Imagine being an event guest for the very first time. You’ve arrived at the event entrance; do you see the sign for the check-in point? Do you know where you should stand? What happens when you arrive? How can you determine what happens next? These questions help to determine your guest flow at an event. Guest flow isn’t about where guests go. It’s about where events are easy to understand without an event staff member to explain where guests need to go.
A good guest flow happens even before the event. If guests know where they’re supposed to go when they enter the event, this can save on questions from guests. When guests enter the event, where will they first see it? The event entrance? A registration point? A welcome signage? A table with seating available? Or a person greeting them to guide them to the next step? If there is registration for the event, ensure the registration table is easy to find, and not blocking the event entrance. If guests need name tags, informational documents, or the schedule, these should be easily accessible for guests to pick up without causing a bottleneck for other guests waiting for them.
One way to think about a good guest flow is to draw up a simple diagram of the layout, and map out how the guests could arrive. You don’t need to make this diagram pretty, or to scale. You could mark where the event entrance is, the registration point, seating, the activity area, a food and beverage point, a restroom, a vendor area, and the exit. Draw in a dotted line where a guest could enter, go to registration, move to the activity space, and head to the exit. If there is an intersection with the registration table, the catering area, staff walking, the event entrance or if a corridor narrows, you may want to look at your event layout diagram again.
One issue often arises when guests move from the event entrance to the registration area; or from the event entrance to the event activity. While guests could arrive at the event, find a place to sit and wait, they often don’t know how to proceed from arrival to the next stage of the event. This is why guest flow is also about how to move from one activity to another. Transitions like arrival, seating, and moving from the event area back out to the room take place during these moments. These need to be scheduled into your agenda, and you may need to prepare a visual sign on this movement or ask a member of your event team to speak to the guests. A poor guest flow will leave your event planning team in an unscheduled state.
Food and beverages and registration can also create bottlenecks, so these also are points of guest flow. Lines aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but if guests didn’t anticipate there being a line, then they are surprised by it. If you place the catering service in an area that is close to the event entrance, you are asking arriving guests and the food guests to pass one another. If your registration point is too small, this is going to delay guest registration. And if there isn’t a way to know where guests should wait before they go to the next activity, then you can end up with a group of people not doing anything other than standing around. Your event schedule needs as much time to allow for these elements as for a guest flow.
Another aspect of guest flow that you need to plan for is when guests can depart. When guests arrive at the event, they should know that there is an ending to the event and what they should do before they head out. They may need to return documents, pick up bags or other items that need taking, ask staff a question before they leave, find out how to get home, or walk around vendors who are packing up. Guests should have a way to know where they go next at the event, and what they’re required to do before they leave the event. Your event run sheet is also the time to plan for any post-event cleaning and packing requirements or how you plan to coordinate vendor pick up with the venue.
One method to look over your guest flow is to walk through it in your mind as if you are a first-time guest. Ask yourself what guests will see when they arrive, the next step, if there is a wait time, if they need to receive something or read something, and if there is anything that would obstruct their flow. This is how a good guest flow can happen. Small things like more sign signage, moving event tables, adding transition time, or making changes to your event layout that fit more naturally with the flow of how your guests move from the arrival to exit.