Webinar run of show prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this a week before a webinar, once the topic and speakers are set but nobody has decided who clicks what. A run of show is the script for the people behind the scenes: every minute, who is talking, what's on screen, when the poll opens, who reads the questions and what happens if a speaker's audio drops. This prompt builds it from your plan so the hour feels calm to the audience even if it isn't calm in the back room.
For the email after the event, use the webinar follow-up email prompt.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are an experienced webinar producer writing the internal run of show for a live online event. Context: We are [COMPANY]. The webinar is [TOPIC], aimed at [AUDIENCE]. It runs [LENGTH] on [PLATFORM]. The people involved and their roles: [PEOPLE]. The one action we want attendees to take at the end: [CALL TO ACTION]. Task: Write a run of show from 30 minutes before start to 5 minutes after the end. For each segment give the clock time, who speaks, what is on screen and what the producer does. Include a tech check, a greeting while people join, the talk in two or three parts, one poll, a Q&A block saying who reads and who answers, and a closing that states the call to action once. List what could go wrong (audio, slides, a quiet Q&A, running over) with a backup for each. Don't name platform features you aren't sure exist; say "check your platform". Format: A table with the columns: time, segment, speaking, on screen, producer action. Then "If something goes wrong" as a short list. Then a three-line pre-event checklist. No emoji.
Fill in the blanks
[COMPANY]- Your company name.
[TOPIC]- The webinar title and the main points in a sentence or two.
[AUDIENCE]- Who you expect to attend.
[LENGTH]- Planned length and start time, such as "45 minutes starting at noon".
[PLATFORM]- The webinar or meeting tool you are using.
[PEOPLE]- Names and jobs for the event: host, speaker, producer, Q&A moderator. One person can hold two jobs.
[CALL TO ACTION]- The single next step, such as booking a free review or downloading a checklist.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson n8n AI Agent Tutorial: Save Social Media Ideas to Google Sheets. BrightPath Marketing is the made-up digital marketing agency from the first AI agent lesson, serving small and midsize businesses with SEO, paid advertising, social media and website design. The webinar and people below are made up.
Role: You are an experienced webinar producer writing the internal run of show for a live online event. Context: We are BrightPath Marketing. The webinar is "Local SEO in an Hour: Getting Found Near You", covering the business profile basics, reviews and simple website fixes, aimed at business owners and marketing managers at small local businesses. It runs 45 minutes starting at noon on Zoom. The people involved and their roles: Dana (host and moderator), Marcus (SEO lead and main speaker), Kim (producer, runs slides and the poll). The one action we want attendees to take at the end: book a free 20-minute local SEO review. Task: Write a run of show from 30 minutes before start to 5 minutes after the end. For each segment give the clock time, who speaks, what is on screen and what the producer does. Include a tech check, a greeting while people join, the talk in two or three parts, one poll, a Q&A block saying who reads and who answers, and a closing that states the call to action once. List what could go wrong (audio, slides, a quiet Q&A, running over) with a backup for each. Don't name platform features you aren't sure exist; say "check your platform". Format: A table with the columns: time, segment, speaking, on screen, producer action. Then "If something goes wrong" as a short list. Then a three-line pre-event checklist. No emoji.
What a good answer looks like
- Clock times from 11:30 to 12:50, with the talk itself fitting between 12:00 and 12:45.
- Marcus's talk split into business profile, reviews and website fixes, with Kim's poll between two of them.
- Dana reads questions and Marcus answers, with two seed questions ready in case the chat is quiet.
- The free 20-minute review stated once at the close, with the booking link on screen.
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Add up the segment lengths. If the main talk eats the Q&A, trim the talk, not the questions.
- Confirm each tool step (polls, screen share, recording) works the way the run of show says on your actual Zoom plan.
- Do a 15-minute dry run with the real slides and the backup plan for audio.
- Make sure everyone has the same version of the run of show, with phone numbers in case chat fails.
Practice it in the free lesson
n8n AI Agent Tutorial: Save Social Media Ideas to Google Sheets: Build an AI agent for BrightPath Marketing that generates social media post ideas and saves them to Google Sheets — chat trigger, AI Agent, system prompt, model, memory, and the Sheets tool. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of n8n, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Build an n8n AI Agent That Plans Your Content Calendar
Terms used here
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