If you’ve ever organized a social gathering in the past, then you’re probably already familiar with one aspect of planning that can be quite tricky. We’re talking about figuring out the number of people who will be attending.
This information is extremely important, as it serves as a basis on which you will make several decisions regarding your event. From the layout of the venue to the amount of food you need from your caterer, having an idea of how many people are coming makes your job so much easier. Now, you might be wondering how you can get this information in the first place. That’s what this article will help you with. We’ll provide a few practical ways you can get an expected headcount for your event in the sections below.
1. Include the RSVP details in your invitation
This is the most traditional method of getting this information. You simply include your contact information in the event invitation and instruct your guests to let you know whether they’re coming or not. Make sure you send your invitations early on—at least a couple of weeks before the event—and indicate an RSVP date so guests will know by when they should send a response. After this RSVP date has passed, some guests might still have not responded. If that’s the case, follow up by reaching out to them individually as they may have simply forgotten or lost the invitation entirely.
2. Use technology to speed up the process
If your guests are particularly Internet-savvy, you can streamline the entire RSVP process by using tools such as Facebook and Google. Facebook, for example, has a handy Events feature that makes it easy for your guests to respond, and allows you to track these on one simple page. If you’d like a more formal approach, you can use Google Forms instead. This tool comes equipped with an RSVP template, allowing you to design a professional virtual RSVP card in no time at all. You can send your guests a link to this form through their email address, and they can indicate whether or not they’ll be attending and if they’ll be bringing anyone else along with them.
3. Make an approximation
You can also simply estimate the number of people who will be coming to your event. While this may vary from case to case, you can expect about 80 percent of invited guests to actually make it to the party. We find that this is a good number to base a decision on, regardless of the type of event you’ll be hosting.Make sure, however, that you plan for surprise situations since you don’t have a specific number in mind. Let the caterer and venue manager know that you’re only working with an estimate so they can plan accordingly.
Conclusion
That’s all there is to it! We recommend that you use all three methods indicated above simultaneously. This way, you have as much information you need to ensure that your event goes by without a hitch.
Feeling overwhelmed with managing a catering event? We are here for you, we can help with catering in Palm Desert! Get in touch with us today to see how our caterers can help!
