Small tables seating from six to ten guests are now preferred to the long ones formerly in vogue. Eight is the number usually selected. The table for the speakers and guests of honor is placed on a platform in the middle of one end of the room. It is handsomely decorated and has seats on three sides only, the fourth being left vacant, so that the speakers can see and be seen. The president or chairman sits in the middle, the most distinguished guest on his right, the person of next consideration on his left. If both men and women are at the table, their seats should, so far as possible, alternate. A name-card is set at each place, together with the bill of fare, engraved or nicely printed. When the guests are assigned to small numbered tables, place-cards are not used, but each guest is furnished with a menu.
The committee of arrangements should provide one or more cloak-rooms, with attendants to check the various articles of clothing. If ladies are invited, there should be a special dressing and cloak room for their use, also an awning and carpet at the entrance if the weather is bad. A man will be needed to help the ladies from their carriages and to call these at the close of the entertainment.
Members of the floor or reception committee, wearing their badges, should be on hand to direct the guests and to prevent as far as possible congestion in the hallways; or employees of the hotel may be stationed in the corridors for this purpose. The dinner is usually preceded by an informal reception of half or three-quarters of an hour, in order to give all an opportunity to meet the chief guests or chief speaker. It is held in one of the parlors of the establishment, the president of the organization, the chairman of the dinner committee, or the toastmaster standing with the chief guest at the head of the room. It is the duty of the members of the reception committee to see that all are presented to this distinguished couple. They move about the rooms, capturing and bringing up those guests who have not yet spoken to the hosts of the evening. They inquire the names of men with whom they are not personally acquainted and introduce them to the president, who shakes hands and in turn presents them to the guest of honor.