Dividing the hall into sectors

The order of precedence tells you who comes before whom. It does not tell you where the press sits, where the award winners’ families go, or where to put the delegation that has travelled in. Yet those are the questions that come up at the door, and the ushers have to answer them in a second.

Sectors first, then seats

Draw the sectors before you assign any seats: the front rows for dignitaries in order of precedence, a block at the side for the press near an exit, a sector for families, one for courtesy guests. Precedence then applies within each sector, and the boundaries stay put on the day.

One colour per sector

Colour helps more than numbers do. On the printed plan, on a sign at the end of the row, on the place card: an usher sees the colour and knows where to take the guest without reading the plan. Two practical rules: use few colours, clearly different from one another, and always print the sector’s name alongside, because not everyone can tell colours apart.

In CerimoniereWeb sectors have a name and a colour chosen by the office, stay in the hall template and appear on the printouts. A hall drawn for the opening of the academic year can be used again the following year.