Role Objectives

Description of Role

As its name suggests, this role is about hospitality and making people feel welcome. The Hospitality person is the first face most people see on arriving at the meeting and thus help form their first impressions of the meeting.

The main requirements are to be friendly and orderly.

Preparation

Arrive at the meeting early to assist set up the Hospitality Desk.

There is no need to bring change as this usually sorts itself out as people arrive but if you pay your exact Breakfast Fee first this will provide some change.

Check with the President if there are any guests for whom a Breakfast Fee will not apply - eg Special Guests, Judges etc.- first time guests are always allowed in no charge.

Bring a pen to the meeting.

Timing

Try to be at the venue at 6:30 to set up and stay at the desk to assist late arrivals until 7:10. then rejoin the meeting. At the break or immediately after the meeting, give the Register and fees to the Treasurer.

Procedure

All the Hospitality Desk gear is in the White Box (WB), the box containing all the club's equipment stored at the venue.

Ensure that you have the Attendance Register ready for use. There are blank Registers in the WB, but if there are a lot of guests expected, the VP Membership may supply a special one with names already inserted.

Lay out the name badges (these are stored in the white box also) on the desk ready for arriving members and guests to uplift. In the event of a badge not being available, use one of the spares stored on the separate file or write up a new one from the blanks. Ideally, everyone at the meeting should have a badge.

As people arrive, greet them warmly. Make sure the Visitor Book is ready for use and ensure all first time guests are written up. Phone and email information for guests is important. Obtain email addresses (rather than street addresses) so that guests can receive notices of future meetings

Place the Visitor Packs near at hand on the Hospitality Desk, ready for dispensing to first time visitors. Ask visitors if they have visited Northrise previously. If the new arrival is a first time guest, make sure they have a free Visitor Pack to take away with them. They need not pay if they are visiting for the first time.

If you find that you owe someone change, make a note against their name to that effect and then rule it out when you later pay them. Don't rely on memory as things can get quite busy.

After the registration process, ensure the arrival is equipped with a badge.

Guests need to have the lay of the land explained. Preferably, introduce your guest to a member who can explain about breakfast etc but if no member is available, this will fall on you. It isn't really enough just to give guests a smile, a badge, a Visitor Pack, thank them for their payment and just turn them loose. Many guests are apprehensive enough without having to go through that.

It is handy to know the location of the Ladies and Mens.

Some guests or new members state that they don't require food or drink and ask if they canavoid paying for catering. Unfortunately we are unable to give free admission to guests or members who request this because our arrangement with the venue is that we pay based on a head count, rather than what is consumed. If this is likely to cause any embarassment at all, just ask the President to assist you. The exception is first time visitors who need not pay.

Keep an eye on the front door for the first half of the meeting and intercept any late arrivals. It is useful if you use your early arrival to arrange a seat in the meeting that allows you to do this without having to jog around the seated masses to greet any stragglers. Don't stay seated at the door, join the meeting as soon as possible.

You will be asked to address the meeting very early in the piece to introduce the guests. Be ready for this so that you can deliver without fluster when you are called upon to do so. Usually there is a specific item on the agenda "Introduction of Guests" where this is done. When asked by the meeting Chairman to do so, go to the front of the meeting and Introduce each guest to the meeting by name (eg "Mr Chairman, this morning we have as guests.......and......").

It is a nice touch if you can indicate if the guests are attending for the first time or if they are returning guests and then extend a one or two sentence welcome to the guests (eg a variation on "Thank you for coming along this morning and we very much hope that you enjoy the meeting"). If the guest is a visiting Toastmaster from another club, or a special guest General Evaluator, Guest Speaker or Contest Judge this should be mentioned in your welcome address.

Total up the door receipts and make sure they balance with the number of attendees - do a head count. Take the receipts and the Attendance Register to the Treasurer at the break or at the end of the meeting so that there is no confusion.

Key points

• Get to the meeting early

• Be hospitable

• Be organised

• Be prepared to introduce the guests to the meeting when asked and to welcome them in a sentence.

• Account to the Treasurer.

Check List

• 

  Everyone needs to be registered

• payments plus Register to the Treasurer

• Desk should have

• Register

• Badges

• Guest Packs

• Pen
  

Desirable Outcome

An orderly greeting and processing of arrivals that sets the stage for an enjoyable meeting.