How to Host a Twitch Raid Train

Hosting a raid train is mostly logistics. The streaming part takes care of itself once everyone knows their slot time and who they raid next. This is the playbook for getting to that point, from picking a date to running the handoffs on the day.

Decide what the train is for before you pick a date

Every decision after this one gets easier if you can finish the sentence "this train exists so that...". Growing a small team, welcoming new members, raising money, celebrating a launch, and filling a quiet Tuesday are all valid, and they lead to very different schedules.

A growth train wants a mix of channel sizes and a lineup people will actually sit through. A charity train wants a long block with a visible total. A team showcase wants the roster in an order that makes sense to a stranger. Write the purpose down and use it to settle arguments later.

Setting up the event

Get all of this in place before you invite anyone, because changing it afterwards means re-confirming with every streamer.

1. Pick the date and total length: Weekends get more viewers and more streamer availability. Be honest about length. A twelve hour train with eight people in it will have gaps, and gaps are where audiences leave.
2. Choose a slot length and stick to it: Mixed slot lengths are the most common cause of a train drifting off schedule. Pick one length for the whole event unless you have a specific reason not to.
3. Publish the schedule somewhere everyone can read it: One page, one source of truth, showing each slot, who has it, and who they raid next. A pinned Discord message is not this, because it does not update in each streamer's own timezone.
4. Write the rules down: Content rating, whether the category is fixed, how early to check in, and what to do if someone does not show. Three lines is enough. What matters is that nobody has to ask.
5. Open the slots or assign them: Open registration fills a lineup faster and brings in people you have not met. Assigning slots gives you control over the running order. Many hosts assign the first and last slots and open the rest.
6. Confirm the lineup a few days out: Ask everyone to reconfirm. The people who do not answer are the people who will not show up, and finding that out on Wednesday is much better than finding out mid-train.

Picking a slot length

There is no correct answer, but each choice has a known failure mode.

Filling the lineup

• Start with people who have raided you or who you have raided, because they already know the format
• Ask your team and your Discord before you post publicly, so the schedule never looks empty
• Post the event with slots still open, since an empty page is harder to say yes to than a half full one
• Mix channel sizes on purpose. A train of only large channels does nothing for anyone, and a train of only tiny channels struggles to build momentum
• Keep a short reserve list of people willing to cover a gap at short notice

The four things that break a raid train

Almost every train that goes badly goes badly for one of these reasons.

• No-shows: Someone forgets, sleeps in, or has an outage. Fix it with check-ins and reminders before the slot, plus a reserve list you can call on. Decide in advance whether the previous streamer extends or the next one starts early.
• Timezone confusion: A schedule written in one timezone will be read wrong by someone. Publish times that display in each viewer's own timezone rather than a static list of hours.
• Nobody knows who is next: The streamer on air has to know their raid target without leaving their stream to look it up. This is the single most common reason a handoff goes to the wrong channel or is late.
• Silent handoffs: A raid with no context loses most of the audience. Ask everyone to say who they are raiding and why, and give them a line to use if they do not know the next streamer.

The week before

• Reconfirm every slot and fill anything that has come loose
• Send everyone their slot time, their raid target, and the rules in one message
• Ask contributors to check their Twitch incoming raid settings, because a raid that bounces stalls the whole train
• Give everyone a graphic or a schedule link they can share with their own community
• Decide who is on call during the event if something goes wrong

On the day

• Open the event chat early so people can flag problems before their slot
• Watch the handoffs, not the clock. A train stays on time because raids happen on time
• Keep a running message with who is on now and who is next
• Fill gaps immediately rather than waiting to see whether someone turns up
• If the schedule slips, decide once whether you are shortening slots or running late, and tell everyone

After the train

Thank everyone publicly, and thank the people who covered gaps specifically. Those are the people you want back.

Note what actually happened against what you planned, especially where the schedule slipped and why. Two or three trains in, that record is worth more than any advice.

If it worked, run it again on a fixed cadence. A monthly train that people can plan around fills far faster than a one-off, and R3dLabs groups repeats into a series so your community always knows when the next one is.

Keep reading

• What is a Twitch raid train?: Start here if the format itself is new to you.
• Raid train rules and etiquette: The rules worth publishing, and why each one exists.
• Raid train ideas and themes: Twenty four themes to build a train around.
• Charity raid trains: What changes when you are raising money.

Browse open raid trains or see what R3dLabs can do.