Who should own this checklist?

One person on your side and one on the production side. Shared ownership of a pre-show checklist is how items quietly go unconfirmed — assign it to a named individual with authority to escalate.

When should each item be confirmed?

Equipment and crew at booking, power and rigging after the recce, timings two weeks out, and content 72 hours before. Anything still open 48 hours out should be treated as a risk, not an action.

What is the difference between an event management company and an event production company?

Event management usually covers the guest-facing programme: creative, invitations, hospitality, vendor wrangling and on-the-day coordination. Production covers the technical show — sound, video, lighting, staging, rigging, power and the cue stack that drives them. Many events need both, and the cleanest structure is one agency owning the experience and one production partner owning technical delivery, with the interfaces between them written down rather than assumed.

Why does a single technical contract matter?

Because failures on an event almost never happen inside a department; they happen between departments. Shared power, rigging points, trim heights, the build sequence and the cue stack all live in the gaps between separately contracted vendors. One contract puts those interfaces inside somebody's scope. It also means one phone call when something is wrong, rather than four suppliers each explaining that it is not theirs.

What does a show-caller actually do?

They run the show live from a cue-marked run of show on headset comms, calling every walk-on, video roll, lighting state, award hand-off and break so audio, video, lighting and stage management all move on one instruction at one moment. Without a caller each department reacts to whatever it can see from its own position, which is how a walk-on happens in darkness or a film rolls over a speaker.

What paperwork should I expect before build day?

A scaled technical drawing in plan and section, a rigging load plan with calculated point loads, a power plan with a per-phase load schedule, a cable schedule, a build programme and a cue-marked run of show — all revision-numbered. If a production company cannot show you that set while the design is still on paper, those decisions are being made on site instead, under time pressure.

Event Production Checklist: What to Confirm Before Show Day

Category: Checklists
Read time: 7 min
Sections: 3
Updated: Sept 2026

Key takeaway

Before show day, confirm the event production equipment list with exact model numbers, the spares that travel with it, sanctioned power and generator changeover, rigging sign-off, named crew, the load-in and rehearsal slots, final content files and a single named show-caller. Missing any one of these causes most event AV failures.

Key takeaways

Exact models, not categories, on the equipment list
Spares for anything that would stop the show
Power sanction plus generator changeover confirmed
One named show-caller holding the cue sheet

Event Production: pre-show checklist

Equipment & specification

Contract structure confirmed: One technical contract spanning sound, video, lighting, staging, rigging and crew
Document set confirmed: Technical drawing, rigging load plan, power plan, cable schedule, build programme, run of show
Drawing standard confirmed: Scaled plan and section in AutoCAD or Vectorworks, revision-numbered and issued
Recce output confirmed: Measured survey of rigging points and capacities, power positions, dock, lift and trim heights
Comms confirmed: Clear-Com or Riedel partyline with separate production, lighting and stage rings
Itemised list naming exact models, not categories
Spares for mics, cables, processors and any single point of failure

Power & safety

Venue sanctioned load confirmed in writing against the rig's draw
Silent generator sized with automatic changeover
Earthing check completed and logged
Rigging certification and load calculations signed off
Cable covers on every walkway and crowd line

People

Producer named and briefed
Production manager named and briefed
Show-caller named and briefed
Department heads named and briefed
Rigging lead named and briefed
Stage manager named and briefed

Timings

Load-in slot agreed with the venue in writing
Sound check and line check scheduled
Full technical rehearsal booked with real presenters and real content
Venue curfew and strike window confirmed

Content & handover

Scope document naming what each department owns and where the interfaces sit
Measured recce report with rigging capacities, power positions and access dimensions
Scaled technical drawing in plan and section, revision-numbered
Rigging load plan with calculated point loads and venue sign-off
All video, audio and slides delivered 72 hours ahead in the agreed format

What this checklist is protecting you from

What can go wrong

How we prevent it

What can go wrong
Four vendors each deliver their own scope and nobody owns power distribution, so the LED wall and the lighting rig end up sharing an overloaded phase.
How we prevent it
One power plan with a per-phase load schedule is drawn before anything is ordered, and a single electrical contractor feeds every department from distribution we specify and label.
What can go wrong
The stage build overruns, lighting loses its focus window, and the show opens with an unfocused rig.
How we prevent it
The build programme gives each department a named slot with float, and the production manager holds a documented decision point at which stage scope is reduced rather than allowed to consume the next department's time.
What can go wrong
The venue refuses a rigging point on build day because no load plan was ever signed off.
How we prevent it
Point loads are calculated against the venue's own structural capacity and approved at drawing issue, with a ground-support fallback carried in the design for any point the venue will not confirm.
What can go wrong
The agency reorders the running order the evening before and three departments hear about it separately.
How we prevent it
The run of show has one owner and one revision number, changes are reissued to the whole distribution list, and the show-caller calls only what is in the current revision.
What can go wrong
Decor arrives and occupies the control position and the loudspeaker positions agreed in the drawing.
How we prevent it
An interface schedule is agreed with the decorator at drawing stage, positions are marked on the floor before either team unpacks, and the production manager walks the site with the decor lead at the start of build.
What can go wrong
A console or playback machine fails mid-show and there is no plan, because redundancy had been treated as an optional extra.
How we prevent it
Redundancy sits inside the design scope — tracking backup console, mirrored playback, duplicated encoder, second comms ring — and the failover is proved at rehearsal by deliberately killing the primary.

Want this tailored to your event?

Get an itemised quote from Prime AV Solutions within 24 hours — call +91 93093 80958 or WhatsApp our producers.

Published 24 September 2026 by the Prime AV Solutions production team.

FAQ

Event Production Checklist: What to Confirm Before Show Day: FAQs

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