Graduation operation · Technical production
At a graduation, the technical side decides whether the event happens, and today it lives in spreadsheets, group chats and rider PDFs lost in email. Here every event has an owner per area, equipment with tests and backups, riders reviewed item by item, sound checks with checklists, a technical run sheet for the party and a contingency plan, with a calculated readiness score that tells you at any moment what's still missing.
The problem and the fix
If any of these situations sounds familiar, it is because they happen in almost every graduation company, until the right system comes in.
The day before, nobody knows who is responsible for the LED, let alone who the backup is.
Each event area has a lead and a backup, chosen from the in-house team, the scheduled crew, the supplier or an outside contractor.
The band's rider arrives by email and nobody checks what was fulfilled.
The rider becomes a list of items reviewed one by one, with the equipment covering each item and the decision recorded. If the rider changes, a new version is created.
Critical equipment only turns out to be broken at showtime.
Equipment flagged as critical requires a test and a backup, and the event readiness score flags anything untested while there's still time.
The sound check happens, but whatever went wrong stays in the group chat.
Sound check per act with a standard checklist, item-by-item review and a record of what failed, linked to the event.
The operator runs the party with a sheet of paper and misses the cue.
Technical run sheet for the party in operator mode, with the current cue and the next ones, and commencement ceremony cues read directly from Ceremonial.
When the generator fails, everyone improvises something different.
Contingency plan per risk, tested in advance, triggered on the spot with one tap and closed with the incident and the solution used.
In practice
Everyday situations at graduation companies, from the problem to the result, using the modules on this page.
The headline act asked for two extra monitors, and the change came by email the week of the ball.
The new rider version was recorded with the items going back for review, and the event readiness score started showing the unfulfilled item.
The monitor rental was booked three days ahead, and the band didn't have to negotiate anything at sound check.
The main generator shut down twenty minutes before the graduates' entrance.
The power contingency plan had already been tested. The operator triggered the plan, the backup generator kicked in and the incident was logged with the time.
The entrance was delayed six minutes, and the next day's report showed what failed and what worked.
On Thursday, leadership wanted to know whether the technical side of Saturday's ball was sorted out.
The technical readiness score listed two untested critical pieces of equipment and one area without a backup.
All three open items were closed on Friday, and the event went into setup with technical marked as ready.
How it works
Every step is a real module, and what comes out of one goes into the next without anyone typing it again.
Module by module
6 modules and 30 features on this page, all running on the same class, graduate and event records.
Who is responsible for each area and when each stage happens.
What goes to the event, where it comes from and whether it was tested.
The act's requests checked item by item.
The technical rehearsal with a checklist and a record.
The right cue at the right time, standing up and in the dark.
Plan B agreed on before you need it.
Compare the modules and choose the setup that fits your operation.