So you’ve volunteered/been asked to be a hall steward.
First things first: Don’t panic. You’ve got this!
The role of the hall steward does vary a bit from place to place, but for the most part your job will be to make sure a hall (or halls) is/are set up for feast/court/other activity. The phrasing here is important, your job is primarily to make sure it gets done, not necessarily that you yourself do the set up. This is not to say that you won’t get involved in moving tables, chairs, thrones etc, just that it’s not an absolute requirement. So, what information do you need, and who do you get it from?
Rooms
First, you need to know what activity you’re setting up for. This will have a significant bearing on the layout of the room(s). This information will come from the event steward.
If it’s a court, the room will have need of only chairs and thrones, so tables need to be moved out of the way. The person you’ll need to talk to is the court herald, to see if the relevant royals have a particular layout they would prefer.
If it’s a feast, you’ll have chairs, tables and thrones. You’ll likely need to set up a top table for any royals present, and any guests they want to have at top table with them. Check with the royals, either directly or through their staff. Additionally, take a few minutes to talk to the Head Cook. You’ll need to know if the feast will be served to the tables directly or will be a buffet style. If it’s a buffet, you’ll need to save a few tables for that. Check how the Head Cook wants things to go in terms of courses, both in terms of time between them and how much clearing of tables needs to happen. They may also have insight into how the tables in the room should be laid out.
If it’s another activity (could be A&S, Martial activity, dancing etc), speak to the person designated to be in charge of this activity, to see what their requirements are, and adjust the hall or space accordingly.
Staff
You are not going to be doing this all by yourself, as a rule. You should have a cohort of volunteers, who will be assisting you with this work. Many events have a volunteer coordinator, and often you’ll have folks who have pre-volunteered to be hall staff.
Worst case scenario, speak to your nearest herald and get them to yell out (politely of course!) for helpers.
These helpers will fall into two broad and overlapping categories, hall set up staff and servers. The hall set up staff will be helping you with putting tables, thrones and chairs in the right places, the servers will be helping to serve feast. These can absolutely be the same people. You’ll need to check with the Head Cook in relation to how many servers will be required.
This will mostly depend on how many tables there are, you’ll need at least 1 server per 10-12 spaces, if the food is being served to the tables. If you have the volunteers, I’d advise a lower ratio (1 per six). If it’s a buffet, you of course won’t need these.
IMPORTANT: Top table will always need a server/servers (even if it’s a buffet), and top table should always be served first, before anyone else.
Once each course is served, make sure your servers sit as well and eat, this is their feast as well. This goes for you as well! Make sure you know how long the head cook wants to leave between courses and signal the servers when it’s time for the next one. Double check with the Head Cook with regards to clearing of tables after each course, they may need bowls and serving implements back.
Helpful hints:
- When you are beginning set up, grab a herald and announce that you need every one who is not setting up to clear out. They may need to do this several times. In the event that folks are still in the room (that have not already volunteered), put them to work! Either they will suddenly realise that they actually need to clear the area or you get more help. Win Win!
- Stuff WILL go wrong. This absolutely will happen. Don’t panic. The best thing you can do in this situation is to communicate, with your team and with the event staff (Head Cook, Herald, Event steward). There are very very few things that are unfixable, often times stuff is fixable without anyone outside your team being any the wiser.
- Listen. Your job is to facilitate, so listen to what folks are requesting. To be clear, sometimes you’ll have to say “I don’t think that’ll work because x, y or z”, but this is a collaborative activity, and you need to make sure the info you have is correct. Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification.
