← SkillSafe
Standby, Go

In October 2026 a tablet software update broke a presentation feature many speakers lean on (it reached the Hacker News front page). Slides freeze, wifi drops, logins time out, the clip has no sound - and the room is still waiting.

When the tech fails mid-talk, what is your next line?

Type your running order. It goes into a stage manager's prompt book: the clock against your slot, and a cue light on every segment for how much it leans on things that can fail. One run calls the show - for every segment, the check to make on standby, the fallback, and the words to say while you recover.

Try one:

1 The running order

Minutes: 3, 1.5, 90s or 1:30. Needs, comma-separated: slides, wifi, live demo, login, video call, video, sound, presenter notes, cable, mic, clicker, power, props, volunteer - or your own words.

Or drop a .txt or .csv file -

2 The prompt book

  • Green - little to fail
  • Amber - one thing to check
  • Red - several things can fail

3 The cue-light board

4 Call the show

The verdict follows a fixed rule: rework if the talk runs more than 10% past the slot or red segments carry more than half of it; go if it fits the slot with nothing red; hold otherwise. The cues keep the page's times, name no product or brand, and add nothing your running order and notes do not say.

Pricing as soon as the session is ready...

5 Kept cue sheets

How the book is worked out

Segments run in the order you typed them, so each one starts when the one before ends; the total is compared with the slot, and the red rule in the book marks where the slot runs out. Each need you list is matched to a short list (internet, live software, a login and a video call count 3; video, sound, presenter notes and a cable count 2; slides, a mic, a clicker, power, props, another person and anything else count 1). A segment adding up to 5 or more is red, 2 to 4 amber, 0 or 1 green. These weights are a rough rule of thumb, shown as an estimate of fragility, not a measurement. On the board, a lamp is red when a need that counts 2 or more carries at least half the talk. Nothing here touches your slides or devices; it is arithmetic on what you typed.