Script Elephant Blog

Why Changing Your Workflow Hurts (and Why It’s Absolutely Worth It)

Fri, 29 May 2026 23:11:09 GMT

In live events, everyone talks about the importance of efficiency, but not many talk about the uncomfortable truth behind it:

Efficiency almost always requires change.

And change can feel painful.

Whether you’re a producer, a show caller, a creative lead, or part of an in-house events team, workflows become muscle memory. You know where everything is (or at least you think you do). You’ve got a system. It’s not perfect, but it works.

Until it doesn’t.

The Real Cost of “The Way We’ve Always Done It”

Outdated workflows have a sneaky way of stealing time and creating stress. A few minutes lost in version control here, a graphics file in the wrong folder there, or a script that magically exists in four different formats. It adds up fast.

Before you know it:

You’re hunting for information instead of using it
People are working off mismatched versions
Changes arrive faster than your process can keep up
Approvals, edits and cueing become friction points instead of flow points

It’s death by a thousand inefficiencies.

The Moment You Know It’s Time to Change

Most teams hit a turning point:

A big show with too many moving parts.
A new client with complex requirements.
A run of events where the process finally cracks.

That’s when the question becomes impossible to ignore:

“Is our workflow supporting us or slowing us down?”

Why Change Feels So Hard (Even When You Need It)

Change requires a pause, and pausing feels impossible when you're managing:

Rehearsals
Graphics deadlines
Talent notes
And about twelve simultaneous Slack messages

Introducing a new workflow or a new platform can feel like adding weight instead of removing it.

But here’s what we see over and over with teams moving to Script Elephant:

The pain is temporary.

The payoff is lasting.

What Happens When the Workflow Works for You

Once a team settles into the new rhythm, everything changes.

Suddenly:

Scripts update instantly for the entire team
Graphics stay organized and review cycles shrink
Cueing becomes clear, accurate, and collaborative
Every contributor (producer, teleprompter op, AV lead) is literally on the same page
Rehearsals run smoother because information is centralized

This is when the team realizes:

The workflow isn’t just different...it’s better .

Your Team Deserves a Workflow That Supports the Way You Actually Work

Live event professionals are problem-solvers, but solving the same problems over and over (missing files, mismatched scripts, endless edits) isn’t the best use of the team’s time.

When you remove clutter, confusion, and chaos, the show becomes the focus again.

Your team gets to think, create, and collaborate - not chase files.

Change Hurts. Efficiency Heals. The Best Teams Lean Into Both.

If your team is feeling friction right now, don’t worry.

Friction is often the first sign of progress.

Change is temporary.

Efficiency is permanent.

And the right workflow transforms everything.

Ready to See How a Better Workflow Actually Works?

�� Explore the Script Elephant process

�� See pricing for teams of all sizes

The Efficiency Gains Are Real (and Measurable)

Teams consistently report:

Cutting scripting and content-review time in half
Reducing errors and missed cues
Faster creative approvals
More confident rehearsals
Zero version-control issues

Small improvements compound.

Big improvements transform everything.

Featured Customer Story

"Script Elephant has been a game-changer for our team's planning and production. Its seamless real-time connectivity brings everyone together, from speakers to writers, letting us see each session unfold live.

The integrated view of scripts and graphics significantly boosts our confidence in every session. It's an incredibly intuitive platform that we trust and look forward to using for every event."

-Valerie O'Keefe, Director of Engagement, American Societ y of Interior Designers

Your Google Sheet Is Holding You Back

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 22:27:45 GMT

There's a reason many event teams start with Google Sheets.

It's familiar. It's free. It's already open on someone's laptop. And for a while - when the show is small and the team is tight - it actually works. You build a run of show, add columns for cues, color-code a few rows, and think: this is fine.

Then the show grows and pre-production kicks into full gear.

More stakeholders. A script that won't stop changing. Graphics requests piling up. Approvals that live in someone's inbox. What felt clean and manageable starts to feel like a thing you have to protect from itself - and you're still weeks out from show day.

You add another tab. Then another. You paste a link to a graphic, then an updated link, then the final link. You leave comments that no one sees until it's too late. The sheet didn't break. You just outgrew it...and the show hasn't even happened yet.

The Problem Isn't You, It's the Tool

Spreadsheets are powerful. They're also completely indifferent to what you're actually trying to do.

In a spreadsheet, a run of show is just rows. A cue is just text in a cell. A script is more text. A graphics package is a pile of links you hope are current. An approval is...what exactly? A Slack message? A reply-all email? A comment bubble nobody clicked?

So you build structure yourself. You invent conventions. You train your team on "the way we use the sheet." And slowly, maintaining the system becomes part of the job - a job nobody signed up for, layered on top of building the actual show.

That's not a process failure. That's what happens when a general-purpose tool meets a specialized, high-stakes, event-specific workflow.

Where Pre-Production Falls Apart

It's rarely one catastrophic moment. It's a hundred small friction points - most of them happening long before you're on site:

The script version that goes to the speaker isn't the one that went to the teleprompter. The graphic gets submitted before the client has signed off. The updated run of show lives in one person's inbox and nowhere else. The quiet panic of not knowing, three days out, whether you're looking at the latest version of anything.

Each one is manageable on its own. Together, they're a tax - paid in stress, in rework, in the hours you could have spent actually preparing for the show.

Built for How Event Productions Actually Work

Script Elephant was built specifically for producers and show callers who know exactly what that friction costs, not just on show day, but in the weeks leading up to it.

Instead of bending your pre-production workflow to fit a spreadsheet, it's designed around the way events actually come together.

Your run of show isn't a grid you've jury-rigged into something useful. It's a living view of your show. One that evolves through pre-production alongside your script, your graphics and your team. You can zoom into content when the creative work is front and center, or into cues and timing as execution approaches. The format follows your focus, not the other way around.

Graphics get the same treatment. No more file names in one tab, links in another, approvals buried in Slack. Graphics are part of the workflow from the start, making them organized, previewable, and approval-tracked in one place. You know exactly what's been submitted, what's pending and what's cleared to go live. No guesswork. No last-minute scrambles.

See the Show Before It Happens

Spreadsheets make you imagine how it'll all come together. You read lines of text and hope everything connects - that the speaker got the right script, that the graphic matches the moment, that the cue lands where you think it does.

Script Elephant removes that guesswork during pre-production, when you still have time to fix things. Preview scripts as they'll appear in teleprompter. Review graphics in context. Validate content before it ever reaches the stage.

The shift from assumption to visibility changes how you walk into show day, because by then, you've already seen it work.

One Source of Truth from Day One

Google Sheets allows collaboration. It just doesn't guide it.

Feedback lives in comments. Decisions happen in Slack. Updates come through email. The work gets done, but nothing is ever quite in one place. And when you're coordinating across producers, clients, speakers and vendors...that scattered record has real consequences.

Script Elephant brings it back together: structured, visible, and with enough context that everyone knows where things stand throughout pre-production. What's been approved. What's still open. What's locked and ready. Less noise, more alignment starting from the moment you open the project, not the moment you arrive on-site.

The Real Test Starts Before Show Day

Any system can hold up during planning. The real test is pre-production itself when stakeholders are pulling in different directions, content is still in flux, and every change has a downstream effect on something else.

That's where spreadsheets reach their limit. And exactly where Script Elephant is designed to perform, so that by the time you're on-site, the hard work is already done.

Less second-guessing. More clarity. More confidence. You, running the show, because pre-production went the way it was supposed to.

Time to Level Up Your Tools

Google Sheets will get you started. It always does.

But there's a point where "good enough" stops being good enough. Not because your team isn't capable, but because your tools weren't built for the complexity of event production.

Script Elephant isn't about replacing a spreadsheet. It's about giving your pre-production a system worthy of the work you're already doing, one built specifically for events, not adapted from something that wasn't.

Because when everything is on the line, you shouldn't be managing your tools.

You should be building your show.

April 2026 Platform Updates: Less Clicking, More Control

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 18:18:12 GMT

A Better Session Experience in Script Elephant

If you’ve ever been mid-show, flipping between tabs, hunting for the latest script update, or double-checking whether a cue actually made it into the rundown…you already know the problem.

Production isn’t just about having the information.

It’s about accessing the right information at the right moment without friction.

That’s exactly what this latest round of Script Elephant updates is designed to solve.

This release isn’t about adding more features for the sake of it. It’s about removing the small moments of friction that slow you down, and replacing them with a faster, more intuitive way to run your sessions.

Let’s walk through what’s new.

A New Session Dashboard

Everything You Need, Right Inside the Session

We’ve reimagined the session experience from the ground up.

Instead of jumping between views, backtracking to find media, or navigating through layers of menus, your session now acts as a true control center for your production.

With the updated session dashboard, you’ll notice:

A consolidated workspace that keeps everything in one place
A clean, simplified menu bar that reduces visual clutter
Faster navigation between sessions when you're managing multiple shows
No more backtracking just to review or update media

The goal is simple: fewer clicks, faster decisions, and less mental overhead.

Because when you’re in production mode, even small inefficiencies add up.

A Run of Show View That Adapts to You

Because Production Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All

No two moments in a show are the same, so why should your workspace be?

Sometimes you need to focus on the script.

Other times, you need to see cues, timing, and execution at a glance.

Now, you can switch between views instantly:

Full Script View → for content, dialogue, and messaging
Run of Show View → for cues, timing, and execution

And it doesn’t stop there.

You can also tailor your view to exactly what you need in the moment:

Focus on a single department’s cues
Hide cues entirely when reviewing spoken content
Control visibility of confidential information based on permissions

This flexibility means your session works the way you work, not the other way around.

✨ Private Notes

Because Not Everything Is Meant for Everyone

There’s always something you need to remember during a show—

a reminder, a backup plan, a note to yourself before calling the next cue.

Until now, those notes lived somewhere else: a notebook, a sticky note, or a separate doc.

Now they live exactly where they belong.

With Private Notes, you can:

Add notes directly to your script or run of show
Keep them visible only to you
Capture show-time reminders without cluttering the shared experience

This creates a clear separation:

Shared information stays in cues and departments
Personal notes stay private and distraction-free

It’s a small change that makes a big difference, especially in high-pressure moments.

Faster Reviews, Smoother Approvals

Dedicated Pages for Comments, Highlights & Private Notes

Reviewing a session used to mean jumping around scrolling, searching, and trying not to miss anything.

Now, everything has a place.

We’ve introduced dedicated review pages for:

Comments
Highlights
Private Notes

These pages are designed to help you:

Resolve feedback faster
Stay organized during revisions
Keep your production moving forward without bottlenecks

Instead of chasing feedback, you can now manage it intentionally.

A Smarter Way to Search

Find It. Fix It. Move On.

We’ve all been there.

“Where did that line go?”

“Did we update that sponsor mention everywhere?”

“Is this the latest version?”

The new Search page eliminates the guesswork.

You can now:

Search for words, phrases or recurring content across your sessions
Make updates quickly from one focused view
Reduce the risk of missed changes

No more hunting through scripts. No more second-guessing.

Just fast, reliable updates when you need them.

Mass Editing, Without the Headaches

Build Faster. Adjust Easier.

Structuring a show often means repeating the same setup over and over again.

Not anymore.

With Mass Edit Blocks, you can:

Create multiple blocks at once
Build the full arc of your show before adding details
Adjust names, numbers, durations, and timing at any stage

This means:

Faster early-stage planning
Less friction when timelines change
Fewer manual updates across your run of show

Because let’s be honest—something always changes.

Designed for the Way You Actually Work

Every update in this release points back to the same idea:

Production tools shouldn’t slow you down.

They should disappear into the background and support the way you think, plan, and execute.

This new session experience is:

More intuitive
More flexible
More focused on real production workflows

And most importantly, it helps your team stay aligned without extra effort.

Want to See It in Action?

The best way to understand these updates is to experience them yourself.

Explore the new session experience in our interactive sandbox, or schedule time with our team to walk through it together.

And if you have questions, feedback, or ideas...we’re always listening.

Email support@scriptelephant.com or set up time to chat !

New Year, Smoother Events: How Associations Can Set Themselves Up for Seamless 2026 Conferences

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 18:53:02 GMT

1. Leave Version-History Nightmares in 2025

If your team is still juggling scripts, run of show files, and content outlines across multiple documents, folders, or spreadsheets, 2026 is the year to break the cycle.

Event and production teams consistently report that version confusion is one of the biggest causes of last-minute mistakes; missing cues, outdated speaker intros, and conflicting graphics requests. Instead of relying on a patchwork of Google Docs, Excel sheets, and email threads, consider centralizing everything into a single source of truth.

Script Elephant is built specifically for live events, eliminating version-history chaos by keeping all show content - scripts, cues, graphics notes, timing, and supporting files - in one collaborative workspace. Everyone works from the same page, reducing errors and giving planners peace of mind heading into show week.

2. Keep Teleprompters Updated Automatically

Teleprompter changes have traditionally been a logistical headache for associations: an updated line from the president’s address, a last-minute sponsor cue, or a script adjustment often sets off a chain reaction of emails, uploads, copy and pasting, and redoing exports.

In 2026, this should be the easiest part of your workflow.

Script Elephant’s built-in teleprompter module syncs directly with the show script in real time . When content changes, the prompter updates immediately with a click of the refresh button. No more downloading, reformatting, or hoping someone grabbed the correct file. For planners overseeing presidential keynotes, award ceremonies, or high-profile general sessions, this alone can reclaim hours of time and reduce risk on show day.

3. Bring All Partners Into One Unified Workspace

Association events rely on a wide network of contributors: internal staff, production companies, AV partners, creative agencies, presenters, and volunteers. But collaboration suffers when each group works from separate tools or workflows.

The 2026 planning season is an opportunity to consolidate. Not by reducing partners, but by giving everyone a shared environment that fosters clarity.

We’re seeing more associations invite their production teams, creative partners, and content stakeholders directly into Script Elephant to review content, add notes, approve graphics, and coordinate cues. With unlimited users, associations don’t need to pick and choose who gets access to the production content. Everyone can be included with unique user permissions. This transparency tightens timelines, reduces miscommunication, and ensures everyone steps into rehearsals aligned.

What Leading Associations Are Doing

Some of the most innovative organizations in the country are already modernizing their show workflows:

National FFA Organization used Script Elephant to coordinate early content planning through final production for its 70,000-attendee national convention, including multi-team collaboration and tightly synchronized scripts and graphics.

WATCH: How a Creative Agency Powered the National FFA 2025 Convention with Script Elephant
The American Society of Interior Designers relied on the platform to support their GATHER 2025 conference, simplifying reviews and helping the production team keep multiple keynote and breakout sessions aligned.
Visit Phoenix, a destination marketing organization, uses Script Elephant to support their Annual Meeting, streamlining cueing, content review, and run-of-show documentation across production partners.

Their shared goal: fewer tools, fewer risks, more alignment.

A Smarter Way to Start the Year

2026 doesn’t have to feel like a repeat of past planning cycles. By swapping outdated workflows for centralized, collaborative systems, association planners can:

Reduce last-minute changes and show-day confusion
Improve accuracy across scripts, graphics, and teleprompter content
Give internal teams and external partners a smoother path to collaboration
Deliver more polished, more reliable attendee experiences

As the meetings landscape grows more complex, the associations embracing unified production workflows are the ones stepping into the new year with clarity and confidence.

If you’re looking to overhaul your approach for 2026, simplifying your production ecosystem might be the most impactful first step.

As association planners gear up for another packed year of conferences, member meetings, and flagship programs, many are asking the same question: How can we make 2026 smoother, more collaborative, and more efficient than the year before?

With rising attendee expectations, hybrid content needs, and more stakeholders involved in every program, the margin for error has never been smaller. The good news: a few strategic workflow shifts can dramatically reduce friction, protect team bandwidth, and help planners deliver elevated experiences without the overwhelm.

Below are three practical ways association teams can start the year stronger, b ased on patterns we’ve seen across some of the country’s largest membership organizations and events.

How to Organize Graphics for Large Events

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 21:10:26 GMT

As a creative producer and director at conferences with tens of thousands of attendees, which had general sessions spanning several hours, each containing over a thousand unique graphic cues, I’ve seen many effective and sadly also my share of ineffective workflows for coordinating, rendering, and playing complex graphics.

Often the solution is a real-time character generator system. These allow data to be entered in bulk, which then use dedicated hardware to generate graphics in real time during your event. However, these don’t allow for a design team to carefully finesse the typography or layout of individual graphics. For high-impact events that demand attention to detail across a large set of pre-produced graphics, many times a design team is involved with each graphic, making it critical for them to use a dependable system to stay organized.

Scripting & Planning

A good system begins as early as possible in the scripting & planning process. As soon as the script writer determines the need for a new graphic, they should be able to add a graphic cue and capture any relevant information the design team will need. This might include specific on-screen copy, descriptions of the intended design, and links to relevant assets.

Critically, this allows the script writer the chance to type exactly what they intend to appear on screen, and spell-check the exact language that will be entered into each graphic from the very beginning.

Numbering Scheme

Another reliable way to keep organized is to commit to a unique numbering scheme. For example, Script Elephant adds a unique identifier like [12.140] in filenames to indicate that that file belongs to production 12 and is that production’s 140 th graphic.

These short identifiers are helpful ways to collaborate during pre-production, and can also help the show callers and graphics operators cue a specific graphic during the show.

Script Elephant includes a table view, showing the status of each graphic

Client Approval

As event production professionals, it’s always our responsibility to make our clients look their best and represent their brand with integrity. One of the most important ways to do this is to make sure that any inaccurate information, including misspellings or typos are caught and fixed as early as possible.

The first safeguard in avoiding these problems is to make sure that accurate information is entered into the system from the beginning, and that this exact data is then inserted directly into each graphic, without any chance for a designer to inadvertently mis-type information. These work best when your scripting platform supports exporting to programs like Adobe After Effects.

The second safeguard is to allow your clients and stakeholders direct access to see timely drafts of each graphic, to provide feedback, and to approve each graphic as they are ready.

Modern script writing platforms like Script Elephant allow you to invite your clients to your production, and to grant them permission to leave feedback on and approve graphics in real time. Platforms like this help to reduce friction in the approval process, helping everyone feel confident that each graphic looks and reads exactly as intended, long before any audience member walks into the room.

This approval process also establishes a clear historical picture of when previews were first posted, when feedback was addressed, and when each graphic was approved.

All together, these techniques, along with software that incorporates them well, are the key to producing quality graphic content for large-scale productions.

The Role of Technology in Modern Live Events

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 21:10:06 GMT

At its heart, the fundamentals of producing live events have never really changed. As live event professionals, our mission is to inspire our audiences by giving them an experience that is entertaining, informative, and memorable.

Yet the benefit of new technology means there is always a faster, more effective, or more consistent way we can create incredible memories for each audience member.

The most obvious new technology is front and center in the mind of every attendee. LED walls are bigger and brighter than ever before. Advancements in scenic fabrication have allowed us to build innovative structures that were either impossible or prohibitively expensive just a few years ago.

The leading production companies are always on the forefront of developments like these, so that they can be the first to bring them to their audiences.

Almost as important as the technology our audience sees, is the ones they don’t. So much of the gear we depend on ends up behind the curtain, helping our industry consistently deliver seamless shows. This includes gear that directly powers the major departments, such as microphone receivers for audio, DMX nodes for lighting, and LED processors for video.

Tying it all together however, are the communication tools we depend on to work decisively and seamlessly as a team. Often this includes digital comm headsets at each station, letting every team member communicate in real time. But increasingly, teams are also depending on real-time run of show tools to understand and follow the show live.

These tools help break the ambiguity that can be all too common during complex shows, by bringing clarity to exactly what is meant to occur, by whom, and when.

A good run of show tool allows the director to collaborate with the script writers and stakeholders of a production, beginning with the pre-production process. This includes both the broad strokes, such as planning the high-level show order & timing, but also the finer nuances of exactly how to cue complex, coordinated moments that involve every department.

On-site, these tools also allow every team member and on-site operator to access the script and rundown, so they can understand exactly what the director expects from them and when. Modern versions of these run of show tools are cloud-based, meaning that as updates are made, every team member can seamlessly stay on the latest version.

Increasingly, run of show tools such as Script Elephant are being selected by production teams across the country, because they provide a reliable platform to help plan and execute events.

Unique to Script Elephant is the way it can be tailored to show exactly the information each department needs. The script writer and director can edit detailed, full-page scripts that include spoken word columns with rich formatting. These views can be printed as client-ready PDFs for use at a podium. Meanwhile, individual show departments can view condensed rundowns that highlight just the cues that impact them.

Each of these views include real-time show tracking functionality, so every team member can instantly see their upcoming cues at all times.

These are just some of the reasons the leading production companies are embracing cloud-based run of show tools for their events in 2025. Learn more about Script Elephant .

The Importance of Communication on Show Site

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 21:09:21 GMT

As team members in the event production industry, our ultimate mission almost always involves communicating a message to our audience. Ironically, the biggest barrier to this too often involves communicating with each other. When the stage lights are up and the talent is on-stage, it is essential that the production team can clearly communicate with each other to create those seamless moments for the audience.

The heart of this communication is generally a director or stage manager “calling” the show for the team. This person is responsible for articulating their vision for the show, in a way that each team member can quickly and consistently understand.

One key aspect to this is using consistent language. For example, there are a handful of common terms to ask a lighting director to turn off the front stage wash, such as “Stage Wash Down”, “Douse Front Light”, or even just “Lights Down”. By deciding in advance which of these phrases to use, the team can more quickly react and understand which cues are meant for them.

App-based rundown software like Script Elephant assist teams with this by allowing script writers to assign names for each possible lighting scene. This allows the script writer to consistently re-cue these same scenes each time they are needed. This also allows the lighting operator to see a full list of each lighting scene in advance, so they can easily program their console with the same scene name the show caller will use.

Another important factor is making sure that the show caller can quickly explain a complex cue, so that operators in each department can hit their marks simultaneously. A trick for this is for the show caller to use a short name that has a specific meaning for each department.

For example, the show caller can announce to their team:

"We’re coming up on ‘applause’. For this cue, lighting will be on crowd lights, music will swell, graphic C.21 will play, and cameras will be on wide.

Standby for ‘applause’. Ready, and... go."

Good script writing software allows the director to write complex cues like this in the script, and also to assign a name to them. This allows everyone reading the script to clearly identify each cue by name, and to understand their specific role in that cue.

Clear and consistent language in cue writing is an important detail for show callers on productions large and small. This helps the show caller to confidently call their show without hesitation, and for the rest of their team to create the same show, from rehearsal to final production.

Creating Emotionally Engaging Events: The Power of Storytelling in Live Production

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 18:27:00 GMT

I think the real magic of a great live event is when we’re able to connect with the live audience in a way that they would not be able to experience at home. The best events are the ones that can captivate and inspire an audience – and the secret to that is great storytelling.

The most recent opportunity I had to work on a project like this was in the summer of 2024. Over 14,000 skilled trade students and industry partners gathered for SkillsUSA’s annual National Leadership & Skills Conference in Atlanta, GA, and the team at White Tie was trusted to plan a show opener to set the stage for their conference.

At the heart of these challenges are always several layers. To set the energy and excitement for a one-of-a-kind week. To convey the vision and mission of the organization to each attendee. To engage the attention of thousands of young people. This is where great, emotionally-grounded storytelling comes in.

With a 360-degree, immersive live experience, we can carefully use the larger-than-life LED screens, lighting rigs, and powerful audio stacks to deliver a spectacular physical and emotional impact.

For this project, we enlisted the help of author and poet Amena Brown . Over the course of several strategy sessions we crafted with Amena and our client's team a narrative around the critical nature of the skilled trades and the essential work SkillsUSA was doing to help train the next generation workforce.

As event producers, we were able to write an integrated script that featured Amena delivering her performance live on-stage while connecting it with synchronized audio-visual cues in the room.

This allowed us to time her speech along with a custom-edited orchestral music track to help establish the emotional energy. During specific moments, we featured imagery on the LED wall to support her message. As the energy built, we gradually revealed more and more scenic and lighting elements to support the momentum of the piece and to surround our audience with a spectacle that was larger than life.

All of this required precise timing and careful rehearsal. To synchronize the A/V elements during the live show, we connected our media server and lighting equipment using a timecode signal. But to help plan and illustrate the cues and timing with the entire crew, we also needed a detailed run of show.

Script Elephant was perfect for this production because it allowed our director, script writers, video editors and lighting designers the ability to review and collaborate on a complex sequence together. Its structure allowed us to describe the big picture, but also to pinpoint each important detail.

Because Script Elephant can precisely line up individual spoken word sections with audio-visual cues, we were able to outline down to the second how long each section should last, allowing us to build and share an accurate timing reference with our client, from pre-production to final event.

Using Script Elephant's integrated live tracking, our director was also able to track each section live during the show. This allowed our dozens of team members on-site to follow along on their own devices with each cue, hands-free.

At its core, great events are all about great storytelling. Perfecting the timing on tightly choreographed moments like these is the best way to present impactful messages to a global audience.

How to Design Graphics for High End Corporate Events

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 18:19:00 GMT

One of my favorite parts of designing graphics for events is the way it allows us to transform even the most exclusive events into a larger than life presentation. The flexibility of modern LED panels create a huge canvas – and filling them creatively is always a satisfying challenge.

For Visit Phoenix’s 2024 Annual Meeting, the team at White Tie Productions used two connected LED screens to showcase both wide-format information, and also provided a natural title area that provided plenty of natural space for contextual information on each graphic.

Go Big or Go Home

Another great use of large LED screens is to feature video segments for your audience. Because the design of this particular LED set was not the same dimensions as a standard video, our team routed the incoming video feed multiple times into the design. This allowed us to use the side screen as a support screen with another copy of the video feed, which let us feature contextual information about the video, and maintain the branding of the event.

This can be a great way to seamlessly present video segments and to include remote presenters into your event in a natural way.

Sometimes the best way to express yourself in a presentation design is to embrace every option under the stars. For this event, we wanted the audience to feel as though they were on a journey and that the presentation they were participating in had a special destination.

To achieve this, we designed three separate but complimentary visual looks to show the passage of time: day, afternoon, and evening. These templates shared a common layout and branding, but each used unique elements and colors from the event's brand guide. By using rich, dramatic colors for the LED backdrop, and by collaborating directly with our stage & lighting design teams, we built three immersive and unique segments that connected audience members to the evolving themes of the show.

Of course, none of this matters if the information you’re presenting hasn’t been reviewed for accuracy by your client or other authors. Any time there is a handoff from a client’s concept to an artist’s design, you run the risk of critical details being mis-entered, or changed prior to your event date.

To guard against this, it is critical to use a platform that:

Allows direct data entry by the script writer to the final graphic
Integrates natively with your final scripts
Allows clients to directly comment on and review each graphic

Script Elephant is designed for situations like these because it allows the entire show production team to reference the same source of truth for each graphic. This includes specific content to be entered on screen, along with any design notes for the creative team.

After each graphic has been designed, previews of these graphics can be shared. This allows the entire team and clients to review and approve each graphic well in advance of the show.

In addition, the timestamps of any updates are tracked. This means if any changes have been made to the text of the graphic after the latest preview was uploaded, the system will flag it as possibly needing another review.

All of this integrates natively with the show's scripts. This means every person involved in the production has direct access to the latest copies of each graphic.

This level of review – both by manual audits, and also by system-supported verification, is critical for highly detailed shows where attention to detail and accuracy is critical every time.

Photography credits: Timeless Vision Media & Flash Photo Video

While it can be tempting to use a large LED screen to only show lots of lots of information, sometimes the most effective way to use them is to choose one critical quote or statement, and make it larger than life. Switching between your standard size fonts and large title slides can be a great way to highlight a major point for the audience, and keep the presentation feeling fresh.

Multipurpose Layouts

Take Your Audience on a Journey

When the Details Matter

How to Write a Good Run of Show

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 18:27:00 GMT

At the heart of any major live production is typically a document called a Run of Show. The Run of Show, or RoS, is designed to explain the key moments in a show and call attention to the cues each department needs to know.

These documents are often informal - sometimes supplied by clients or agencies - and may not necessarily conform to industry standard practices for layout, language, or content.

However, industry best-practice run of show documents are more structured – typically in a table format with columns representing each department and rows representing cues. These allow script writers to explain complex cues, which involve many departments, while allowing each department operator to focus on the columns that apply to them.

Simple spreadsheet run of show documents are common, but come with several drawbacks. The first is pure table-based run of show documents don’t easily support shows that depend on extended spoken word sections. For example, in a keynote presentation where the speaker might talk for a minute or more between cues, it can be awkward to display that entire script in the table view because the rows become impractically tall.

Typically, this is resolved by preparing two separate documents: a written script containing full-length spoken word and a separate run of show document with each department’s cues. Many times these documents are prepared and distributed separately, which can make it complicated for teams to juggle both, to understand the cuing between them, and to keep each document up to date as changes are made.

The ideal solution to this problem is to use modern run of show systems that natively integrate each of these script formats into one live document. Script Elephant has a native full-page script view for editing and viewing. This view natively supports cue integration allowing script writers to carefully write cues to occur at specific moments throughout a spoken word presentation.

Simultaneously, AV department operators can use the Run of Show view of the same script giving them a traditional column-based format showing them exactly where each of their cues occurs in the show. This view is critical on show-site to allow for a quick, compact view of cues. These views all support real-time cue tracking, meaning that as a director or show caller advances through the show, everyone logged into the script can watch the script advance automatically in real-time.

Script Elephant 's integrated platform has become key to our show production team giving an understand of each show to the crew by capturing all of the critical information together in one place and allowing each crew member to see exactly what they need, when they need it.

The Evolution of Event Scripting

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 18:27:00 GMT

In modern event production, the humble paper script has been the foundation of successful events everywhere. It is reliable, easy to read, and the staple of events past and present.

However, in the last few decades, we’ve seen an exciting shift towards digital documents and real-time platforms that are allowing teams to produce events quicker and more confidently.

Word processing software like Microsoft Word has long ago brought the event production industry into the modern era of digital documents, allowing teams the flexibility to quickly edit & revise documents, and to collaborate on them across the internet.

The biggest barrier with pure digital documents is that they can only be edited by one person at a time. Any editors need to be careful that they are using and then sharing the latest version of the file.

Cloud documents like Google Docs and Office 365 revolutionized this workflow by allowing editors anywhere to instantly collaborate on the same document together in real time. This helped ensure that anyone working on the script could see the latest draft at any moment, and to edit it without worrying about overwriting someone else’s changes.

The biggest problem with cloud documents is that these programs have been designed for a wide range of uses, and therefore are not specifically built for script writers. This results in a few major pain points:

Keeping technical cues in sync with the spoken word part of the script can be difficult, often requiring manually creating and adjusting table rows.
Complex scripts that span dozens or hundreds of pages can be very slow to load and edit, especially on mobile devices.
Cloud documents cannot be integrated or synced with any other platforms. This means that creating additional documents, such as run of shows, graphic lists, or cue sheets, requires you to duplicate information. This can make it difficult to keep any changes in sync.

The ideal platform is one that combines the benefits of modern cloud documents, while also embracing functionality for event production teams.

Modern event script-writing software like Script Elephant combine the modern conveniences of digital and cloud document tools, such as rich WYSIWYG formatting and printed PDF support, with specific features that script writers depend on to manage large events.

The most important feature of a live script writing software is the ability to easily link a section of spoken word to a technical cue. This means that you can write using the same rich formatting you expect from a word processor, and be able to make updates to that speech as needed, knowing that the cues you’ve entered will remain lined up with exactly the right moment in the speech.

Script Elephant specifically was engineered to load quickly even for the largest productions. There are no artificial limits on the number of cues you can add, and it can load full sessions containing thousands of cues in just a few seconds.

This is essential for long-running broadcasts and awards shows to instantly open scripts containing thousands of unique graphics.

The most important feature of a cloud scripting platform is that it can become a dependable source of truth for your team’s data.

In addition to the full-page script and PDF views, this means your on-site operators can open a condensed run of show view that include just the cues that affect them. A “spoken word” view is also available for podium or teleprompter use. A private guest link is also available that redacts any script content you mark as confidential. Any changes to the original script are automatically reflected in all of these views.

Platforms like Script Elephant also include a robust graphics preparation and review engine. Because it runs as an integrated platform, any updates to the graphics in your show are immediately visible to your creative team and end clients, allowing everyone to respond quickly and proactively to changes.

These modern tools are becoming increasingly prominent across the event production industry because they are helping teams more easily and reliably build best-practice scripts and run of show documents.