Criteria for Selecting Your Table Captains
The number-one indicator of a great Table Captain is their passion for your organization. Number two is their ability to follow through with their invitations and actually fill their table with ten people on the day of the event. Number three is their ability to keep in touch with you. Will they respond to your e-mail messages and phone calls in a timely way? Will they keep in touch if they are falling behind on their invitations or if someone cancels at the last minute? These are the criteria you will wish you had paid better attention to as the event draws closer.

Table Captain Job Description
Here is a clear and simple job description to review with each Table Captain before they sign on for the job:

1. Fill a table with ten guests at the Ask Event^™. (This will mean confirming fourteen guests by reminding them personally by phone or e-mail the day before.)
2. Make sure that at least 20% of guests have attended a Point of Entry^® by the date of the Ask Event.
3. Mail "Save-the-Date" cards to each guest as they accept the Ask Event invitation.
4. Keep a separate list of those unable to attend the Ask Event but who have said they would like to receive more information about the organization.
5. Submit a final guest list to the organization at least three weeks before the Ask Event.
6. Arrive at the Ask Event at least thirty minutes early to greet guests and to pick up a Table Captain day-of-event packet.
7. Pass out pledge cards and envelopes as instructed during the pitch.
8. Set an example for guests by enjoying the event and filling out the pledge card during the pitch. Guests will be looking to the Table Captains at that moment to see what they are supposed to do.
9. Collect completed pledge cards and envelopes from the guests, and turn them in to the event coordinator before leaving the event.
10. Call guests within two days to thank them for coming and to get their impressions and feedback. (Do not ask the guests for money.)

Determining the Number of Table Captains
Here is where you must be a realist. Use our tested formulas if you want to fill every seat and avoid paying for extra meals. You must assume that at least 15% of your Table Captains will not come through at all. In other words, they will agree to be Table Captains, yet they will not have any guests on the day of the event. In fact, they may not even attend the event themselves. They are not bad people; they meant well when they accepted the assignment, but they were unable to deliver. Plan for this 15% Table Captain attrition; do not be surprised by it on event day.

Then you need to figure that, for the Table Captains who do come through, at least 15% of their guests will not attend. Although each guest will have received two check-in calls from their Table Captain in the week before the event, people will be unable to attend on the day of the event for one reason or another—a sick child, a medical emergency, or the weather. Factor this percentage into your numbers.

In other words, if you want your Ask Event to have 200 guests, you will need to start with twenty-seven Table Captains—which is quite a lot more than the twenty Table Captains you might have anticipated. By the time you allow for the 15% of the Table Captains who will not fulfill their role, you are down to twenty-three Table Captains. Then, when you allow for the 15% of the remaining guests who will not show up, you will barely have your 200 people. Again, be a realist; don't be left paying for uneaten meals and losing pledges from the guests who could have taken those empty seats.

Where To Find Your Table Captains
Knowing how many Table Captains you will need to get to your goal, you should start with a list of twice as many potential Table Captains. Sticking with our 200-person event example, you would need twice twenty-seven, or fifty-four potential people you could ask to become Table Captains.

Where can you look to find those fifty-four people?

I recommend you turn to your Treasure Map^®—the diagram you made to identify the groups such as your board, staff, volunteers, vendors, neighbors, schools, faith organizations, doctors, etc., who would naturally want to know more about your organization.

Identify as many potential Table Captains as you can from each group on your Treasure Map. If, for example, you have a strong volunteer program with many roles for volunteers, you might want to have one Table Captain from each type of volunteer; for example, the volunteer drivers, the volunteers who serve lunches, and the hospital volunteers who deliver the flowers. These groups will make ideal Ask Event guests, and there is no doubt at least one leader within each group (sometimes more, if it is a large group) who would not want their group to miss out on the event. Be sure to let them know in the invitation process if you will be mentioning their program in any way.

For interfaith groups, each church, synagogue, or mosque that sends a team of volunteers to help out at the shelter or meals program each week also becomes a natural group for one Table Captain to host.

In other words, as you select your Table Captains, be sure to look at the groups and not just the individuals that your organization interacts with.

There will be certain board members who will naturally make great Table Captains and others who should be invited to sit at the board/VIP table. Do not pressure your board members to become Table Captains—it won't work. It is far better to let them come, if they choose, to see the event firsthand. Conversely, you also need to allow for the board members who will fill multiple tables. At the school where the model was developed, we had one board member fill six tables at our first event.

What about staff members as Table Captains? Here is another one of our formulas: no more than 5–10% of your Table Captains should be staff. Therefore, for a 200-person Ask Event, out of your starting twenty-seven Table Captains, no more than three should be staff.

The more diversity and breadth of your community represented at your Ask Event, the better. Choose Table Captains from each group on your Treasure Map. If your organization works with lawyers, doctors, teachers, and parents, you should have Table Captains from each of those groups.

Make sure that each Table Captain—even those insiders who already know your organization's work—has attended a Point of Entry Event before the Ask Event.

That leads us to a final source of Table Captains—one that often gets overlooked in the initial planning stages for the event—Point of Entry guests. Do not underestimate the power of your Point of Entry to convert a first-time attendee into a potential Table Captain.

The quality of your Table Captains is crucial to the success of your Ask Event. It is well worth taking the time to select just the right people for this role—people who are both reliable and passionate about your organization's mission.