I’m often asked for coaching in how to prep for events with proper pre-production. Here’s a compilation of questions I ask the promoter or executive that I work with to determine the scope and develop with the proper plan. So read below to see the list of starter questions that I lead my PM to get answers on. Further below, I’m also including a starter list of gear; as well as a timeline for the event—both day of and checkpoints for week and month or so prior.


Event Pre-production Questions - A good Production Manager should be asking these questions

Who is the Producer? Who are additional "clients" we might serve? Who has the information we need and when can we meet?

Vision/Purpose of event?

Times of event?

Who is on stage? Artists? Communicators?

Who is our host?

Who is keynote speaker?

Any additional communicators?

Any Musicians? Vocalists?

What else happens during production? Any Video playback? Any Dance?

Production Design Requests?

Stage decor?

Supplemental decor?

Who has action steps? Who is responsible for further answers/direction?

What we know and are planning on: (what the capabilities of the event are - venue and crew)


GEAR
*2 handhelds
(for MC and the sharing mic)
*ProPresenter
(slides, videos, audio playback)
**Spotify for walk-in playback music
(They said they have an account login so that it wouldn’t play commercials)
*live music reinforcement
(likely a vocal mic and a DI for acoustic guitar, holding on final casting)
**lighting for the stage, photo stage, and wall of fame
(photo stage and wall of fame lighting theoretically provided by Video Dept.)
*what venue offers as part of base package (or what we agree that we are renting)
**what client is providing


TIMELINE (month of)
2 weeks out - final draft of production concept (casting and programming)
3 days out - final plan of production and plan of what set up is.


TIMELINE (day of)
4:45 setup
6:00 rehearsal
6:45 doors open
7:00 welcome, call to grab deserts, 10min warning
7:15 event starts
5 monologue
3 video
25 awards ceremony (10 interns)
3 montage video
15 awards ceremony (6 interns)
5 song
4 Producer - thank yous
12 Pastor - prayer, vision
30 deserts and mingling
9:00 strike
9:45 leave