A free visitor list for reception
To keep a visitor list, send one link to everybody expecting a guest, or to the guests themselves, and ask for three things: the visitor's name, their company, and who they are visiting. Reception reads one page and has the badges ready before anyone arrives.
This template is one open list with those two questions on it.
What you get
A list of things to bring, with a quantity against each.
Visitors
- A visitor
The number beside a line is how many people it takes. Everything here is editable, and nothing has a date on it until you set one.
How to run it
Make a new list each week, or one for a busy day, and put the date in the title. Share it with the people who invite guests, so they add their visitors themselves instead of emailing you one at a time.
Print it each morning for the front desk. The printed copy lists everybody expected in order, with company and host beside each name, and ruled lines for the visitors nobody mentioned.
What it does not do
It is not a security system and does not pretend to be. It does not take photographs, scan identity documents or keep a visitor's details any longer than you keep the list. When the week is over, download it if you need a record, then delete it. If your building needs a proper visitor management system, use one; this is for the offices that run on a list at the desk.
A worked example
A busy Tuesday with a board meeting and three interviews: eleven visitors, from four companies, seeing five people. Reception prints the list at eight, badges are on the desk by nine, and the one interview candidate who arrives early is greeted by name.
Who sees what
Names are shown on the list by default, so a colleague adding a guest can see whether somebody else already has. If the visits are confidential, turn names off in the settings; then only the organiser sees them.