If you’ve been wondering how to set up a standard professional training for ushers and event staff in your agency, or you’re not sure of what their jobs should be at some types of events, then keep reading.

This article walks you through the step-by-step method to set up a training structure for your agency that would enable you to raise a professional team of hostesses that would deliver an exceptional service that exceeds client’s expectations, get your clients to give you unsolicited reviews and keep your clients coming back permanently.

No, having a professional event staff team does not mean ushers with job experience. In our experience, ushers without job experience that undergo our training have turned out to be far more professional than ushers with over 7 years of work experience. Experience is not equal to professionalism.

Training your team of hostesses goes beyond teaching them their job descriptions. It entails the orientation and culture you embed in them when representing your brand and some more.

There are 3 sections to structure your recruitment and training if you want to raise a badass team of professional event staff. Don’t go looking for a client if you haven’t gotten this right. Please don’t!

1. Professional data documentation
2. Agency’s Code of Conduct or Policy
3. Job description

Section 1: Professional data documentation

Do a quick check of your hostesses’ Professional Data Documentation:

• Do you have a database of all your recruited hostesses?

No, we don’t mean names and phone numbers – We mean professional pictures, CVs and personal data of all your hostesses?

• Can you provide 20 of these data in 10 minutes to a client?
• Does these data meet professional standard that corporate organizations require? (You would know when it does).
• Can you mobilize 20 of your hostesses for a job in a 24-hour notice?

If your answers to the above questions are not all YES, follow the next lines closely…

As explained in details in the course, The Event Staffing Roadmap, you need to have a designated recruitment system to find and groom your team of hostesses. No, you can’t just pick ladies from Instagram, your church, your family or friends and make them your ushers. You should want event staff that you can recommend with confidence and be guaranteed of their performance anywhere.

We get applications in our agency every single day, but we ensure that every hostess that joins us undergoes our standard recruitment process before becoming a part of us.

Do this next:

REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS – Whether you’re just about to recruit new event staff, or they have already joined your agency, ask all your event staff to submit at least 4 professional pictures and CVs for screening (a CV is optional depending on the kind of events you manage).

The professional pictures and CVs have to be screened thoroughly by you to ensure that it meets the standard that you want to set for your agency. Ensure that the pictures and CVs you choose are such that you would be proud to present to multinational companies.

Those who complete and get selected from this stage successfully should move into your agency’s private online platform. This could be an app, WhatsApp or Telegram group or any platform you prefer.

Now it’s time to orient them on your agency’s code of conduct or policies.

Section 2: Agency’s Code of Conduct or Policy

Has someone ever told you this?  The moment I saw those hostesses, I knew they were from your agency?

This is what happens when you have created a brand culture and then oriented your entire team of hostesses to follow that culture. Today, we are showing you how to do this.

Start by setting a professional code of conduct for your agency. Then go on to have it clearly spelt out in a document and have each of your hostess consent to the document.

Now you’re wondering what your code of conduct should be. It is simply the abiding terms of employment at your agency which states what you expect of your staff throughout their employment period.

The information you should have in your code of conduct includes but are not limited to:

1. Dress code – shoe colours, hairstyles, makeup, required uniforms, etc.
2. Resumption time
3. Payment method
4. Work culture – e.g no use of mobile phones, chitchatting, chewing gums or arguing with guests
5. Disciplinary actions for certain behaviours

Once you have set up your code of conducts, draw up a registration form that would capture a detailed personal information of your hostesses and include your code of conducts in them. Have them read it carefully, complete, sign and submit this registration form.

You can now proceed to the final stage which is teaching them how to do their jobs.

Section 3: Job description

Have you wondered why every standard company has the job roles of each staff written down in their employee contract, even when the staff being hired has over 10 years of experience in their field? It is just to make sure there are no false assumptions of what is expected of their services.

So, it doesn’t matter if the hostesses in your agency have been ushering for 10 years; after recruitment, you must provide a professional training set up as a standard by your agency for them. Remember, experience is not equal to professionalism.

This training gives your event staff a clear overview of what is expected of their service at every given event, especially for hostesses with no previous experience in ushering.

Also, you may find that your agency is hired for an event type you have never managed before. For example, when a client hires your agency for an exhibition, but you’re only used to weddings. You may be lost or confused on what your hostesses’ job role is supposed to be. Not to worry, we’ve got your back!

We have put together the diverse roles in the event staffing industry with their detailed job description all in one manual… and you can get it right now!

In this manual, you would find:

• 8 types of event staff roles for both corporate and social events with detailed job descriptions and type of event applicable.
• 6 core skills and qualifications that every usher and event staff in your
  agency must possess.
• Video links to watch how each role is carried out practically by real event staff working at events.

You can copy the job roles applicable to the type of events that your agency manages and use it as a guide for the standard professional training for your agency. We have often had clients paying our agency extra fees after paying agreed price, tipping our hostesses and making our agency their permanent vendor due to how impressed they were with our service. If you want this experience too, don’t miss this manual.

This manual has been widely sold over the years to event planners and staffing agencies across UK, US, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria and it helped them raise professional event staff that retain their clients. We have updated this manual in 2025 with our latest experiences and expertise to ensure it is up to date with current industry practices. 

Grab your copy of The Event Staff Training Manual now.

GET MANUAL NOW!

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