If you’re managing a carnival then you know how important your hosts are.  They can make managing the carnival a piece of cake.  And if they volunteer to host, they likely know what it entails and will put together a good carnival for you, the carnival readers, and for the submitters.

Once in a while, though, life gets in the way, someone forgets, someone gets kicked down by a really bad cold, someone dies, etc.  The carnival may (rightfully) take a back seat for the moment while things get sorted out.  A week ago the host for the Carnival of Debt Reduction got really ill and didn’t post.  I finally saw her online and asked where the carnival was.  She told me that she was sick, and I stepped in and did the carnival for her.

Now, I was pretty sure something was wrong because this particular host was on top of things in previous editions of the carnival.  Even though I had to approach her as to why the carnival wasn’t posted, the day of the carnival was the first time that I actually tried to remind her.  This was a mistake.  I should have checked before then.  Here are a few tips to keep on top of your carnival hosts (in an unobtrusive way):

• A few days before the carnival, check the e-mail account where the submissions go.  If it’s a Gmail account, then if the host has read them, they’ll be marked read unless the host (a) hasn’t read them yet or (b) deliberately marked them unread again.  It’s a positive indicator if they’re marked read, but inconclusive if they’re not marked read.
• Email the host to remind them of the carnival and ask for a response.  It’s important to ask them for a response to make sure it’s still in the cards for them to host.  I’ve found most hosts will respond if you ask them to.
• If the carnival isn’t posted on time, politely look for an answer.  It’s common sense to me not to dump on your hosts, but it’s always better to assume something’s wrong than to accuse.
• Pinch hit if necessary.  It may be that you end up dressing up an InstaCarnival just to get the carnival edition out the door.  If this is the case, then definitely be sure to e-mail all of the participants so that they know where the carnival is, because they’ll be expecting it somewhere else.  I found it was helpful to explain why the carnival moved at the last minute, and folks had sympathy for the sick host.

It’s definitely better to communicate more with your hosts.

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• Try scheduling hosts in advance This is a rule that I don't follow all the time, and it adds a lot of stress having to find a host from week to week. The Carnival of Personal Finance has come to ask for hosts quarterly. He asks for hosts about a month in advance, then decides......
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