Table Host Instructions (Samples Included)

Have you ever gone skydiving?

Most often, first-time skydivers have an experienced jumper on their back. Yes, this jumping buddy will make sure the shoot deploys at the right time and that the rookie sticks their landing, but many times they also help the jumper to... well... jump.

If you’re using Attendance for your event this year, then you’ve got a powerful tool at your fingertips—one that has great potential to shave hours of time off your event planning, and give you accurate stats to refer to for future events. When Attendance is used to its full capacity, your workload is cut down significantly (and who wouldn’t love that?)!

One powerful feature in Attendance is the Guest List Manager. This empowers your hosts to manage their guest lists online, instead of contacting you with every change!

Like a skydiving buddy, you’ll want to act as a coach for your table hosts as you help them “jump” into this new process for giving you their guest list. You can unlock the power of those table hosts by teaching them how to use the tools placed before them. The more you encourage table hosts to utilize the tools at hand, the less time you’ll spend updating your RSVPs. 

A helpful tool to help your table hosts “jump” is a Table Host Packet. You might distribute this at a meeting with your hosts, or simply give it to a host when they agree to invite potential partners to sit at their table.

What should a Table Host Packet contain? I’m so glad you asked!

Table Host Packet Components:

Note that this article and the below samples refer to Table Hosts for in-person events, however, the Host Manager Feature is available for any Attendance event. The process is the same, but the terms you use would be slightly different for other event types (ie “home hosts” for virtual events or “Team Captains” for Golf Tournaments).

  1. Cover Letter + Instructions (Download Sample)

  2. Printed Invitations

  3. Note Cards to include with Invitations

  4. Brochures and/or Organization Statistics to help your hosts share about your cause with their potential guests

  5. "Online Registration Manager" Instructions (Download Sample)

    • These printed instructions for an online tool are kind of ironic, but very effective

    • Note that the QR code on these printed instructions reveals a tutorial video for hosts.
      Note: Recording a video that is unique to your organization is simple! Simply register yourself as a host to the event, then record! Many of our videos are recorded with Loom - check out this article for more on that.

    • To create a document like this, take screenshots of your Guest List Manager Page using the snipping tool on a PC (See how: Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 | Windows 11), or this simple key command on a Mac, then add graphics and text in an editing tool. (I used Canva. More info on that here.)

If I can encourage you in one thing, it’s to resist the urge to enable your hosts. The easy thing to do when the phone rings is to take the names of your host’s guests, but if you do this you’re missing an opportunity for a teachable moment. One that will save you hours (if not days) of time down the road.

Instead of taking the name of the guests, encourage your host to use the Guest List Manager Page, and maybe even take a minute to walk them through it. The "you" the week before the event will thank the "you" who guided your hosts early on (because let’s be honest—their list will probably change a few times before event day).

Happy event planning!

Crystal Hoag

This article was inspired by our customers and written to encourage your fundraising efforts. Although we work with nonprofits and events daily, our team members are not Event Consultants. We encourage you to consult with your event consultant, executive team, and/or affiliate organization before making any major changes to your events.

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