Event production responsibility map
Several suppliers and the venue all touch the stage, and nobody can say who is answerable for the item that goes wrong.
The short answer
A production responsibility map is a one-page table that lists every audiovisual and production item and names, for each, who specifies it, who supplies it, who tests it and who signs it off. The organiser usually specifies and confirms. Qualified suppliers and the venue supply, design, rig and sign off.
Any cell left empty is a gap. Find the gaps in writing, weeks before load-in, rather than on the morning the stage is being built.
What the organiser holds and what it does not
The organiser's team decides what the event needs to see and hear: programme, speakers, languages, recordings, who may present from where. It writes this down as requirements and checks that suppliers have understood them.
Technical design, rigging, electrical load, structural limits and safety sign-off belong to qualified suppliers and to the venue's own technical or safety staff. The organiser coordinates and records those answers. It does not supply production equipment and does not certify any system.
The four roles to name for every item
| Role | Question it answers | Typically held by |
|---|---|---|
| Specifies | What must this item do for the programme? | Organiser (secretariat or programme lead) |
| Supplies and designs | Who provides it and decides how it is built? | AV or staging supplier, or the venue's in-house team |
| Tests | Who proves it works, and when? | Supplier technician, with the organiser present for content checks |
| Signs off | Who confirms it is fit to use, in writing? | Qualified supplier or the venue for technical and safety items; organiser for content and running order |
Where responsibility usually falls between two parties
- Power to the stage and to the rear of the room: the venue, the AV supplier and the staging supplier can each assume another is arranging it.
- Internet for remote speakers or a livestream: the venue sells it, the AV supplier needs it, the organiser depends on it.
- Stage managers and cue calling: the organiser assumes the AV lead calls cues, the AV lead assumes the organiser has a stage manager.
- Content: slides arrive late and nobody owns the final version on the playback laptop.
- Strike and load-out: who clears the room, and by what time under the venue's rules.
How to build the map in three steps
- List items from your technical requirements: sound, screens, playback, lighting, staging, power, internet, recording, cues, load-in.
- For each item write the four roles. Where two parties may both think the other owns it, write both names and ask them to confirm.
- Send the map to every supplier and the venue contact, ask for corrections in writing by a set date, then file the confirmed version with the run of show.
Keep it alive until the event
Review the map at each supplier meeting. When a supplier changes scope, update the row and the date. Use the cue ownership page for the cue-by-cue version and technical sign-off questions for what to ask before each sign-off.
Worked example · Fictional example
A two-room annual conference
Fictional organisation and figures, for illustration only.
A fictional Persatuan Fiktif Akauntan runs a one-day conference with a main hall and one breakout room. Its first map shows power to the breakout room with no supplier named, and the livestream upload line with both the venue and the AV supplier marked as supplier.
The secretariat sends the map to both parties. The venue confirms it provides the network connection, the AV supplier confirms it will bring its own backup, and the AV supplier names a technician for the breakout room. Three cells change and the map is filed with the run of show.
Use this yourself
Production responsibility map template
Copy one row for each item. Write Not confirmed where a party has not yet answered in writing.
| Item | Specified by | Supplied and designed by | Tested by (date) | Signed off by | Confirmed in writing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound system and microphones | Organiser: | ||||
| Screens and projection | Organiser: | ||||
| Playback laptop and content | Organiser: | ||||
| Lighting and stage look | Organiser: | ||||
| Staging and set | Organiser: | ||||
| Power to stage and rooms | Organiser: | ||||
| Internet for remote speakers or livestream | Organiser: | ||||
| Recording and livestream | Organiser: | ||||
| Cue calling and stage management | Organiser: | ||||
| Load-in, load-out, rubbish | Organiser: |
Handle it in-house, or bring in help?
Your team can usually handle this when
- One venue and one AV supplier cover everything, and both answer emails promptly.
- The programme is a single plenary with no remote speakers or recording.
- Someone on the team has run a similar event and can read a supplier quote.
Outside planning help earns its fee when
- Three or more suppliers plus the venue touch the stage, and quotes overlap.
- The event has remote speakers, a livestream or several rooms running at once.
- Nobody on the team has time to chase written confirmations from each party.
Need the responsibility map chased to a close?
A conference project lead can build the map from your requirements, send it to each supplier and the venue, and keep chasing until every row is confirmed in writing. Design, rigging, power and safety stay with the qualified suppliers and the venue; the lead coordinates and records their answers.
Questions organisers ask
Does the organiser need to understand the technical detail?
Not the engineering. The organiser needs to state what the programme requires and to see that each requirement has a named supplier, test and sign-off. Technical questions go to the qualified party.
Who should own the map?
One person on the organiser's side, usually the programme lead or secretariat head. Suppliers fill in or correct their own rows, but one person keeps the master copy.
How is this different from the run of show?
The map says who is responsible for equipment and decisions. The run of show says what happens when. Keep both and cross-reference the cues.
Related resources
Content record: Draft. Written from the cited sources and checked by automated rules; not yet independently reviewed.