PULTEVENT
Second screen for events: 7 things the audience sees and the host controls
A wedding in a converted barn, the speeches just finished. The best man plugged his laptop into the projector for a slideshow of the groom's worst haircuts, and for about forty seconds before the first photo, two hundred guests got a clear view of his inbox, a browser tab titled "speech jokes clean version" and a chat window where his brother was typing "mate hurry up". The haircuts got a laugh. The tab got a bigger one.
★ Free for the first 3 days, no card required
That's the argument for a second screen in one scene. The people in the room should see the stage, and only the stage. The person running the evening needs to see much more: what comes next, the correct answer before it's revealed, the scores, the playlist, a note that the caterer wants five more minutes.
PULTEVENT is built around exactly that split. The host console runs in a laptop browser and stays on the laptop's own screen. The stage window goes to the projector or TV. A third view, on the guests' phones, shows only their own buttons after they scan a QR code, and those phones need internet to work. Below is what each of the three screens shows for the most common parts of an event.
7 parts of an event, split between host and audience
1 Welcome screen
The audience sees a full-screen splash: the couple's or company's photo, a caption with names and the date, maybe a slideshow. The host sees the same preview small, plus buttons for confetti, fanfare or salute effects.
How to run it. Set the caption the day before and check the spelling of every name on the big screen, not just the laptop.
The first thing a guest sees when they walk in tells them someone planned this.
2 Quiz questions
The room sees the question and the four options with a timer. The host has the controls to move on and reveal, with the answer key already on the laptop, since you wrote it.
How to run it. Watch the room, not the laptop. When the last table stops arguing, reveal.
You never have to squint at a printed answer sheet or read the answer out by accident.
3 Live voting
The room sees the question on the big screen and bars growing as votes arrive. The host decides when to close the vote and show the winner.
How to run it. For sensitive votes (best dressed, best speech) close the vote quickly and move on with a joke.
You pick the moment of the reveal, so it lands when the room is paying attention.
4 Team scoreboard
The audience sees team names and points when you choose to show them, ending with an awards ceremony. The host keeps the scores up to date between rounds.
How to run it. Show the scoreboard at the end of each round, not constantly, so it stays an event.
When scores appear only at your chosen moments, every reveal gets a reaction.
5 Video clips
The audience sees a full-screen clip: a welcome message, the couple's entrance video, a greeting from a relative abroad. On the laptop, each clip is a one-tap button, with a loop option for background videos.
How to run it. Order the buttons in the sequence of the evening. You'll be pressing them in a hurry.
No hunting through folders with two hundred people watching your file browser.
6 Breaks and countdowns
During a break the audience sees a break screen with a countdown to the next part. The host sees the evening's timing and what's due next.
How to run it. Set the break slightly shorter than you need. People always come back late.
Guests stop asking the host when things start, because the wall tells them.
7 Room-wide games
The audience sees a 3D race, the horse race or the tree being decorated, while players control it from their phones. The host starts, stops and restarts rounds.
How to run it. Ask for a show of hands from anyone still scanning before you press start.
Waiting ten seconds for the last three players costs nothing and saves three sulks.
Host view on the laptop
Running order, next item, your script, scores and controls. The room never sees it.
Audience view on the big screen
Clean, full-screen stage: names, questions, videos, games, countdowns.
Player view on phones
Answer buttons, votes and game controls, in each guest's phone language.
One laptop runs all three
An extended display and a browser. No second computer, no operator at the back.
How to make the laptop a second screen
Plug the laptop into the projector or TV with HDMI, then open the display settings and pick extend instead of mirror or duplicate. The big screen becomes a separate desktop. Move the stage window onto it and switch it to full screen. From now on, whatever you do on the laptop's own display stays private.
If you're not sure which screen is which, the display settings let you identify them, and on most laptops the external screen sits to the right by default. Drag the window off the right-hand edge and it lands on the projector.
What the host console actually gives you
The console is the laptop's half of the split. It holds the sections you've prepared for the evening, from splash screens and quizzes to the video buttons and the DJ deck, so moving from a toast to a game is one click. You can also open and edit your script document there, which means the running order and your notes live in the same window as the controls.
It's the difference between presenting and hosting. Presenting is a sequence of slides. Hosting means the plan changes: speeches overrun, the cake comes early, the groom's uncle requests a song. The host view lets you skip, reorder and improvise while the stage keeps looking tidy.
Phones are the third screen
Everything the audience touches goes through their phone: answering, voting, steering a car. It opens in the browser after they scan the QR code on the big screen, with no app and no account. Each phone shows the interface in its own language by default, which helps in a mixed room, and the host can switch that off.
All of this depends on the phones having internet, through the venue Wi-Fi or mobile data. At a venue with weak signal, ask for the Wi-Fi details in advance and put them on the welcome screen.
When the event is online
For a remote or hybrid event, share the stage window in a video call. Remote guests see the audience view and play from their phones, exactly like people in the room, while you keep the host view to yourself.
Rehearse with both screens
The mistakes happen at the edges: a window left on the wrong screen, a pop-up notification, a video that plays sound through the laptop instead of the room. A single rehearsal on the real screen catches all of them.
"Can they see this?"
"Only if you drag it right."
The free 3-day demo, no card required, is enough time to set up the split and rehearse it. The full version is a one-time license, no subscription; pricing at pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to set up a host view and an audience view
- 1
Connect the laptop to the projector or TV with an HDMI cable.
- 2
In the display settings choose extend, not mirror.
- 3
Open the host console on the laptop and the stage window on the big screen, full screen.
- 4
Turn on do-not-disturb so nothing pops up during the event.
- 5
Put the QR code on the stage so guests can join from their phones.
- 6
Rehearse a full sequence: welcome screen, one game, one video, a break screen.
FAQ
What is a second screen at an event?
Do I need two computers?
Can the audience ever see the host console?
Can I see the right answers before the room does?
What do guests see on their phones?
Can a second person run the console?
Is there a free trial?
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.
Start free