Show dictionary · Production Management
Strike
Also: load-out · out · teardown
Strike is the teardown at the end of a production: dismantling the set, packing equipment, and restoring the venue, in the reverse order of load-in. As a verb, to "strike" something is to remove it from the stage ("strike the podium after the keynote").
In practice
Strike runs load-in in reverse: floor packages and backline out first, then video, audio, and lighting, with rigging last because the room must be empty below before points come down. Trucks get packed in reverse of how the next city needs them.
The word carries two scales: the full post-show teardown ("strike starts at 10 PM, we are out by 4 AM") and small in-show moves ("strike the band gear during the awards segment").
"Load-out" and "strike" overlap in casual use; where a distinction is drawn, strike is the dismantling and load-out is the physical loading of trucks.
How you’ll hear it
"As soon as the CEO clears the stage, strike the confidence monitors."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.