What Is a Show Timer? A Guide to Countdown Clocks and Stage Time
Every stage manager, AV tech and conference producer eventually needs one. Here's what a show timer actually does, and why it's not the same thing as a countdown clock you'd find in a random app store.
What is a show timer?
A show timer is a purpose-built countdown display used to run the timing of a live event from backstage or a control booth — a conference, a theatre production, a corporate keynote, a broadcast segment. It shows the presenter or the crew exactly how much time is left, usually on a screen that only production can see (a "confidence monitor"), sometimes on a second screen the audience sees too.
The defining feature isn't the countdown itself — anyone can build a countdown clock. It's everything around the countdown: presets for different segment lengths, the ability to add or cut time live without the audience noticing, colour warnings as a speaker runs over, remote control from a phone or tablet, and a way to push that timer to whatever screen, video mixer or lighting console the show actually uses.
Show timer vs. a plain countdown clock
A basic countdown clock — the kind you'd find as a free web timer or a phone app — counts down from a number to zero and stops. That's genuinely useful for a lot of things: a workout interval, a classroom activity, a five-minute Q&A. KUMA Timer ships one of those too, as a free browser-based countdown timer with no installer and no sign-up.
A show timer has to survive contact with a live audience. That means:
- Adjusting on the fly. A speaker is running four minutes long — you need to add time to the display without it visibly jumping or resetting.
- Multiple named segments. "Welcome" (5:00), "Keynote" (25:00), "Panel" (20:00), "Q&A" (10:00) — queued up and triggered in sequence, not re-typed each time.
- Remote control. The person watching the clock (stage manager, floor manager) is rarely the person standing at the laptop. Control needs to work from an iPad or phone in the wings.
- Output flexibility. The same countdown often needs to appear on a confidence monitor, a broadcast graphics layer via NDI, a wireless LED panel on a lectern, and a web page for remote speakers — simultaneously.
- Integration with the rest of the show. Show control systems (QLab, Bitfocus Companion, OSC, TCP/UDP) trigger or follow the timer instead of running on a separate, disconnected clock.
Why stage time matters
Stage time is the discipline of keeping every segment of a live event inside its allotted window — the difference between a conference that finishes on schedule and one that bleeds fifteen minutes into the coffee break, or a broadcast segment that either pads awkwardly or gets cut off mid-sentence. Nobody in the audience thinks about stage time when it's being managed well. Everybody notices when it isn't.
A dedicated show timer is what makes stage time manageable in practice. Without one, timing discipline depends on someone eyeballing a wristwatch from the wings — which works until the one day it doesn't.
What to look for in a show timer
| Need | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Presets & a cuesheet | Reload the next segment's length in one tap instead of re-typing digits between speakers. |
| Live time adjustment | Add or cut time without a visible jump — the audience-facing display should never look like it glitched. |
| Remote / wireless control | The operator is rarely at the same laptop as the display. iPad, phone or web control matters more than the desktop UI. |
| Multiple simultaneous outputs | Confidence monitor, broadcast graphics (NDI), wireless LED/LCD panels, web mirror for remote presenters — often all at once. |
| Show control integration | OSC, Bitfocus Companion, QLab/Mitti follow, TCP/UDP — so the timer isn't an island separate from lighting, video and sound cues. |
| Reliability under pressure | It's running live, in front of people, with no do-overs. Frame-accurate timing and graceful degradation matter more than extra features. |
Try KUMA Timer as your show timer
KUMA Timer was built specifically for this job: a stage countdown clock with presets, a drag-drop cuesheet, live time adjustment (Time Glide and Time Jump), remote control from an iOS Companion app or any browser, and outputs across NDI, OMT, wireless LED/LCD displays, OSC and Bitfocus Companion — all from one program on Mac, Windows or a Raspberry Pi kiosk.