[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":221},["ShallowReactive",2],{"marketing-blog-blog\u002Fchecking-in-speakers-before-they-are-needed-on-stage":3,"marketing-blog-related-blog\u002Fchecking-in-speakers-before-they-are-needed-on-stage":201},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"body":7,"category":179,"date":180,"description":181,"draft":182,"extension":183,"image":184,"imageAlt":185,"imageCredit":186,"imageCreditUrl":187,"meta":188,"navigation":189,"path":190,"readTime":191,"seo":192,"stem":193,"tags":194,"__hash__":200},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fchecking-in-speakers-before-they-are-needed-on-stage.md","Checking in speakers before they are needed on stage","The CheckInHub team",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":168},"minimark",[10,14,17,20,25,28,31,34,38,41,50,53,57,60,73,77,80,88,96,100,103,111,115,118,126,130,155,158],[11,12,13],"p",{},"Every conference has a moment, usually about twenty minutes before the first session, when somebody on the programme team asks whether the keynote is here yet. Nobody quite knows. Someone thinks they saw them by the coffee. Someone else is ringing a mobile that goes to voicemail.",[11,15,16],{},"Speakers are guests with a deadline. They are also the guests least likely to come through your front door in the normal way. They arrive early for a sound check, or late from another event, or by the side entrance with the AV crew. They are often not on the main guest list at all, because the programme team keeps its own spreadsheet.",[11,18,19],{},"That combination is why the question gets asked. It is also quite easy to fix.",[21,22,24],"h2",{"id":23},"put-speakers-on-the-list-not-beside-it","Put speakers on the list, not beside it",[11,26,27],{},"The simplest change is to stop running speakers from a separate document. Add them to the event as a group of their own: speaker, moderator, panellist, with the session they are in and the time they are needed.",[11,29,30],{},"It sounds like admin. What it buys you is a single place to look. A speaker who is Registered is expected. A speaker who is Checked in is in the building, with a time next to their name. Nobody has to find the programme lead to ask.",[11,32,33],{},"It also keeps the numbers honest. Speakers are people in the room for fire and capacity purposes like anyone else, and a headcount that leaves out the twelve people on stage is a headcount that is wrong in the one place people look.",[21,35,37],{"id":36},"give-them-a-door-that-suits-their-day","Give them a door that suits their day",[11,39,40],{},"Speakers do not keep guest hours. A keynote may want the stage at half seven for a run-through. A panellist on the afternoon session may walk in at two, straight from a train.",[11,42,43,44,49],{},"So decide in advance where a speaker checks in at each point in the day. Before doors open, that is usually a named person at a speaker desk, or the same build-up entrance you use for ",[45,46,48],"a",{"href":47},"\u002Fblog\u002Fchecking-in-exhibitors-and-sponsors-before-the-guests-arrive","exhibitors and sponsors",". Once guests are arriving, it can be the main desk, with a short rule: a speaker never joins the back of the queue. Crew look them up by name, check them in, and walk them on.",[11,51,52],{},"That last part matters. A speaker who spends ten minutes in the registration line is a speaker who arrives at the green room flustered and late for their microphone check.",[21,54,56],{"id":55},"send-them-a-pass-anyway","Send them a pass anyway",[11,58,59],{},"Speakers get a lot of email in the week before an event, and the one with the pass is not always the one they read. Send it regardless. The ones who have it are through in eight seconds. For the rest, a fast lookup by name does the same job, and it is worth briefing the door that a speaker's name may be printed differently in the programme from how they give it at the desk.",[11,61,62,63,67,68,72],{},"Keep the badge clear about what it opens. Speakers usually need the green room and backstage, and often do not need the VIP dinner. Set those bands before the day, as in ",[45,64,66],{"href":65},"\u002Fblog\u002Faccess-tiers-for-staff-crew-and-vips","access tiers for staff, crew and VIPs",", so stewards are not deciding at a door. ",[45,69,71],{"href":70},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhat-to-put-on-an-event-badge","What to put on an event badge"," covers the rest of the badge.",[21,74,76],{"id":75},"plan-for-the-speaker-who-is-late","Plan for the speaker who is late",[11,78,79],{},"Most late speakers are not missing, they are delayed. The useful thing is to know early rather than at the top of the hour.",[11,81,82,83,87],{},"Build a check point into the ",[45,84,86],{"href":85},"\u002Fblog\u002Fa-realistic-run-of-show-for-event-day","run-of-show",": thirty minutes before each session, someone looks at which of that session's speakers are still only Registered, and rings them. That one habit turns a crisis at ten o'clock into a conversation at half nine, when there is still time to swap the running order.",[11,89,90,91,95],{},"The same thinking applies to the speaker's guests. Speakers often bring a colleague, a partner or a photographer. Ask for their names when you confirm the speaker, rather than meeting them at the desk. If one turns up unannounced, ",[45,92,94],{"href":93},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwalk-up-registration-without-the-chaos","walk-up registration"," gets them on the list in about thirty seconds.",[21,97,99],{"id":98},"loan-the-kit-against-the-person","Loan the kit against the person",[11,101,102],{},"Clickers, lapel microphones, the spare adaptor for a laptop that only has one port. Speakers borrow things, and speakers leave straight after their session with a clicker still in their pocket.",[11,104,105,106,110],{},"Loan the kit against the speaker's name at the moment they collect it, with a return time. It is one extra step at a desk you are already at, and it means the end of the day is a short list of who still has what. ",[45,107,109],{"href":108},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwho-has-the-radio-equipment-loans-solved","Who has the radio: equipment loans, solved"," goes through how.",[21,112,114],{"id":113},"count-them-out-as-well","Count them out as well",[11,116,117],{},"Speakers leave early more than most guests. They do their session, stay for the questions, and go for a train. That is fine, but the programme team should be able to see it, particularly if a speaker is booked for a second slot later in the day or a panel on day two.",[11,119,120,121,125],{},"Scanning them out as they leave gives you a Departed status with a time. ",[45,122,124],{"href":123},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcounting-people-out-not-just-in","Counting people out, not just in"," explains why it is worth the few seconds.",[21,127,129],{"id":128},"a-short-list-for-your-next-conference","A short list for your next conference",[131,132,133,137,140,143,146,149,152],"ul",{},[134,135,136],"li",{},"Put speakers, moderators and panellists on the event list as their own group.",[134,138,139],{},"Record the session and the time each one is needed.",[134,141,142],{},"Decide where speakers check in before doors, and during the day.",[134,144,145],{},"Brief the door: speakers never join the back of the queue.",[134,147,148],{},"Check the next session's speakers thirty minutes before it starts.",[134,150,151],{},"Collect the names of anyone a speaker is bringing.",[134,153,154],{},"Loan clickers and microphones against a name, and scan speakers out.",[11,156,157],{},"None of it needs a new process. It needs the people on stage to be on the same list as everyone else, so the answer to \"is the keynote here yet\" is on a screen rather than in somebody's memory.",[11,159,160,161,167],{},"CheckInHub keeps speakers, crew and guests on one live list, each shown as Registered, Checked in, Departed or Absent, at ",[45,162,166],{"href":163,"rel":164},"https:\u002F\u002Fcheckinhub.co.uk",[165],"nofollow","checkinhub.co.uk",".",{"title":169,"searchDepth":170,"depth":170,"links":171},"",2,[172,173,174,175,176,177,178],{"id":23,"depth":170,"text":24},{"id":36,"depth":170,"text":37},{"id":55,"depth":170,"text":56},{"id":75,"depth":170,"text":76},{"id":98,"depth":170,"text":99},{"id":113,"depth":170,"text":114},{"id":128,"depth":170,"text":129},"Registration & check-in","2026-09-29","Speakers are the guests with a deadline. They arrive at odd times, by odd doors, and the programme falls over if nobody knows they are in the building. Here is how to give them a front door of their own.",false,"md","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1582192730841-2a682d7375f9?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop","A panel discussion on a stage in a large, dark auditorium with a full audience","Product School","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@productschool?utm_source=checkinhub&utm_medium=referral",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fchecking-in-speakers-before-they-are-needed-on-stage",5,{"title":5,"description":181},"blog\u002Fchecking-in-speakers-before-they-are-needed-on-stage",[195,196,197,198,199],"speakers","conferences","check-in","run of show","front of house","Jr87PQIfUogOo87Op6qhZOyo8ocpeXPiR0HbhIciSmA",[202,208,214],{"to":203,"title":204,"description":205,"date":206,"category":179,"image":207,"readTime":191},"\u002Fblog\u002Ftimed-entry-slots-that-actually-spread-the-queue","Timed entry slots that actually spread the queue","Pumpkin patches, Halloween trails and Christmas grottos all sell timed slots, and plenty of them still end up with a queue at the gate. Here is how to size the slots, set the rules and brief the door so the slots do the job they were sold to do.","2026-10-17","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1698322281578-459790c95ff3?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop",{"to":209,"title":210,"description":211,"date":212,"category":179,"image":213,"readTime":191},"\u002Fblog\u002Frunning-the-front-door-at-an-open-day","Running the front door at an open day","Autumn is open day season for colleges, universities and schools. Families arrive in twos and threes, half of them never registered, and they all want to be somewhere at the same time. Here is how to run the door so the count holds and the follow-up works.","2026-10-09","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1662148965079-7fbb45160973?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop",{"to":215,"title":216,"description":217,"date":218,"category":179,"image":219,"readTime":220},"\u002Fblog\u002Fopening-badge-collection-the-night-before","Opening badge collection the night before","An evening desk at the conference hotel takes a chunk of the morning queue away before it forms. Here is when it is worth running, how to staff it, and how to keep one count across both desks.","2026-09-18","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1782834294703-5b73c59466e3?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop",6,1792518509150]