How We Teach Cue Sheets That Presenters Can Read at a Glance
A look at the cue sheet module in the curriculum: what learners write, how the exercises are built, and why legibility under pressure is the skill the sessions train.
Daniel Whitfield · · 5 minutes to read
Why the cue sheet module has its own sessions
Early in the course, learners build a running order and often assume the job is finished once every segment has a start time. The cue sheet module corrects that. A running order tells the producer what happens when; a cue sheet tells each person in the room what they must do at a given moment, in words short enough to take in during a live show.
This autumn we have reworked the module so that it sits directly after the running order sessions. Learners take the rundown they have already written and turn it into sheets for three different readers: a presenter, a camera operator and a sound technician. Each reader needs a different view of the same programme, and seeing that difference is the first lesson.
As someone who produces streamed discussions for a living, I have watched good plans fail because the page in front of the operator was dense, ambiguous or simply too long to scan. That is the problem this module addresses.
What learners actually write
Every learner works from an original sample rundown supplied with the course: a ninety-minute business programme with an opening, two interviews, a panel and a close. They write cue sheets by hand first, then tidy them into a clean layout. The sheets must show cue number, trigger, action, who acts and what follows.
We ask for one line per cue wherever possible. If a cue needs a paragraph of explanation, the explanation belongs in the production notes, not on the sheet an operator is reading with one eye while watching a monitor.
Learners also practise writing triggers precisely. A trigger such as 'when the guest finishes' is vague; 'on the host's closing line, ending with the word welcome' can be heard and acted on. Small changes like this are reviewed in group sessions.
- Cue number, trigger, action, owner and next cue on every line
- One reader per sheet, with only what that reader needs
- Triggers that can be heard or seen, never guessed
Designing for a glance, not a read
A cue sheet is used in poor light, at speed, often by someone wearing a headset and listening to two things at once. We therefore spend real time on layout: type size, spacing between cues, how a warning is marked, and where the eye lands when it returns to the page after a few seconds away.
Learners compare a crowded sheet with a cleaner one covering the same segment and time how long it takes a classmate to find a named cue. The difference is usually plain without any commentary from us.
We also discuss restraint with colour and symbols. A small set used consistently helps; a dozen used loosely forces the reader to decode the page, which defeats its purpose in the middle of a show.
Handling changes while the show is running
Live programmes rarely run exactly as written. A guest talks longer, a video fails to start, a segment is dropped. The module includes exercises where we change the rundown halfway through a practice run and ask learners to say how the cue sheets must change, and who needs to be told first.
The aim is not to produce a perfect revised sheet under pressure. It is to build the habit of marking which cues are fixed, which can move and which can be skipped, so that a calm decision is possible when the plan shifts.
Elena Brooks leads these sessions and draws on her stage management background to show how a caller keeps the team informed with a few agreed phrases rather than long instructions.
- Mark fixed, flexible and skippable cues in advance
- Agree short spoken phrases for changes
- Name one person who confirms any change to the team
Working with presenters and technical crew
A cue sheet is only useful if its readers trust it. Learners therefore practise a short briefing: walking a presenter and a technician through the sheet, asking what is unclear and revising it on the spot. This turns the document into a shared tool rather than something handed over at the last minute.
We encourage learners to ask presenters how they prefer to see their cues, since some like a full script and others want only entrances and timings. Neither is wrong, but the sheet should match the person.
For streamed events the sheet also has to cover remote guests, with clear points at which they are brought in and returned to the host. That connects to the streamed discussion sessions later in the curriculum.
What you should expect to leave with
By the end of the module learners hold a set of cue sheets for the sample programme, written for different readers and revised after feedback. They also have a checklist they can reuse on their own agendas, which is the practical outcome we aim for.
The module does not make anyone a stage manager, and we do not suggest it does. It gives aspiring coordinators and junior producers a reliable way to turn a running order into pages that a team can follow, and it builds the confidence to explain those pages out loud.
There are no prerequisites beyond having completed the running order foundations, and the work suits anyone comfortable writing short, careful lines.
Cue sheets look like a small piece of paperwork, yet they carry most of the calm in a live show. The module trains learners to write for a specific reader, keep each line short and prepare for the moment the plan changes. If you are working through the curriculum, take your own rundown and try writing one sheet for the camera position alone.
