Run a calmer show, step by step

Your first event in five steps

1. Create a free account at app.presentmgr.com and make a workspace for your company or team.
2. Create your event. A title and a date is all it takes. Start from a template (conference, panel, awards, pitch day, workshop, training) or from scratch, and add rooms whenever you like.
3. Add your speakers and invite them. Each one gets a private page to upload slides and fill in their details. How to add speakers.
4. Build the run of show with durations, walk-ups and breaks. How to time it.
5. Link your show Mac and Go Live. Bring the files to the show computer before you arrive, then run each talk with one button. How to set up the Mac.

Invite your team under Team. Choose what each person can edit, or limit a coordinator to the events they look after.

Add your speakers

Open Speakers in the dashboard and choose your event. Three ways in, mix and match:

1. Set a file deadline. Reminders go out on their own before it and stop when a file arrives.
2. Click Invite … not yet invited. Each speaker gets an email with their private page and calendar dates. No account needed.
3. Watch files arrive. Preview each one, then Approve it or Send back with a note.

Plans change: use a speaker's ••• menu to move their sessions, move them to another event, or remove them. Their presentations stay credited to them.

Time the run of show to the second

Open Run of show in the sidebar and pick your event (or edit your event and open the Run of show step). Each room is a lane; talks, panels, breaks, lunch, host segments, videos and cues are cards you can drag.

1. Set the first start time. Everything after it flows, so when one item changes, the rest update.
2. Give each item a duration, typed like a timer: 20:00, 7:30 or 0:45. Or set the end time and the duration follows.
3. Add walk-up and walk-off: the time to walk on and be introduced, and to clear the stage. The next item starts when the stage is clear.
4. Add breaks and cues for lights, audio, video and walk-up music. They show up for the crew on the show Mac.
5. Short on time? Auto-fill times spaces talks, changeovers and breaks for you.

Already have a schedule in a spreadsheet? Download the CSV template, fill it in and import it. The same file works for your speaker list.

Schedule rehearsals and calls

Tech rehearsals, speaker briefings and venue walkthroughs belong on everyone's calendar. Open Schedule in the sidebar.

1. Add an item: what it is, when, where or the video-call link, and notes.
2. Invite people: speakers from your event (or everyone on a session at once), your team, or guests by email.
3. Send the invitations. Everyone gets a calendar invite listing who's invited, with Going and Can't make it buttons. Answers show next to each name.
4. Change it any time. Updates go to everyone who hasn't said no, cancelling removes it from their calendars, and a reminder goes out the day before.

Set up the show Mac

The show Mac plays the slides in PowerPoint or Keynote and runs the show on the venue network. Do this a few days before the event.

1. Install the PresentMGR app on the Mac: download it here, open the installer, then open PresentMGR from Applications and allow Accessibility when asked.
2. Link it to your workspace. In the dashboard: Show computers → Add show computer. On the Mac: Go Live → Link this computer, and type the code.
3. Bring the event. On the Mac, choose the event and Bring setup and latest files. Do it again before doors open to pick up late changes.
4. Run the Go Live checklist: computer, event and room, files, presenter phones. Each turns green when it's ready.
5. Test a phone. Scan a presenter's QR code with your own phone on the venue Wi-Fi and click through a few slides.

Open Settings on the Mac for a 10-step room checklist: displays, sound, Do Not Disturb, keeping the Mac awake and backups.

Run the show from a laptop, iPad or phone

The show Mac keeps playing the slides. Any laptop, iPad or phone on the same network can be a second show desk, with Go Live, Show next, the running order, timers, cues and taking control. Useful in the booth, at front of house or backstage. Nothing goes over the internet, and there's nothing to install.

1. Same network. Put the show Mac and the other device on the same Wi-Fi or wired network.
2. Get a code on the show Mac. Open PresentMGR → Show desk (top menu) → Pair a laptop, iPad or phone. You'll see a 6-digit code, a QR code and the Mac's address. The code works once, for 5 minutes.
3. Join from the other device.
   • Laptop: open Safari, Chrome, Edge or Firefox and type the address shown on the Mac. It looks like http://192.168.1.20:4310/desk. Then type the code and choose Join the show desk.
   • iPad or phone: scan the QR code with the camera, then tap Join the show desk.

The device stays a desk until you remove it on the Mac (Show desk → Paired devices → Remove), and it reconnects by itself if the Wi-Fi blips. Every desk can take control, so only pair devices your team holds.

Presenters don't need this. They get their own phone link for their talk, with their notes, timer and Next button.

Speaking at a PresentMGR event?

You'll get an email with your private page. No account or password needed. On it you can:

1. Upload your slides in the format the event asks for, usually PowerPoint or Keynote. Replace them any time; every version is kept.
2. Edit your speaker notes. They appear in large type on your phone during your talk.
3. Say how to introduce you: your name and title on screen, and a line for the host.
4. Add videos and links and the slide they follow. The crew opens them at that moment.
5. Start a rehearsal at home: slides on your laptop, your phone as the clicker, timed.
6. On the day, tap I'm here when you arrive, join the venue Wi-Fi, and open your show phone link.

Speak often? A free speaker kit keeps your bio, headshot and decks ready. On any event's page, use Fill in from my kit.