event day

Please create a new tab for each day of your event.

Identify currently missing content in red text

All content being referenced in the run sheet (slide decks, videos etc.) needs to live in its appropriate place in the Dropbox folder.

If that content is not currently in the folder, mark the whole line in red text to advise us.

Run Sheet Field Instructions

Below is a quick reference table for all the fields in the Arinex Live run sheet template.

Day: The day of the week for relevant activity - i.e.: Monday

Start Time: Start time of event item (0800)

Duration: Duration in minutes (30)

Room: Room Name (Room 1)

Item: Item /  Name/Short description of talk, session, pre record etc. 

Item Format: Type of content ( Sponsor Video, Panel discussion, Break, MC Intro etc.)

Speaker(s): List of Speakers (Sarah Welsh, Dr. James McIntyre)

Speaker Locations: Where the speakers are presenting (Zoom, Studio, Live in-venue, blank if Pre-Record)

Layout: Description/choice of Livestream Layout (Speaker view, Speaker view with slides or Gallery view)

Intro/Title Slide Deck: Filename of the Slide Deck containing the holding slides for the event (MasterSlideDeck.pptx)

Intro/Title Slide No: The slide number of the specific slide that is contained in the above-referenced slide deck.

Pre-Record/ Video File Name: File name of the video to be played, if the event Item is a pre record, ad loop etc.

Notes: Any important or essential information that would help the operator and your EDS to ensure a smooth event with us.

Below are in-depth instructions to further explain the reason and purpose of each column in the run sheet. We will also provide you with examples to make you feel as comfortable as possible in completing your event's runsheet.

Detailed Run Sheet Instructions

Please make sure you do not hide rows/columns in your run sheet, as this will make your sheet difficult to understand. Instead, delete the row/column that you no longer have use for.

Definition

Day

The 'Day' column refers to the day and date that your event will be taking place. This day and date needs to be repeated for the entire column. If you have more than one event day, follow the same practice in your next run sheet tab.

Start Time

The 'Start Time' column refers to the start time of each item in the run sheet, inputted in 24 hour time. These times should be as specific as possible indicating when an item is scheduled to begin on event day. Being specific on the runsheet will help your operator understand the flow of the event, and keep your event as smooth and on time as possible.

Note: It is vital to make sure that the start/end times of your run sheet match your agenda on the platform. Differences between these times will cause confusion for our team, and could impact people accessing your live stream if it runs late. Please be sure to match these times before finalising your run sheet.

Duration

The 'Duration' column refers to how long an item runs for in your event. Please input this in minutes. Simply take the start time of the item, compare it to the start time of the following item (row beneath) and calculate how long it will run for. 

Generally, this duration should be known in advance by the relevant speakers and moderators, to ensure they prepare their presentations to fit with the schedule.

Room

The 'Room' column refers to the stream (virtual) or onsite room (hybrid/in person) location where an item is taking place. The entire room column must be filled out on the runsheet to avoid specific items being unassigned which creates confusion. From building your platform you will understand the importance of the room in defining the place where event activity will take place.

If you only have one 'stream' or 'room' for your event, this means that all event activity is taking place in one space (whether physical or virtual), and you will only have 1 room to reference. This may be called Room 1, or have a specific name. In this case you will simply write, for example, "Room 1", on every run sheet line.

If you have more than one 'stream' of activity taking place, each row in the room column should refer to the appropriate room for the item. For example, you may have "Room 1", "Room 2", "Room 3".  Please continue to fill out your agenda in sequential order, identifying the specific Room. At a later date, the team at Arinex Live will filter the runsheet by 'Room' for our own operational purposes.

Item

The 'Item' column refers to the title/description of what is happening in your event at a given time.
Each row is a unique item and in most cases, these will match exactly with your Platform Agenda. If you need to give more detail about a specific Agenda item by breaking it down into more discreet operational instructions, then we encourage you to add as many lines as required 

Please use direct segment titles as written in your agenda. Items can also refer to 'Programming Breaks', 'Tech Checks', 'MC Introduction's' or any important items for the flow of your event and/or that your operator should be aware of during your event. 

Item Format

The 'Item Format' column refers to the type or format of the item being delivered. This can refer to a 'media type' that is being presented to the audience, i.e.: pre-recorded video, holding slide, sponsor video etc. Or it may refer to an activity type or style being presented - such as panel discussion, Q&A, keynote, workshop, break, etc. 

The Item Format is a clear direction to our technical operators as to what they need to be doing at a particular time. i.e. Playing a piece of video content, or managing the technical delivery of a live Q&A, for example.

A short description of the format is preferable here. If any further explanation is required, you may use the 'notes' column

See Run Sheet Glossary for more detailed examples at the end of this knowledge article.

Speaker

The 'Speaker' column refers to the names of the presenters for a particular event item. If an item is a single presentation, then it is likely you will only have one name in this column. If the item is a panel discussion or Q&A session, it is likely you will have more than one name in this column. 
If the item format does not have any live speakers, i.e. a break, a sponsor video, a holding slide etc. there are likely to be zero names in this column.

For pre-recorded video presentations, you may reference the speaker name if you wish, but not required. It will be important to note, however, if the pre-recorded speaker is appearing in a live Q&A after the pre record has been played, for example.

The names of your speakers are important information for your operator as they need to know who they are addressing, and who will be joining the session either remotely or in a venue.

Speaker Locations

The 'Speaker Locations' column refers to the location of the speaker for the item. Speakers may be located remotely, in-venue, or appear via a pre-recorded presentation.

If they are speaking via a remote application such as zoom, you simply may write "Remote" or 'Zoom' for their location. If they are attending in-venue, you may write 'In-venue' in the column.

If it is a pre-recorded presentation, simply write 'Pre-Record'.  

Layout

The 'Layout' column refers to the specific layout of your live stream item, i.e. how your speakers/content will be displayed on screen.

The options for the layouts are Speaker View, Speaker View with Slides or Gallery view. 

Speaker View will show only the active speaker on screen on the livestream background.

Speaker View with Slides will show the active speaker as well as slide content beside them, on the livestream background.

Gallery View will show the necessary presenters on screen on the livestream background.

For speaker presentations Arinex Live recommends Speaker View or Speaker View with Slides. We recommend this layout as it tends to work well for most presentation styles. For panel or Q&A style discussions with multiple speakers, Gallery View may be more appropriate. However, Gallery View is not recommended for items with more than six (6) people. 

Of course, 'Layout' can refer to more than just the style of presentation For example, your event may need to include a 'Sign Language Interpreter'.

It is likely this kind of content would involve custom configuration, and discussion with the Arinex Live team. The layout column is the place where you would reference the best layout after discussing with our team.

Intro/Title Slide Deck

The 'Intro/Title Slide Deck' column refers to the file name of the PowerPoint containing your event's holding slides. This file should be uploaded to the shared Arinex Live Dropbox. The full file name should be written in the run sheet as it is in the Dropbox.

In some instances, a particular item may require only a slide to be shown for its' duration - for example, before the event begins you may simply have a welcome slide, or a "Break" may simply have a break slide. In these instances, you can use this column to reference the Slide you wish to play for the entire item, as opposed to a title slide for a presentation.  The Notes column, below can also be handy to explain this - "Please display this slide for the entire break", for example.

Note: Please try to contain all of your intro slides in one pptx file - see our Content Guide for more info. You may create different event pptx files for separate days, but don't make a pptx file for each individual slide. 

Intro/Title Slide No

The 'Intro/Title Slide No.' column refers to the slide number in the previously referenced "Intro/Title Slide Deck".

Simply match the relevant slide to the event Item. For example, an "Opening Keynote" event item, may have a title slide that introduces the person giving the keynote.  If that Title Slide is Slide 3 in your 'General Event Slides' deck, this is where you reference that slide. 

Title / Introduction Slides are common practice for introducing sections of an event. These slides play an additional, critical purpose for Virtual & Hybrid events at Arinex Live.

When transitioning between speakers, our technical operators need a transitional slide to enable them to prepare the next speaker, ensure their mic and camera are working well, and ensure they have successfully shared their slides. In this activity, Title Slides have a double purpose of introducing the next section of the event as well as preparing the next speaker. An In-venue experience is similar, a piece of content is often used to swap between segments on a live stage. 

Pre-Record/Video File Name

The 'Pre-Record/Video File Name' is a column to input the file name of a video item. A common 'video' item is a pre-recorded speaker presentation, but of course, any event item could potentially be a video - such as a Welcome Introduction, a sponsors advertisement etc. 

The only video format accepted by Arinex Live is MP4. If your video is not in this format and cannot be reformatted, please get in contact with a Arinex Live staff member to let them know of your issue. 

Notes

The 'Notes' column refers to any additional content instructions or information that may be important for the item. Notes may include speaker information or technical issues that may occur for example.

For this column, it's important to be as specific as possible to eliminate any confusion that may arise for the operator.

Live Event Example 

Here is an example of how a completed runsheet will be presented to the virtual or in person audience.

Outcomes

Through reading and following this detailed guide, as well as watching an example of how the runsheet reflects a live event, we hope that all event organisers feel as comfortable as possible in completing our runsheet template.

Run Sheet Glossary

Presentation (Remote / In-Venue)

A 'Presentation' is often referring to a speakers speech and any content that supports them. A PowerPoint presentation is common, but could also include different types of slide software (google slides, keynote), PDF document, video, or any other content they are able to share.

Q&A 

A 'Q&A' is a common type of session where speakers and presenters take questions from each other, the audience or any other source that has been configured.

Video

A 'Video' can refer to any event video content (excluding pre-recorded presentations). This may include sponsored content, video loops, pre-event show reels, etc.

Pre-recorded video

A 'Pre-record' is a speaker presentation that has been recorded prior to the live event.

Keynote

A 'Keynote' refers to a speaker who is presenting on an important topic or is a speaker of great importance to the event.

Plenary

A 'Plenary' refers to an internal speaker who acts as a marquee keynote. During this session, all other rooms within the event will close/go on a break to encourage all Delegates to attend.

MC

'MC' refers to one of the 'Master of Ceremonies' for the event i.e. moderator, chair. This session may include the MC directing to the audience or introducing a speaker.

Break

 A 'Break' is a scheduled programming break between the sessions.