Helmo Rundown
Plan. Coordinate. Execute. Build rundowns inside your Shows — organize Segments, Stories and Elements with timing and automated execution, and take them to air.
30 articles
Getting Started
Learn the fundamentals of Helmo Rundown and build your first show plan.
- What is Helmo Rundown?Helmo Rundown is the show coordination module for planning a broadcast in advance and executing it live.
- Your first rundown: step-by-step tutorialBuild and run your first rundown, from an empty list to on air: segment, story, element, ready, pre-flight, go live.
- Understanding the hierarchy: Segment → Story → ElementHow a rundown is structured into segments, stories and elements, and where the Show sits above it.
Managing Rundowns
Create, configure, and manage the lifecycle of your rundowns.
- Creating a new rundownStart a rundown inside a Show, choose when it starts (Live Now, Schedule, Repeat or Timeslot) and configure its settings.
- Rundown status flow: Draft to CompletedDraft, Ready, Live and Completed, and why Ready arms the show instead of just changing a label.
- Duplicating a rundownClone an existing rundown to reuse its structure, and learn what is and is not copied.
Building the Rundown
Add segments, stories and elements to plan your broadcast.
- Adding segments (blocks, breaks and setup)Organize your show into content segments, ad breaks and pre-air setup blocks, and control how long each lasts.
- Creating stories within segmentsAdd stories inside a segment, understand the story clock every element is timed against, and copy or move stories.
- Adding elements to a storyAttach graphics, clips, camera actions and streaming actions to a story, and set when each starts and how long it stays on air.
- Element types: VO, VIDEO, GFX, LIVE, AUDIO, FULLSCREENWhat each element type (GFX, VIDEO, VO, LIVE, AUDIO, FULLSCREEN) does and when to use it.
Element Timing
Control when each element enters and how long it holds the air.
- When an element starts: At a set time, With previous, After previousThe three start modes for a rundown element, how to choose what it follows, and the two cases that fall back to their own time.
- How long an element lasts: for a set time or until the story endsDurations, clip modes, breathing room and the warnings worth reading when you set how long an element holds the air.
- Linking elements to integrationsConnect rundown elements to Helmo Graphics or external platforms so they send commands automatically when they execute.
Going Live
Take the rundown to air and run it.
- The pre-flight checkPre-flight tells you right now whether your show would actually go to air: screens, cached media, integrations and rundown contents.
- The GO LIVE button: what happensWhat changes when you press Go Live, what should already be done before it, and what to know once the rundown is live.
- Play / Pause controlsPause and resume show execution at any time, and what Pause does and does not do to what is on air.
- Navigating: Next, Previous, SkipManual navigation controls during a live show: Next, Story and Seg buttons, GO in semi-auto, and suspending elements before air.
- Auto mode vs. Manual modeAuto, Manual and Semi-auto decide how the show advances from one block to the next while it is on air.
- Editing a rundown that is Ready or on airHow the padlock works, and why changes to a Ready or on-air rundown are not live until you push them.
- The NextCall CountdownA visual countdown showing what is happening now in your live show and what comes next.
- The END RUNDOWN buttonHow ending a rundown stops execution, releases the screens and keeps the logs, and how End differs from Reset.
Advanced Features
Power-user features for complex productions.
- How the engine runs your showArming, the story clock and the start gate: the execution model behind Helmo Rundown.
- What is persistent execution?Persistent execution keeps your show running on Helmo Live's servers even if you close your browser; the output screen must stay open.
- Rundowns running with browser closedWhat keeps running, what waits and what to expect when you close the rundown page during a live show and reopen it.
- Enabling loop modeRepeat your rundown from the top after the last element finishes, without ever ending the run.
- Setting up a recurring rundownConfigure a rundown that repeats on a schedule so regular broadcasts start without anyone pressing a button.
- Post-rundown: reviewing execution logsUse the Logs tab to see real IN and OUT times, screen delay, API request detail and attribution after the show.
Troubleshooting
Fix common issues with rundown execution.
- Elements not triggering graphicsElements fire but nothing appears on screen: a checklist covering screens, published packages, integrations, timing, media and unsent changes.
- Rundown is stuck in Live statusClose out a rundown that will not leave Live: press End, check for a pending GO, use Reset, or contact support.
- Persistent execution not workingTroubleshoot a show that does not keep running after you close the browser: refresh, check status, connection, GO waits and screens.