Step 1

Roast any veggies and prepare your dips or tapenades in advance.

Step 2

Prepare your platter for arranging and pull out all of your ingredients. Start by arranging any components you're serving in bowls around the platter.

Step 3

Next, start placing the larger components on the board, using the bowls as your starting point. Think about texture, shape, and color when deciding what goes where. As you start placing things, don't worry about filling in all the space just yet. Reserve some of each component to fill in space later, if needed. For texture, roll up, fold, or fan out the meat, crumble or slice the cheese. For shape, think about placing contrasting different shapes near each other and putting similarly shaped items further away from each other. Similarly, think about adding contrast to your board by mixing up the colors. Keep flavors that go nicely together near each other, and away from clashing components.

Step 4

Reserve smaller or more neutral items for last to fill in the empty space. Nuts and crackers work great for this. Once you’ve placed all your main components, sprinkle nuts or scoot in some crackers to fill in all the empty spaces on your board.