Creating Activities
How to create, fill out, and manage activities on a schedule
An activity is a single item on a schedule. It represents something that happens at a specific time during an event, from a high-level moment like doors opening to a detailed operational window like load-in. This page covers how to create an activity, what goes into it, and how it behaves once it is on the calendar.
Creating an activity
There are three ways to start a new activity, and they all open the same activity dialog.
The most direct way is the New Activity button in the top-right corner of the schedule. It opens the dialog with empty values, ready for you to fill in.
You can also create an activity straight from the calendar. Click and drag across a time range and the dialog opens with the start time, end time, and duration already matching your selection. If you prefer, click once on an empty slot and the dialog opens with a duration based on the calendar's current time interval. Both are useful when you already know where on the calendar the activity belongs.
The activity dialog
The dialog has a main content area on the left and a sidebar on the right that holds all the scheduling details.
On the left, you name the activity at the top, then describe it in the rich text editor directly below. The description is where notes, instructions, and any formatted information about the activity live. Below the description, the dialog surfaces anything linked to the activity, such as advances and content, so the activity becomes a single place to see everything connected to that moment.
The right sidebar is where you set when the activity happens and who it involves. From top to bottom it holds the Global toggle, an All Day toggle, the start and end date and time, a Make Recurring option, the Organizers, Participants, and Optional Participants selectors, the Areas selector, and an Exact Location field.
When you are done, Save creates the activity. If you have several activities to add in a row, Create More saves the current one and keeps the dialog open so you can immediately start the next.
Who attends: organizers and participants
Activities reach the right people through who you assign to them. You assign people and groups using three selectors, and you can put either a crew member or a collaborator in any of them.
Organizers manage the activity. An organizer can change its dates, edit its details, adjust its participants, and update its scheduling information. They effectively own the activity.
Participants are required attendees. They are expected to be there, but they cannot edit the activity itself.
Optional Participants are included for awareness. Attendance is not expected, and like participants they cannot modify the activity. Select Add Optional Participants to reveal this selector.
The difference between assigning a crew member and assigning a collaborator is the difference between a person and a group.
A crew member is a specific individual, used when a particular person needs to be there. A collaborator is an entire organization or group. Assigning a collaborator communicates that someone from that group should be present, without naming each person. Rather than adding three technicians individually, you can assign the production company they belong to.
Areas and exact location
Areas are the general locations where an activity happens, such as Main Stage, Ballroom A, or Front Gate. Assigning one or more areas places the activity on those area calendars.
Exact Location is for a specific place within an area. It starts as an Add Exact Location button; selecting it reveals a text field. For example, the area might be Main Stage while the exact location is the Production Office or Upstage Left.
Areas identify the broad location and drive which area calendars an activity appears on. Exact Location is free text that pinpoints where within that area, and does not affect calendar placement.
Making an activity recurring
Many event activities repeat, such as a daily crew call at the same time every morning. Select Make Recurring to expand the recurrence editor and set how often the activity repeats and when it stops.
You can repeat by days, weeks, or months. Each option lets you set an interval (every 1 day, every 3 days, and so on) and an end date. The weekly option additionally lets you choose which days of the week the activity falls on, so a recurring activity can land on, for example, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until the end date.
Editing and rescheduling
Activities can be edited or deleted by event administrators, users with higher-level scheduling permissions, and the organizers assigned to the activity. Participants and optional participants can see an activity but cannot change it.
You can reschedule an activity by dragging it to a new time directly on the calendar.
Dragging a recurring activity changes the time for the entire series, not just the occurrence you moved. To change a single occurrence, edit the activity rather than dragging it.
Global activities
The Global toggle is one of the most commonly misunderstood settings on an activity, because it controls where the activity shows up.
When Global is checked, the activity appears on the Event Calendar and is visible across the whole event. When Global is unchecked, the activity only appears on the calendars of its assigned areas and collaborators. Use global for the activities that form the backbone of the event, and leave it off for activities that should stay local to a specific team or space.
Time zones
There is currently no separate time zone handling. Every time on a schedule is assumed to be in the event's local time zone.
Schedule Views
The different ways to look at a schedule, including the Resource view.
Comparing & Sharing Schedules
How activities reach the right people and how to compare calendars.
Run of Show
Break an activity down into a minute-by-minute cue list.
Timeframes
Background markers that organize and help you navigate long events.