PULTEVENT
Event host software: 8 things one console does during a live event
A fortieth birthday in the back room of a restaurant, some years ago. My setup at the time: a laptop for the slides, a phone running the music, a tablet with a quiz on it, a printed running order with a coffee ring on it, and a tangle of cables under a folding table. Halfway through the toasts, the slides froze and the music kept going. I stood there holding the microphone, and I remember deciding it would be the last night I ran on four devices.
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That night is why this console exists. I'm a working host, and I built the tool I wanted at my own events: one browser tab on one laptop that drives everything the room sees on the big screen, while I see the controls, the notes and what comes next. The audience never watches me searching for a file.
The console runs in a laptop browser. A second window, the stage, goes to the projector or TV over HDMI. When guests need to take part, they scan a QR code and use their own phones, with no app and no account; those phones need internet. Here are the eight jobs the console does for me on a typical night, from the doors opening to the last song.
Eight things the console handles during a live event
1 Splash screens as guests arrive
The event name, the couple's or the birthday person's name and photos on the big screen while people find their seats.
How to run it. Set the event title and a background photo before you leave home. On arrival you plug in and it's already there.
The room looks prepared from the first minute, and you look like the person who prepared it.
2 The running order
Event timing holds the plan for the night: arrival, first dance, speeches, dinner, cake. You see what's next and when it's due.
How to run it. Enter the timings you agreed with the client and the venue. Check them against the kitchen before service, not during.
The catering manager asks how long until the main course, and you answer without flicking through paper.
3 Break screens
Dinner, a photo session, bringing out the cake: each break goes on screen with its name and length, and you can add custom ones.
How to run it. Choose the break quietly; the big screen keeps the event title until you announce it.
Guests know when to come back from the terrace, and you don't have to shout it three times.
4 Client slides that behave
Upload the client's PPTX and it plays on the stage window, with on-click animations and embedded video.
How to run it. Ask for the deck a day early and upload it at home. Large files with video take a few minutes to prepare.
No more borrowing the venue's computer or plugging in a stranger's laptop ten minutes before the CEO speaks.
5 Quizzes answered from phones
Questions on the big screen, answers from guests' phones, scores shown straight away. Use ready-made decks or build your own with pictures, audio and video.
How to run it. Write rounds about the client: the couple's story, the company's history. Built-in decks are mostly Russian today, so English rounds go in the builder.
The quiz block goes from a paper-and-pencil chore to the part of the night guests mention in the thank-you email.
6 Live votes
Guests vote from their phones, and the result goes on screen only when you press the button.
How to run it. Use votes to make the audience decide small things: the next game, the best costume, the song for the last dance.
A room that decided something feels ownership of the night. A hidden result gives you a pause to play with.
7 A DJ deck in the same window
Two decks, a crossfader, EQ and set recording, so the host who also covers music doesn't need a separate laptop or controller.
How to run it. Prepare the track library for the night in advance and keep game music separate from the dinner playlist.
One less device on the table, and music cues sit right next to the game they belong to.
8 Closing credits
The night ends like a film: photos changing on one side, names rising on the other. Headings in capitals become roles, lines below become names.
How to run it. Write the credits the afternoon before. Put the hosts of the party at the top and every guest somewhere in the list.
Guests film the screen looking for their own name. It's the last thing they see and the first thing they share.
Console for you, stage for them
Your screen shows controls and notes. The projector shows only what the room should see, full screen, fitted to the display.
103 sections in one place
Splash screens, timing, slides, quizzes, votes, games, music and credits live in the same console. Guests join once and follow you from section to section.
Your events, saved
Guests, teams, questions and running order are saved to your account, so a repeat client or a similar event starts from what you built last time.
Bought once
A one-time license, no subscription, after a free 3-day demo.
What a host actually needs from software
Speed and calm. When a speech runs long or a best man disappears, I need to jump to a different block in two clicks without the room seeing the menu. The split between console and stage is what makes that possible. The audience only sees the stage window, which fits itself to the TV or projector when it opens.
I also need the guests to join without a speech about downloading apps. One QR code, and every phone in the room is connected until the end of the night. If someone's phone dies and comes back within ten minutes, they keep their place.
Beyond the eight basics
The console holds 103 sections in total. For a wedding there's Guess the Photo with baby pictures and a guest wheel. For an office party there's a points board, True or False, charades, a karaoke battle and a team scoreboard with an awards ceremony. When the room needs noise, there are 3D games everyone plays at once from their phones: Drift Arena for up to twelve cars, Horse Race, Decorate the Tree, bowling.
You won't use all of them at one event. I use eight to twelve on a typical night and a different mix the next weekend.
Online and remote segments
When part of the audience is remote, share the stage window in whatever video call is in use. Remote guests scan the code from their screens and play from their phones, the same as the room. It suits anniversary toasts with relatives on another continent just as well as a company all-hands.
The limits, stated plainly
The laptop and every guest's phone need internet. There's no offline mode, so at any new venue I test the Wi-Fi from a phone in the far corner and keep mobile data as a fallback.
The host console is being localized into English right now. Guest screens follow each guest's phone language. Ready-made quiz decks are mostly Russian, so English-speaking hosts will build their own rounds, which, for client-specific questions, you'd do anyway.
License and demo
Run a full rehearsal on the free 3-day demo, no card required. If you keep it, it's a one-time license, no subscription, with pricing at https://pultevent.ru/en/. Start at https://pultevent.ru/login.html?mode=register&next=/app/
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted events since 2014: more than 500 weddings, office parties and birthdays. TOP 100 Awards named him best host in Moscow in 2024 and in Saint Petersburg in 2023, and he still runs his own nights from this console. More at pultevent.ru/en.
How to run an event from one laptop
- 1
Create the event in the console with its title, guest names and photos.
- 2
Enter the running order and set up the breaks you'll need.
- 3
Upload the client's slides and build any quiz rounds and votes.
- 4
Prepare the music for the DJ deck and write the closing credits.
- 5
At the venue, connect to the projector or TV and test Wi-Fi from a phone.
- 6
Show the QR code as guests arrive and run the night from the console.
FAQ
Is this software for professional MCs or for anyone?
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See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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