Worked example: a 40-person potluck

This is a constructed walkthrough, not a case study of a named customer. The numbers are a 40-person neighborhood potluck in a community room that holds 40. The point is to show which objects you create and which numbers you type.

What you are trying to avoid

Forty people, twelve pans of brownies, one salad, and no serving spoons. Also: a public Facebook post that draws sixty people into a room that seats forty.

The sign-up

• Title: “Oak Street potluck · May 16”
• Description: start time 6:00, end 8:30, bring a serving utensil, parking behind the building, kids welcome. No resident addresses.
• Public listing: off. This is a neighborhood list, not a citywide event.
• Default capacity: 40 (the room).
• Location: the community room you already saved on the team.

Create that container, then add one instance for May 16, 6:00–8:30, capacity 40. People who only want to attend and not bring a dish could register on the instance if you leave instance-level registration open. For a potluck you usually want everyone to pick a dish slot, so you rely on the slots below and treat instance capacity as the room cap.

The slots

Name by course, not by recipe. Capacities are guesses you can defend:

• Mains · capacity 10
• Sides / salads · 8
• Bread / chips · 4
• Fruit · 4
• Desserts · 6
• Drinks (still) · 3
• Drinks (sparkling / coffee) · 2
• Plates, cups, utensils · 2
• Ice · 1
• Early setup 5:15 · 3
• Stay-late cleanup · 4

That is 47 dish/job spots on a 40-person room. That is intentional: some households bring a dish and fill a cleanup slot; some only attend if you allow instance-only registration. If you require a dish, say so in the description and do not offer a slot-free path.

What you do next

Open the public page in a private window. Register a test dessert, confirm the email, unregister. Send the URL to the block list. Do not turn on public listing. If someone forwards it to a coworker across town, you will see an extra dessert; that is fine. If the room fills, instance capacity stops new names even if a dessert slot is still open — edit whichever limit is wrong.

Wednesday before: look at mains. If only three are taken, text three people who always cook and ask them to grab a mains slot, not “please sign up if you can.” Friday: print the slot list for the kitchen counter. Saturday: walk-ups who bring unexpected brownies do not need a new slot if desserts still have room; if desserts are full, they still come if the room has capacity, they just do not get a roster line.

What this example is not

It is not proof that “organizers save 50% of their time.” It is not a testimonial. It is the same structure churches use for a fellowship meal and PTAs use for a class party, with listing left off. For the job-board version of a Saturday, use the game-day example.