At the potluck, fix a plate for the visitor who doesn’t know the routine yet. Welcome is mostly logistics.

Feeling welcome is produced by very practical things. Knowing where to stand, what happens next, whether it is acceptable to start eating: those are what make a new person uncomfortable, and warmth does not answer them. Handing somebody a plate solves four problems at once without a conversation. Hospitality is mostly information, delivered quietly.

When somebody new turns up anywhere this week, tell them the practical thing rather than saying hello twice. Where the food is, when it finishes, who that person is. Then stand near them for ten minutes.