What If Your Conference Agenda Changes on the Day?

Give your crew the new time, room and priority

I like everyone to work from the same order of play. If a speaker moves, tell the filming lead what moved, where it’s happening and whether it affects something else you’ve asked the crew to capture. A change to the delegate agenda might take seconds to type, but the crew could be setting up a microphone in another room when it comes through.

Keep one running order with a named person on the organiser’s team who can confirm changes. Put the time, room and person responsible alongside each important moment. The film crew needs access to those details and a direct way to reach that person. East Tennessee State University uses those fields in its own event run sheets. ETSU event protocols, “Run of show” (PDF)

Decide what the crew should protect

Before doors open, mark the moments the crew will have one chance to catch: an award handover, a closing announcement or a particular speaker’s arrival on stage. Beside each scheduled interview, make a note of who can move it and when the guest is leaving. I put real value on interviews because a good answer can still be useful months after the conference. If the interview is a priority, give it a realistic second slot before you need one.

Say a North East conference moves a sponsor presentation into the time set aside for an interview. If one crew is covering both and the interview guest can stay through lunch, agree the new interview time and ask someone to meet the guest. If that guest leaves immediately after their session, tell the filming lead before making the switch. The organiser can then agree what the crew should capture and what can come out of the plan. If both moments are essential and could overlap, raise that when you plan camera coverage for the conference.

Send one update people can act on

Use the channel agreed at the morning briefing. Ask the filming lead to confirm they’ve seen the change, then share it with the people affected, such as the stage manager, the AV lead and the person collecting interview guests. If a session moves rooms, confirm the crew can get into the new space and check microphones before it starts. For a rehearsal, it helps to walk through a possible speaker swap and who would tell production. Wharton’s virtual event planning timeline (PDF)

Here’s an example of an update you could send to the filming lead:

Confirmed: sponsor presentation now starts at 12:05 in the main hall. Please cover the handover. The speaker interview is moving to 12:35 in the interview room. Priya will bring the guest over. Please confirm you can make both.

If you’ve agreed a same-day conference edit, tell the editor as well. They need to know if a clip they’re waiting for is now due after the agreed handover. You can decide together whether the edit should use a different shot or whether the approval slot can move.

Planning conference highlights or interviews in Newcastle or the North East? Share the running order and the moments you most want captured when you brief the crew. DS Media conference filming