Before You Commit to Cue Planning: A Checklist for Run Sheets

Before looking at any module, picture one specific event you would like to be able to run: a product reveal for forty guests, a creative premiere with a short film and a talk, or a small launch streamed to people who cannot attend. Cue planning is the part of production that turns that picture into a sequence of moments somebody can call aloud. If you cannot yet describe the event in a sentence or two, spend a few days writing it down first.

Module 2 is built around that translation. You take an event from doors opening to the final applause and break it into steps with times, owners and triggers. People who arrive with a real or half-real event in mind tend to get more from the practice sessions, because every exercise has something to attach to.

A useful first test is to write the three moments of your imagined event that matter most, such as the curtain drop, the first slide or the walk-on. Those become the anchor points for your first sheet.

• Name one event you would like to run
• Write its three most important moments
• Note who would be on stage and who behind it

The course does not ask for a technical background, and nobody needs prior experience calling cues. It does help to know how an event feels from the audience side, and ideally to have stood behind a stage once, even as a helper. Marketing staff and creatives often find they already hold half the vocabulary without realising it.

Ask yourself whether you are comfortable reading a timetable closely, noticing when two things are scheduled to happen at the same minute, and speaking clearly under mild pressure. Those habits matter more than equipment knowledge. Cue calling is mostly attention, a steady voice and a willingness to check twice.

If those sound like you, the module will feel like structure added to instincts you have. If they do not, that is not a barrier, but expect to spend more time on the early exercises and to repeat a few of them.

The learning activities in this module are concrete. You build a cue sheet line by line, then assemble a sample event schedule that covers arrival, seating, the opening, each presenter segment, any video playback and the close. You then read your own sheet aloud, which is where the gaps show up fast.

Marcus Delaney, who teaches this module, has called cues for concerts, festivals and product premieres for over ten years, and the exercises reflect how those shows are actually sequenced. Expect to be asked why a cue sits where it does and what happens if the previous one runs long.

A realistic outcome is that you can produce a clear, usable run sheet for a modest event and explain it to colleagues. It is not a promise that you will be ready to call a large festival, and the course does not claim that.

• A cue sheet you wrote yourself
• A sample schedule from doors to applause
• Practice reading and adjusting it aloud

Run sheets reward a particular kind of tidiness. Do you tend to leave details vague until the last day, or do you like to pin them down early? Neither type is shut out, but the module will push you toward the second habit, because a cue that says only lights change is of little use to someone sitting in the dark with a headset.

Consider also how you handle disagreement. A schedule often exposes a conflict between what a presenter wants and what the room allows, and the person holding the sheet has to resolve it calmly. The practice scenarios give you low-stakes versions of those conversations.

Finally, think about how much time you can give. Building and revising a sheet is slower than reading about it, and the best results come from doing a second pass after a first reading aloud.

• Do you prefer details settled early?
• Can you stay calm when two needs collide?
• Can you set time aside for a second draft?

Cue planning does not stand alone. The sheet you build here is the spine the other modules hang from: presenter rehearsals use it for timing, stage filming uses it to know when a reveal happens, and venue preparation uses it to work out how much setup time the event needs. Seeing that connection early helps you decide how much attention to give this part.

If your main interest is filming or streaming, you may be tempted to treat cues as a side topic. It rarely is. A camera operator who knows the sequence in advance frames the next speaker before the previous one finishes.

Ask whether you want to understand the whole chain of a launch or only one link of it. Module 2 suits the first kind of learner especially well, because it makes the order of events visible.

Go through these points once, slowly, and answer honestly. You have an event in mind, even a modest one. You can give regular time to drafting and revising. You are willing to read your own work aloud and hear what is missing. You are looking for working method, not a shortcut or a credential.

If most answers are yes, the module is likely a good fit. If several are no, that is useful to know before you begin, and a conversation with the team through the contact page can help you judge where to start without any pressure to commit.

Whatever you decide, write your three key moments down now. They cost nothing and they will show you how ready you already are.

• An event in mind, however small
• Time for drafts and revisions
• Willingness to test your sheet aloud
• Interest in method rather than shortcuts