Ambassador - Lesson 4
Hosting Events Effectively
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Hello there and welcome back to the Ambassador Program for Star Wars™: Unlimited.
As always, I’m your host Jonah, and today we’ll be talking about what it takes to be an effective host. If you’ve been in charge of a school club, run a trivia night, or hosted a dinner party, a lot of the general steps are going to be things you’re already aware of or have thought of.
Hosting events doesn’t necessarily mean tournaments - these tips can absolutely be used for hosting a prerelease or a Planetary Qualifier, but they can also be used for running Demos, creating a Sealed League, hosting a (deck) Brewer’s Night, or running a get-together of judges.
These steps aren’t comprehensive, and every situation is going to be different, and there’s always some flexibility in social encounters.
Know Your Audience
Before you begin, you need to know who you want at the event. If you want parents who play to bring their kids, or kids who play to bring their parents to learn, make sure that you schedule the event at a time when they’ll actually be available.
If you’re trying to find new players and expand your audience it can be tricky to get the communication out to folks, and you probably don’t want to run it during another event - but right before a set prerelease might be a good idea.
You may also need to restrict your audience - you may only have the space for so many players, or you want to host a new-player tournament. Be clear about who is invited and what restrictions are in place. If you’re using public space and not your own, be prepared to have spectators.
Raise Awareness
In order for your audience to show up to whatever event you’re hosting, they have to know about it. Announce and advertise your event far enough in advance that people can find time for it, but not so far in advance that they forget that it’s happening.
For larger and more spectacular events, you probably want a little bit more lead time. For something that is more regular, such as a weekly trivia or a prerelease, you still want to let people know that it’s still happening (and to perhaps ensnare new participants), but you don’t need to be as assertive about it as early or as often.
We’ll talk about this more in the next lesson on developing a community, but figure out what channels work best for you - should you be putting up physical posters in your store? Posting online? Is word-of-mouth more than sufficient?
When you announce your event, you want to have some key details in place - where, when, and what the cost is, if any, so that people can effectively prepare for the event.
Be Prepared For Variations in Attendance
With all of that preparation in the past, you need to be ready for a range of attendance. There are always factors that you can’t control - other events scheduled after yours on the same day, weather, or even a TV show gone unexpectedly viral keeping folks at home. On the other hand, maybe players from another store you don’t frequent heard about the event, and they’re bring two vanfuls of players to try it out!
While you should have a general idea of what you want attendance to be, you might not get that, and it’s important to have a structure to support everyone who shows up.
If you’re running a new player experience and only one person shows up, instead of having a small tournament, pivot to playing one-on-one games with escalating difficulty in your decks, or have a conversation about deck-building techniques.
If you have too many people for a demo, you can quickly build up a schedule that allows you to take folks in the order that they showed up or you can spend a bit more time with each new player, but teach them enough that they can guide someone else through the first steps, so you’re no longer having to handle everything entirely on your own.
You won’t be able to have solutions for every size audience, but thinking about what your options and resources are is a good practice.
Prepare the Space
You want to be respectful of everyone’s time, including your own, and so being prepared to start when the participants arrive is ideal. As a host, you want them to feel welcome and comfortable. If you’re invited to dinner at someone’s house and you have to clear space at the table or move things off a chair, that can be an uncomfortable feeling. The same is true for players in a play environment. Little things like keeping the tables clear of wrappers from a sealed event, pushing in chairs, straightening up tablecloths and numbers - all of it makes a difference. All of it contributes to the way players see the space you are creating and whether they are excited to come back.
What the preparation looks like differs depending on what you’re doing. A lot of the time, it’s just making sure that a space doesn’t have any detritus, but it can involve rearranging the space or putting out product. If you’re only using a portion of a large venue, having signage up so that participants can find you and your area easily is another great step. If you’re going to be distributing anything, whether it’s goodies or cards or snacks, have those ready to go near your station, so that you don’t have to go digging around in the back room or rush out to your car to grab something.
Inevitably, you will forget something, but the time you put into preparing your space means that you’re going to have a better sense of when something is off, and you can address it before it becomes a problem.
Have a Schedule
For the event itself, you want to have a plan. Knowing when you’re going to start, and sticking (generally) to it, is key. If folks planned for a one-hour demo, but you start thirty minutes late, people are going to have to leave before they get the full experience. There are always exceptions to this and reasons to delay, but you should strive to keep those delays to a minimum and have everything prepared to maintain efficiency.
If this is a new event, or if you’re frequently absent-minded (like the author of this script) write down all of the tasks that need to be completed and when they need to be done, something you can easily refer to during your planning and during the event itself. For some folks that’s physically writing it down with pen and paper, and for others a voice memo or a quick note on their phone is more than enough.
If you have multiple stages, keep the idea of the next one in your mind as you’re working on the previous, just so you can see any upcoming road bumps or if there might be any delays. If the delays look to be significant (which, again, is always going to be dependent on the exact nature of your event), be prepared to communicate the changes in the schedule to your participants.
Be Welcoming, but not Overbearing
There are many reasons why people may attend an event - the social nature of them is significant, but competition, personal growth, learning, and new experiences are all other frequent motivators.
We want to ensure that people feel like their needs are going to be met at our events. For many people, events are naturally exciting - they get to play a game they love or learn a new one and hang out with old friends or make new ones. However, there are equally many people for whom this is a stressful experience.
Events can feel crowded and chaotic, and it’s easy for participants - especially newcomers - to feel lost in the shuffle. Someone used to playing casually at home may walk into a room of unfamiliar faces, new terminology, and arcane procedures and quickly feel overwhelmed or unnoticed.
Another common worry is pacing. Players accustomed to casual kitchen table play may find in-person events slow or disjointed if there's too much downtime.
Finally, players may fear they’re not skilled enough to attend, especially if they lose early. You can help ensure that every participant, regardless of record or experience, feels welcome and valued from the moment they arrive.
You can tackle these challenges and make people feel welcome by simply greeting them. From your opening announcement, let players know you’re glad they came, that you’re excited for the event, and that you’re happy they’re part of it - use your own voice, but be intentional. Close the event the same way: thank them for attending, wish them a safe trip home, and remind them about returning for the next event. It’s a simple gesture, but it helps everyone feel comfortable, valued, and included in the event.
Let people know that you’re comfortable, confident, and here to help, and that can ease their concerns. For smaller events, say hello to people and greet them personally as they arrive if you know them, or introduce yourself if you don’t. Allow yourself to be brought into conversations, but don’t force yourself on them - while people may be coming for social engagement, your position doesn’t mean you get to stick your nose into every conversation.
Engage Genuinely
Make a point to talk to everyone - circulate through the room and be visible. Take an extra moment to listen and follow up when you can. There will be times you’re too busy, and players understand that, but when you have the opportunity, it’s always worthwhile. Spending more time with new participants can make them feel like you really care - and that’s important. Be authentically yourself - create the environment you feel is important for your community - but also be genuine. If you ask someone why they like a particular deck, or strategy, or character, listen to them, and don’t make light of their choices as your first interaction.
We’ve focused a lot on what you do as a host, but creating an environment people enjoy and want to return to isn’t just about your actions - it’s about how those actions are perceived. Every interaction you have with one player can influence the people nearby, whether you’re handling an investigation or just chatting. Much of the atmosphere you create comes from how others experience and interpret what you do.
If you’re making fun of some of your regulars and really digging into them, someone who is new might be uncomfortable - they might not be used to harsh banter, and they don’t know the context of your relationship, and it may make them feel less confident that they’re in the right place.
Maintain a Welcoming Atmosphere
As the host, players, judges, vendors, and staff may come to you with questions or concerns. Take time beforehand to anticipate what those might be for your event so you’re prepared with answers. Being able to address questions quickly and clearly goes a long way toward helping people feel comfortable in the space.
At longer events, it’s especially important that players and staff know when and where they can get food and drinks. Clear communication about breaks and nearby options can prevent confusion and frustration.
Stay open to feedback - listen to what people have to say, and improve your procedures. One of our later lessons in the level one ambassador track will cover how to maintain a healthy community, as that’s a significant challenge and deserving of its own lesson.
Learn From Other Hosts
There are so many people out there who are excellent hosts, whether they be game masters, little league coaches, meeting managers, and teachers - see what they do to create an environment, and take your best practices from them.
Of course, there are also hosts who will do things that are offputing and frustrating or disappointing to you, and you can learn equally as much from them as you can from the successes, if not more so.
When next you’re at an event and are feeling dissatisfied, figure out what’s causing that dissatisfaction, and then figure out what you could do at a baseline level to address that. You’re not always going to have the information to be able to address the issue at the event you’re attending, because you’re not going to know what resources and restrictions they have, but you will have that information for your own events, and can use that to begin to think critically and grow from your own experiences as a participant.
With that being said, that just about wraps up our lesson on being an effective host. Next up is our lesson on Forging a Community, and finding your people.
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Until next time, good luck and have fun!