choosing people to help :
so, you've announced your party, given it a cool name, you've got a gang of people (some
close friends, some complete strangers) who are ready to attend... what now? make sure you
have people there to help you, you will get buried if you try to do everything your self.
   it will only take you one lanparty to realise that there is more work to be
done than one sane person should attempt to handle.

the good news is that once you get a few parties under your belt you'll likely develop
an inner circle of helpers. the better news is that people that like to help will enjoy
being on the team.  were one of those people - we would rather be on the team and
helping out than sit by and let everyone else do the work - it often makes the event more
memorable for us and we make more friends.  the bad news is that it will take you a
while to find out who is good at which task.


what each guest needs
be sure to tell each of your guests to bring :
- some network cable ( if you need them to)
- a computer with games already installed!
- a sleeping bag, pillow, toothbrush, etc. for events that have a sleep area or just find
somewhere to crash.
- to have a network card installed and working.
- a power strip.  have guests plug into one of your presetup powerstrips - do not let
them daisy chain!  if a chainee leaves others will need to shutdown - this can cause
friction! if you have tight power restrictions one way to ensure even power distribution
is to pre-layout the power.  should you decide to daisy chain, use at most 8
computers on a full chain.  anymore, and your gonna blow something!
- probably a good idea to have a copy of windows, win9x, win2k.  keep this nice and
safe as your bound to have some guest not have some driver installed for some
device.  it happens!
- you should have some extras of this stuff handy, because inevitably some people forget
things.


checklist for signing people in
even mid-size parties should have a small registration area to get people oriented and
accounted for.  it makes the guests feel welcome and gets the atmosphere set and and
make or break your lan party. make sure you take care of the following for each guest :
- sign them in
- collect fee, if there is one
- show them their seat
- show them where to plug in
- show them which hub to use
- introduce them to the hosts
- introduce them to fellow guests
- if your party is moving along smoothly, you should be able to enjoy yourself with some
games. but every so often, though, you should make a tour of the party to make sure that
everything's getting done that needs to get done. that there are no dead bodies lying
around that need taking care of. here is a short list of things to keep an eye on.
- does everyone have power?
- is everyone connected to the network?
- are the servers still running smoothly?
- is the garbage situation under control?
- are photographs being taken?
- is everybody happy? nobody looking bored? any fights taking place ?


general party stuff
assuming you haven't had any disasters worthy of calling in the army, your party should be
cruising along smoothly. make sure you have the following things taken care of to keep it
that way :
music : music is great for setting the tone of your party.  we love
it loud when were playing or just watching others. at the very least we think it helps to
have some background noise. you don't want people to think it's a morgue they are in?
food : you're in charge of the food. make certain you either provide the
leadership (such as ordering pizza, chinese take-away, etc) or you let everyone know where
they can get food easily.  it helps to make sure guests know where they can get food.
  thankfully, at most lans, there is shops with in spitting distance and hey, maybe
even some bars which served food and drink.  remember, if your ordering food, do it
earlier in the day/evening as if you make a large order you should expect to wait a bit
longer for the delivery.
drink : we discouraged people bringing in drink ... spilling liquid on
computers or keyboards ... can be trouble to say the least, especial since a lot of people
have their cases open.  this is down to the individuals who are running the lan
tho. 
smoking : depends on the venue and the people going, be aware tho, some
people might not like smoking.
accommodation : it's wise to have a list of places, close to the lan
itself, where people can stay hotels, hostels, b&bs and prices and phone numbers too.
security : at large lans it is wise to have security, there is a lot of
valuable equipment there and you want to avoid theft or people there causing trouble. here
are some simple security rules:
- put "keep out" signs on areas people shouldn't go.
- put away valuables.
- don't invite people that don't have computers if you don't want to.
- let everyone know that they are in charge of keeping an eye on their own equipment.