Docs

Schedule & Activities

How to set up your event calendar with timeframes and activities, and why starting with timeframes makes everything easier.

You probably already know your event dates, load-in windows, and load-out schedule. Getting those on the calendar early gives your whole team a shared reference point — and helps you navigate the schedule without losing track of where things fall.

Start with timeframes. Then add activities.

Start with Timeframes

Timeframes are full-day markers on your calendar that serve as jump points in the left-hand sidebar. They don't represent specific activities — they're navigation anchors.

Without timeframes, moving between different phases of a multi-week event means scrolling or typing dates manually. With timeframes, you click once and the calendar jumps directly to that window.

A simple starting set:

  • Load-In — the period when your team is setting up
  • Event Days — the actual event dates
  • Load-Out — the period after the event

You can also add timeframes for site visits, travel, rehearsals, or any other major milestones that help you navigate the timeline.

Open the timeframe menu

In the top right corner of the calendar, click the small dropdown arrow next to the New Activity button. Select New Timeframe.

Set it as an all-day event

Most timeframes work best as full-day or multi-day blocks rather than specific time slots. This keeps them clearly visible as navigation markers rather than looking like a regular scheduled activity.

Name it and save

Give the timeframe a clear name (Load-In, Event Days, etc.) and set the date range. It will appear in the left sidebar as a clickable jump point.

Creating Activities

Once your timeframes are in place, start adding activities for everything you know is scheduled.

You can create activities two ways:

  • Click and drag directly on the calendar to set the time and duration
  • Click New Activity in the top right corner to open a creation form

For each activity, you can:

  • Add notes or a description
  • Tag crew members as participants
  • Tag areas to associate the activity with specific spaces

You don't need to fill everything in at once. Add what you know — dates, rough timing, key attendees — and come back to add detail as the event takes shape.

Tagging crew members and areas to activities is what makes rollup views useful later. A crew member can see everything on the schedule that involves them. A stage manager can filter the entire calendar down to their area. The more consistently you tag, the more the schedule does for you.

Next: Files

Learn how BackOps organizes your files and how to collect documents from collaborators.