How to run Mundo Lingo events like an absolute Pro.
- Managers, keep this open on your phone during an event!**
🚲 Arrival
Arrive 20 minutes before the event. Because:
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The bar should be clean, staffed, fridges stocked, fruits cut and furniture set-up according to our agreement. However we don’t take it for granted. Arrive early and help our host check they’re ready.
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1 out of 10 times something goes wrong. We arrive early to accommodate it. Live bands, water leaks, power cut, pigeon behind the bar… you name it.
👋 Greet the Staff
Greet every single worker, ignore nobody. Seriously.
📐 The space
Tables
Push them to the walls. Avoid people getting in-between the table and the wall, it breaks the ability of groups to mingle and flow.
🪑 Chairs
It’s a standing event. Seating for no more than 10% of participants.
🍋 Bar
Check the bar areas are clean, fridges are stocked, cut fruit, toilet paper in the bathrooms and everyone ready for an invasion.
🌡Temperature
Check the venue is ready for 200 hot bodies. Crank the AC and fans.
🎸 Music
Fun bar volume. Night out. Not silence. Not Night club.
Flag Table
Open Attendance Tally
Count those local flags before starting (DO NOT USE A TICKER More info.)
Table Prep
Near the entrance or somewhere participants must pass on their way to the bar. You want them to put on flags before reaching the bar.
5 – 8 most common languages on the table so you don’t frequently flick through the event folder, full guidance here.
🍹 Staff Drinks
Usually bars offer courtesy drinks. 2 or 3 drinks for every 50 participants is reasonable. Only the Manager gets the drinks from the bar, not ambassadors or others.
During the event
The flag table is open around 3 hours, and staffed by trained Residents only, not any Ambassadors. If you leave someone else on the flag table go back to it at least every 20 minutes to:
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Check there’s one full sheet of each ‘popular’ country out of the folder
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Ensure empty flag sheets are removed from the table.
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Offer more drinks / allow toilet breaks
Managers spend at least one hour at the flag post, nobody is ‘above’ this role. You may like to arrange 20 minute turns between you and others to keep things interesting.
💦 Drinks on the flag table.
Maybe not the first time, maybe not in 100 times, but one day that drink someone just rested on the flag table for a moment, will be knocked over - not even by the same person who put it there – destroying your flags and throwing you into a crisis (and emergency flag order).
Say: “Excuse me, would you mind resting that drink on a different table”.
Leave the Flag Table
Flag table is set, team in place, now get out there, talk with people and learn their names. Find out why they’re here, suggest people they should meet. However, don’t let the conversation run over 20 minutes, you’re working! Interrupt them and let them know “I have to break a way for a while to do my rounds”, AKA your ‘Mid-way checks’.
✅ Mid-Way Checks
Every 20 minutes stop what you’re doing; drop everything including your conversation. Choose 3 or 4 random points around the venue and go to each one making these checks. Avoid eye contact, come back to the people later.
✅ Tables/Chairs - See any bottlenecks? Remove chairs, push tables to the sides.
✅ Broken things - Look for broken glasses, spilled drinks, rubbish on the floor. Toilets should have toilet roll especially in the Ladies.
✅ Waiting Time - Are people waiting a long time at the bar? Make sure access to the bar isn’t obstructed by bar stools or people socialising at the bar.
✅ Music, Lighting, Temperature - Music loud enough to hear without shouting in your ear. Lighting like a romantic candle-lit date.Temperature like a spring meadow.
✅ Shy People - Look for people standing alone, if you see one, send an Ambassador or a Cupid if you have one.
✅ Random Survey - Approach someone you don’t know, perhaps someone stood alone, and ask what they think of the music, the ambience, bar waiting time, anything they would improve. If they don’t know you, they will be brutally honest (great right?!)
✅ Speech - Listen to your team when they give the speech. Don’t be obvious, but check they’re getting the key points of ‘The Speech’
Close Up
Close the Flag Table after 3 hours
Why? Nobody wants to be a loner standing in the middle of an empty bar with flags on their chest at 7pm. Those who have that experience will come back at 9pm next week. Problem is, the one who arrives at 7.30pm is now a loner, and this cycle compounds over time until everyone is arriving at 10pm. Set an upper limit on the flag availability and tell late comers that they should arrive earlier in the future. It may feel counter-intuitive to refuse people the flags, but it works long term.
Close Attendance Tally Count those local flags before closing, figure out how many people came. More info.
Collect Receipts
When the bar stops serving or if there are less than 10 participants left you can ask the manager to close. Collect the till receipt, take a photo for your Telegram group. Collect the corresponding cash.
Last to Leave
Mundo Lingo is always staffed with a Manager until there are less than 10 people left in the bar. Your public is your duty. If the bar ask for help asking them to leave, you’re not obliged to help but it can be a nice gesture.
Now what?
Next up, it’s time to learn Stock Management