Rehearsal vs run-through: what the crew needs from you

By Alastair Greener, presenter of Present Yourself in a Minute · Updated 5 November 2026

A run-through and a rehearsal are different sessions with different owners. The run-through belongs to the technical team, who check that the slides, sound and cameras work in the order the talk will run. The rehearsal belongs to you, the time you spend getting the words, timing and movement right. Mixing the two wastes the crew's time and leaves your practice unfinished.

What each session is for

• Run-through. The AV team checks the slides, the cues, the sound and the picture. The speaker arrives ready and tops and tails the talk so the team knows where it starts and ends.
• Rehearsal. The speaker practises the talk out loud, with timing, pauses and movement. Use a timer, and run the talk from start to end without stopping.

Present Yourself's advice is to treat the run-through as the place for the technology, and to arrive ready. The crew checks the slides, and you check your own words.

What to bring to the run-through

• A clean slide file, saved in the format the team has asked for, with a copy on a second device.
• Your opening and closing lines marked in the script, so the team knows where the talk starts and stops.
• Any video or audio you plan to play, tested on the same computer you will use on the day.
• A list of the slide cues, if the talk relies on them.
• Your notes, printed or on a second screen, in the order you will use them.

What to ask before you arrive

For hybrid and remote events, Present Yourself suggests asking the team the questions that matter most to the picture and the sound:

1. Where are the cameras, and will you be shown in wide shots or close ups?
2. How will the slides appear to the room and to the people watching remotely?
3. How will the remote audience see and hear you?
4. Has the provider run events like this before, and is there a trial run?

Ask what sound and screens the venue has, and whether the team has tested the link to the remote audience before the day.

Common mistakes

• Rehearsing your words in the run-through. The crew needs to check the cues, not hear the talk for the first time.
• Leaving the top and tail until the day. The team cannot set up the opening slide if they do not know it is coming.
• Not asking where the cameras are. A speaker who faces the wrong way on the day cannot be fixed by the crew.
• Assuming the slides look the same on the room screen. Test the slides on the screen in the room, not only on a laptop.

For the rehearsal itself, record yourself and review, and then take feedback that helps into the next run. If you are commissioning the technical side of a live or hybrid event, the live events and streaming page sets out what the production team handles.

Related guides

• Record yourself and review: a self-review sheet
• Feedback that helps: celebrate and fix
• All guides and tools

The picture at the top of this page is an illustration, not a photograph of a client or a real job.