Introduction to the Event Schedule

The schedule is the shared calendar of everything that happens during an event, built from activities that each appear on every calendar they concern. Nearly every part of event planning depends on when things happen, and the schedule is where that timing is organized, shared, and run.

Why the Schedule Matters

Events involve hundreds of timed pieces: load-in windows, rehearsals, sound checks, meals, sessions, doors. When all of it lives in one master spreadsheet, the document grows until nobody can read it. The stage manager scrolls past catering times, the caterer scrolls past cue times, and every change has to be copied into the versions each team keeps for itself.

BackOps keeps one schedule and lets each person look at the part that matters to them. An activity is created once. The audio vendor sees it on their calendar, the Main Stage team sees it on the area calendar, and the crew members assigned to it see it on their own. Change the time once, and every one of those calendars shows the new time.

How the Schedule Works

Activities are the building blocks. An activity is something that happens at a specific time, such as doors opening, a rehearsal, or a load-in window. It has a name, a description, a start and end (or all day), and the people, collaborators, and areas it involves.

Calendars are views onto those activities. Each event has several kinds:

• The Event calendar, which holds global activities: the backbone moments everyone needs to see, such as doors and show start.
• An area calendar for each area, such as Main Stage or Ballroom A.
• A collaborator calendar for each collaborator, such as the production company or the caterer.
• Your personal calendar, which holds the activities you are assigned to.

An activity is never copied between calendars. It is attached to them, so it appears on every calendar it is attached to and stays one record.

flowchart LR
    A["Activity: Sound check"] --> E["Event calendar (if global)"]
    A --> R["Area: Main Stage"]
    A --> C["Collaborator: Audio vendor"]
    A --> P["Personal: assigned crew"]

Timeframes are labeled background bands, such as Load-In or Show Days, that mark the phases of a long event and let you jump straight to them.

Run of show takes one activity a level deeper. A keynote or a performance can carry its own cue-by-cue rundown, with a column for each department, without crowding the main schedule.

The same model reaches beyond a single event. Your organization has its own schedule for work outside events, with an overlay of every event's activities, and each person has an account-level schedule of the event activities they are on across their organizations.