How to brief an event production crew before load-in day

Start with the site, not the show

Most delays on load-in day come from the site rather than the equipment. Before you describe the show, describe the place: where the vehicles can park, how far it is from the loading point to the stage, whether there are steps, lifts or soft ground in between, and who holds the keys to each door. A crew that knows it must carry cases two hundred metres across a field will plan its trolleys and its timing differently from one that can reverse a van to the stage door.

Send a simple site sketch if you have one, even a hand-drawn plan photographed on a phone. Mark the stage, the mixing position, the power source and the nearest toilets and rest area. If the venue has a noise curfew, a restricted delivery window or a neighbour who complains, say so in the first message. These facts cost nothing to share and save an hour of guessing when the vehicles arrive.

Name one person on site who can make decisions and answer a phone. Crews lose a surprising amount of time waiting for someone to confirm where a cable may run or whether a door may be propped open.

• Parking and unloading point with access times
• Distance and route from vehicle to stage
• Power source, capacity and who controls it
• Curfew, noise limits and neighbours
• One named contact on site with a working mobile

Write the running order as the crew will use it

A running order written for the audience is not the same as one written for technicians. The crew needs to know when doors open, when each act or speaker starts, how long each change takes and where the quiet moments are. Include sound checks and rehearsals as real lines in the schedule, with start times and the people expected to attend, rather than hoping they fit somewhere in the afternoon.

Mark anything that changes the technical setup between items: a band that brings its own backline, a presenter who wants a lectern, a video that plays from a laptop, a speech that needs a handheld microphone passed through the audience. Each of these is a small job, but several of them landing within ten minutes of each other is how a smooth show turns into a scramble.

Be honest about what is still uncertain. A running order marked provisional, with a note of who will confirm it and when, is far more useful than a confident one that quietly changes the night before.

Be specific about the roles you need

Asking for a crew is not the same as asking for particular jobs to be covered. Decide which tasks the event needs: rigging and lighting, sound at the front of house, monitor mixing for performers, camera operation, stage management, or general stage hands for load-in and load-out. Then tell the crew which of these you expect them to cover and which your own staff or the venue will handle.

Overlaps and gaps both cause trouble. If the venue supplies a house sound engineer, the visiting crew needs to know who owns the mixing desk and who is allowed to change the system settings. If your own team will operate the cameras, say who they are and when they are available to meet the technicians.

Mention any experience that matters. A live broadcast with a remote director has different demands from a corporate party, and a festival stage in changeable weather needs different preparation from an indoor hall. A short paragraph on the kind of event helps the crew choose the right people.

• Which roles the crew covers and which others cover
• Who owns the desk, the rig and the stage
• Type of event and any broadcast or recording needs

Share the technical details early

Technical requirements from performers and speakers should reach the crew as soon as they are known, not on the day. Input lists, stage plots, lighting wishes, playback formats and any special requests belong in the brief or in an attachment to it. If an act has not yet sent theirs, say so and set a date by which you will chase it.

Check what equipment is already on site and what the crew must bring. A venue with a good house system may need only a few extra microphones; a field needs everything, including power distribution and weather cover. Confirm the supplier of each item in writing so that nothing is assumed to be someone else's responsibility until the van is already loaded.

Ask the crew what they need from you in return. Experienced technicians usually have a short list: a stage plan, a power figure, a contact number, a sense of how the audience will move. Answering these questions early is the quickest way to a calm load-in.

Plan for the long days and the wrap

Crews often work from early morning until after the audience has left, and tired people make mistakes. Build in meal breaks, hot drinks and somewhere dry to sit. State the finish time honestly, including the load-out, and agree in advance what happens if the event overruns. This avoids awkward conversations at midnight about extra hours.

Load-out deserves as much planning as load-in. Tell the crew when the stage will be clear of the public, where equipment may be stacked while vehicles are brought round, and whether anything must be left behind for the venue. Cables coiled in the dark by people who want to go home are the ones that fail next time.

Finally, agree how the job closes: who checks the stage is clear, who signs off the equipment list, and who will receive any notes about faults or damage. A brief handover at the end keeps small problems from becoming disputes later.

• Meal breaks, drinks and a dry place to rest
• Honest finish time and overrun arrangements
• Load-out route, stacking space and final check

A one-page brief you can send this week

Everything above fits on a single page. Put the site details and the named contact at the top, the running order beneath it, then the roles, the technical requirements and the timings for meals and wrap. Keep sentences short and use the same names for rooms, stages and people throughout, so that nobody has to guess whether the main hall and the big room are the same place.

Send it at least a week before load-in, and ask the crew to reply with questions rather than silence. A short phone call after they have read it often brings out the one detail nobody thought to write down, such as a low doorway or a lift that is out of service on Saturdays.

Update the page whenever something changes and date each version. Two crew members working from different copies is a quiet way to lose an afternoon.

A good crew brief is short, specific and honest about what is still unknown. It tells technicians where they are going, what the show needs, who decides and when everyone goes home. Writing it takes an hour or two, and it repays that time on the day, when the vehicles arrive, the cases come off and everyone already knows what happens next. If you would like to talk it through, our team is happy to look over a draft.