Placecards

Thomas Jefferson at his White House dinners broke with tradition and did not seat people according to rank.  Quite a novel idea at the time. He appreciated the importance of seating to encourage conversation and was also known to employ props to accomplish same.  Placecards eliminate confusion for guests and allow the hostess to arrange people for optimum interaction.  The convention of host and hostess at the head of the table still stands with female guests flanking the host and male guests attending the hostess.