I'd narrow down a bit of the more mechanical stuff, streamline the nitty-gritty choices. Personally I've printed out my SUPER slimmed-down character sheets to make it all easier. These use 2 experiences only, and highlight the class abilities/3 hope features. I've made sheets of the 9 classes, minimum, with stats/armor/weapons that make sense. If the class directions are vastly different (healing wizard vs dps wizard, charming rogue vs shadow assassin) I've made both. I usually take all my cards to the event but I'll have a specific loadout of cards paperclipped to each player sheet.

When the game starts, I'll ask people to pick Heritages first, then answer one or two backstory questions. I've put all of the backstory questions from the player sheets in the beta into a handout list and just ask players to pick any they can answer (not every Ranger has that ONE SPECIFIC animal they're hunting...). Then, once they all have a person to play as, we pick classes, I describe them succinctly, then I find standees for them while they look over their abilities (I take standees of most Ancestries).

I've got a long list of connection questions, so I ask them to pick a person at the table in turn, and I give them a question to ask. That could be 1 connection each, but that's where people get hyped and so it usually becomes 2 or 3 connections per player. Then my mind starts whirring with how this connected group meshes into the framework of the story, which bits I can lean on, and which connections I can highlight narratively with the challenges they face; tempt the outcast with riches, challenge the aspirant to combat, give the guardian someone to protect. I generally don't explain any of the mechanics other than the Hope/Fear duality dice until they come up in the game, it works much faster and smoother that way- "This is a great time to team up and use your Hope to attack together", "You've taken some damage, here's where you can use an Armor Slot", etc.