Guides & free tools
Event staffing guides for agencies
How many people to book, how to keep them from no-showing, how to schedule a multi-day festival and what to charge for an hour of staff. Written for agency owners and operations managers, with tables, checklists and worked examples you can reuse, plus free templates and calculators.
Event operations
Large events, no-shows and multi-day schedules: the work between the client's brief and the last clock-out.
Promo & tasting
In-store sampling programs, alcohol tastings and the brand ambassador roster behind them.
Venues & hospitality
Trade show booths, banquets and catering: how many people, in which roles, for how long.
Trade show booth staffing: headcount, roles and what staff may touch
A field guide for agencies that put greeters, demo staff and lead scanners in exhibitor booths: the headcount math, the shift plan, the venue rules that catch temp staff out, and a fully costed 20x20 booth over three show days.
17 min read · Updated Read
Catering staff ratios: how many servers, bartenders and bussers per guest
Published ratios disagree by a factor of three, because they describe different levels of service. Here is what each source actually says, how to pick the right level for the event in front of you, and a full roster for a 300-guest plated wedding with call times and labor cost.
15 min read · Updated Read
Free tools
Templates and calculators for the numbers these guides work with.
- Event staff schedule templateFree Excel and Google Sheets schedule for event staff: shifts, breaks, hours, confirmations, open slots and labor cost per event.
- Staffing agency invoice templateFree Excel invoice for staffing agencies: hours by worker, overtime at 1.5x, fees, sales tax, PO number and split billing between two payers.
- Event staffing calculatorHow many servers, bartenders, crowd managers or booth staff an event needs, with the published ratio behind each number and the labor cost.
- Bill rate calculator for staffing agenciesTurn a pay rate into a bill rate: FICA, FUTA, SUTA, workers' comp, liability and overhead, then markup or margin, per hour.
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