Reading the run of show quickly
A live run of show in 1pm uses color, motion, and small timing cues so crew can see at a glance what's happening now, what's next, what they're personally responsible for, and what's already done. None of this has to be configured: the cues kick in automatically as the event runs. This article walks through what each cue means so crew and planners reading the live run sheet know what they're looking at.
The color states
Each row on the live run sheet shifts color depending on its state. A small legend at the top of the timeline shows the same colors, so you don't have to remember them.
Yours (amber background). The item is one you're personally responsible for. This is the most important cue: a crew member can scroll a long run sheet and the amber rows are the ones that need their attention. Items that aren't assigned to you stay on the standard background; the amber tint tells you the rest of the team is handling those.
Running (green background). The item has started but hasn't finished yet. Whoever's responsible has tapped Start; the activity is in flight. Green is the "go" signal: this thing is happening right now.
Now (red indicator). The item is within its scheduled window: the current time is past the scheduled start and before the scheduled end. This isn't the same as Running. Now means "the schedule says this should be happening"; Running means "someone has tapped Start". A row can be Now without being Running (the scheduled time has come and gone, no one has marked it started) or Running without being Now (someone hit Start early, or the activity is overrunning past its scheduled end).
Overdue (orange indicator). The scheduled start time has passed and no one has tapped Start. This is the run sheet's polite way of saying "this should have begun". Overdue is the cue to either start the activity (and clear the warning) or talk to the crew responsible to find out where things stand.
A row can carry more than one cue at once. An item assigned to you that's in progress shows the amber Yours tint and the green Running indicator. An item past its scheduled time that's also assigned to you shows amber plus orange. The combinations are meant to be read together: "this is my responsibility and it's overdue" reads instantly without having to compare to a list elsewhere.
The All / Mine toggle
Above the timeline there's a small two-button toggle: All on the left, Mine on the right.
All (the default) shows every item on the run sheet. The colors do the work of highlighting yours.
Mine shrinks the list to just the items you're responsible for. Useful when the timeline is long, you're heads-down on your own slot, and you want everything that isn't yours out of the way.
The toggle is just a view filter; the rest of the team still sees the full list. If you swap to Mine, scroll past your last item, and remember you need to check what's coming next for someone else, swap back to All.
The toggle only appears if you have at least one item assigned to you on this event. If you're on a run sheet purely as an observer, the toggle hides and you stay on the full list.
The "Starts in" countdown
When an item is within the final 99 seconds before its scheduled start, a red band appears across that row with a countdown:
Starts in 87 sec
The countdown ticks down once per second. At zero, the band disappears and the item moves into its Now state (the red indicator we covered above). The countdown is the early-warning signal: 99 seconds is enough time to walk into position, grab your mic, get your hands ready, while still being a tight enough window that you're not standing around for ages.
The countdown only renders for items that are about to start; it doesn't run on every row. You won't see it on items that are still hours away, and you won't see it on items that are already past their start time.
The progress bar
Each item has a thin progress bar that fills as the activity runs through its scheduled window.
Before the scheduled start, the bar is empty.
During the scheduled window, the bar fills proportionally to how much of the duration has elapsed. A 30-minute item that's 10 minutes into its window shows the bar a third full.
After the scheduled end, the bar is full. If the item is still Running (started but not finished) after the bar fills, that's the visual cue that the activity is overrunning.
The bar color matches the row's primary state: green while it's the active running item, red while it's the in-window now item, orange when it's overdue. The bar isn't decorative; it's the at-a-glance "how much of this is left?" indicator.
The chips on the right
Each row has a small chip on the right end of the time area. Most of the time it shows the duration of the item. As the event runs, the chip changes to reflect the row's state:
When the item is approaching (still future), the chip shows the duration (e.g. "30 min").
When the item is the current Now item or actively Running, the chip flips to show how much time is left in the scheduled window (e.g. "12 min left"). This is the chip that matters during a live event: it answers "how long do I have?".
When the item is finished, the chip shows the actual duration of the activity if it ran long or short compared to the schedule.
The chip pairs with the progress bar: bar shows you visually, chip tells you in words.
How the cues update
You don't have to refresh the page. The live run sheet uses a real-time channel to push updates from the planner and from other crew. The visual states above also update second by second from the browser's own clock: the countdown ticks, the progress bar fills, the chip recalculates. All of that happens locally so it works even on a flaky venue Wi-Fi.
If the connection drops, the timeline keeps animating against the cached schedule. When the connection comes back, the latest state syncs in within a few seconds. You won't lose your place mid-event.
Reading the run sheet during the event
A typical mental model when reading a live run sheet:
Scan for amber rows. Those are your responsibility.
Look for green rows. Those are happening now.
Watch for the red "Starts in" band on rows approaching their slot.
If you see an orange indicator, ask whoever's responsible whether they're ready.
The cues are designed to fall to the background when nothing's urgent and rise into view when something needs your attention.
For planners
The planner side of the timeline carries the same cues. When you're watching an event run from the planner page, the green-running, red-now, and orange-overdue states light up on the rows the same way they do for crew, plus the imminent countdown band when an item is about to start.
The legend, the All / Mine toggle, and the "Starts in" band all work the same. If you're running the show from the planner page on a laptop in the green room, the visual cues tell you what's happening on the floor without you having to ask.
