Notes for Stewards: A First Attendance

1. The visitor is greeted by name once and thereafter treated as ordinary. Excessive welcome is a form of pressure and is to be avoided.

2. The visitor is not asked what they believe. They are not asked what they do for work until the second hour, if at all.

3. If the visitor asks what we believe, the steward answers in under sixty seconds and then changes the subject to the meal. Long answers on a first attendance are a failure of hospitality.

4. The visitor is given something to carry, hold, or hand to someone else within the first twenty minutes.

5. No visitor is asked for money, at any point, at any observance, for any reason.

6. The visitor is not telephoned afterwards. If they return, they return. A steward may write once.

7. The first attendance is entered in the house book with date and the name of the member who brought them. This entry is not shown to the visitor and is not concealed from them.

8. Where a visitor arrives unaccompanied, the steward records the fact and notifies the Record. Unaccompanied arrivals are uncommon and are reviewed.

9. A steward who finds themselves eager for a particular visitor to return should say so to another steward the same evening. This provision is not optional.