Here are ten tips to help ensure that your guests enjoy your event and look forward to your next invitation.
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| Service Photo: Collected |
1. It’s almost impossible to have too many greeters posted at and
around your event. Have people right inside the door or in the building
lobby. Don’t just put up signs and expect people to find their way. Have
people in the elevator lobbies to greet people when they come in from
the parking garage and to direct them to the floor where the meeting is
being held. Be prepared to direct attendees to bathrooms and coat-check
as well.
2. Make sure your greeters are enthusiastic! Help each guest feel
that everyone involved with the event is sincerely happy they are
attending. (This is a great place for your most extroverted volunteers
or colleagues.)
3. Station greeters all along the path to the meeting room,
especially anywhere an attendee might take a wrong turn. Don’t skimp on
the signs, either. In an unfamiliar setting, some people will focus on
visual cues, while others will look for someone to ask for directions.
Have plenty of both!
4. Treat everyone like a VIP. Speed them through the check-in to get
their badges, take coats, offer a drink, and make it easy to enter any
drawings/raffles. If it’s a visual event like an art show or if you have
live pre-event entertainment, have people who can guide newcomers to
where the action is. If there’s food and drink, cue the wait staff to
make sure newcomers are approached soon after they clear the badge
station, so they don’t have to wander around looking for refreshments.
5. Have staffers greet customer by name and steer them into the thick
of things. Think in advance who might want to be introduced to whom,
and be ready to make that happen.
6. Make sure every guest gets some of your time. Treat first-timers as warmly as your very best clients.
7. Thank them for coming. Appreciation can’t be overdone. Let them
know how glad you are they came, and make sure your team knows that
people are their first priority.
8. Inevitably, there will be some confused people wandering around
looking lost, or some wallflowers standing to the side. Be inclusive.
Assign a few people to make the rounds of the room’s perimeter, and
train them to begin conversations or offer to help wallflowers find a
seat, get refreshments or meet people.
9. Regardless of their other tasks, everyone’s job should be to make
invited guests feel included, welcomed and taken care of. Let your
people know that taking care of a guest is top priority, even if it
causes a delay with other tasks.
10. Again, thank people for coming. Let them know their presence
mattered and made a difference. Listen to them talk about what they got
out of the event. Don’t be in a hurry. Make them feel like they are the
most important person in the world. Ask for and appreciate their
feedback—good and bad—because it will help you create a better next
event.
