The other day, I went to a house warming party starting at 1-8pm. When you have a big window of time, what time do you show up? I meant to leave at 3pm, but I actually arrived at 5:30pm. As a guest, I just thought about my schedule, not about how I will affect the party. When you have set a 7- hour time here are the benefits:
- You can experience more surprises and decisions to make. “I wonder when people will show up? Should we reheat the food again? Will the food start drying out? Do we have enough food, or too much? No idea.
- If it is potluck, “We have 5 desserts, I wonder if anyone will bring a main dish and if so when, should we eat the triple chocolate mouse, pecan pie and baklava?”
- If you have a small house and many guests you can thin out the crowd to fit in your house.
- As the host, you may have time to visit with your guests, which doesn’t happen at parties with oodles of people.
- If you have limited parking this is a better chance for your guests to find parking.
Energetic Parties
As the host, I want people to show up on time. I am supposed to be ready, so I want to be rewarded with guests on the dot. If I want people to show up as a group, then I need to set a 2-2.5 hour event or a 3 hour event with specific directions.
For example, my friends know that I am plan like crazy, plus they know that I may 
have a “program” regardless of what kind of social it is.
- If we want them there on time, we will request invitation to be at the event at 2:02pm. If you think you might be a touch late please tell us ahead of time, so we can plan accordingly.
- Create incentives for the first guests.
- At 2:02, we will be cracking open a bottle from 1949 from… (insert expensive wine), the year that ….(insert some interesting event).
- At 2:02 our dog, Moxie, will be performing a dance routine to Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby. But Moxie only performs after her nap, so if you are interested, show up early.
- At 2:02 Vinh’s famous hot out off the oven cinnamon rolls will be read to melt in your mouth at 2:20, they will be gone or cold.
If you have a small attendance list, you will have more success with stating a smaller window of time, so people will be concentrated at one time. People can always stay longer and usually will, but stating a huge time span will hinder the “party atmosphere” when there are 6 guests each hour instead of 18 people at one time. We 
just hosted a 2-5pm Summer Party without any time incentives. Most people showed up at 2:40ish and some stayed until 11:47pm.
I commonly see the big time frame and it is usually a problem. For a quick solution, just make if shorter. Each evite and invite receive, keep an eye out for it.
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| Jolene Jang, The Meeting Maximizer |
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| President, NSA Northwest, National Speakers Association |
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