Hospitality Teams for Your Online Church Platform

During events and meetings, an online church platform like Altar Live is just as lively and active as a physical church building. Though it may seem quiet when you’re sitting on the other side of a screen, there is a lot going on behind the scenes during an online church service. In fact, there is an entire team working hard to bring people together in worship and community. 

In Altar Live, the Hospitality Team is the heartbeat of every event or meeting. 

The hospitality team is able to create a welcoming experience for first-time visitors and anonymous guests, as well as regular attendees. They also help with general event management, announcements, and engagement.

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Who Makes Up My Team? 

The Altar Live Hospitality Team involves both Greeters and Hosts. Both Hosts and Greeters are essential and have similar roles, but Hosts have a few more privileges than Greeters do.

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Both Hosts and Greeters can:

• Start the event by clicking GO LIVE
• Send default messages to everyone who joins, both anonymous AND logged in participants.
• Chat with both logged in and anonymous participants
• Move everyone from the lobby to the auditorium and back into the lobby
• And remove a participant from an event

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Hosts get a couple of additional permissions:

• They can end events and table sessions for everyone
• They can remove users from a table
• They can rename tables, as well.

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Who Would Make a Good Hospitality Team Member? 

As a Host or Greeter, you have the power to create a meaningful experience for attendees during any online church service. Hosts and Greeters are not only responsible for most of the technical aspects, but also facilitating conversation, community, and real life that is happening online. Greeting people is only the first step. 

If you're an administrator looking for Hosts and Greeters, choose people who are not afraid to jump into a conversation with attendees. Look for someone who is willing to welcome people and also form a connection with them. Hosts and Greeters should be trustworthy and have a gift for forming fast relationships. I bet you already have some people in mind!

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How Can I Create My Team? 

Okay, so you have your list of team members for your hospitality team, but how do you actually make it happen on Altar Live? 

Creating a team on Altar Live for your online church service is extremely important, but also very simple! As you assemble your team, here are a few things to keep in mind: 

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Use Edit Mode

On an online church platform like Altar Live, assigning your hospitality team for Events can only happen in the edit mode of your event. You can do this while creating the event initially, as well as after the event has been published.

If your event has already been published, you simply go to the Events & Meetings tab from your Community Dashboard. From there, you can edit the online church service or gathering from the event card. 

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Select Your Team on the Team Page

While in the edit mode for your event, you will see the team page. To add a member to your team, simply click the add member button. From there, you should see your member list and be able to select any member. Once you select someone as a team, you can make them either a Host or a Greeter.  

Keep in mind that by default, whoever creates the event is made a host for your online church service, while each member that is selected to be in the team is automatically a greeter. To make someone else a Host you have to check the Host box to give them the proper Host privileges.

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Important Note: If the person who created the event does not join the event, and nobody else has been made host, nobody will be able to Go Live and the event will not be able to start.

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Equip Your Hosts 

Once you have your team assembled, take the time to train your Hosts and Greeters to ensure a successful online church service. 

There are many different ways to train your team and make sure everyone comfortable using the platform. 

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‍Here are some ideas: 

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Set up a Team Meeting 

Hold a short meeting with your hospitality team and go through step-by-step the expectations for your event, meeting or online church service. Take the extra time to go through and explain the chat, polls, announcements, etc. Let everyone voice their questions and concerns and let people try out the platform for themselves. 

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Send out Altar Live’s Host and Greeter Guide

Use Altar Live resources! Our Host and Greeter Guide breaks down everything you need to know about running an event or online church service on Altar Live. Our guide provides tutorials, best practices, event ideas, and more. Read it here

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Watch and share our Host and Greeter videos 

Require your team to watch our Host and Greeter Guide videos during their training. Each video covers a specific area (Chat, Chat Moderation, Announcements, and more!) in the platform that your team can use to create a welcoming and vibrant environment. Watch the videos here

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Hold a Test Event 

Practice makes perfect! Before you start your online church service, create a test event where your team can test out the platform and work out any issues. This will allow your newly trained team to get acclimated and test out features like moving the entire event to the lobby, making announcements, and more. 

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What Does an Event Look Like for a Hospitality Team Member? 

The hospitality team’s mission is always to make people feel welcomed, seen, and truly a part of the community. Whether it's someone's first time or their twentieth time, the hospitality team has the power to connect and impact each person’s life. 

A successful event can take many different forms. Check this out to learn more about hospitality team best practices for your online church service.