9th Annual Black & White Gayla – November 5, 2011 – “Out on the Town”
Thank you for agreeing to serve as a Table Captain for Tacoma Rainbow Center’s 9th Annual Black & White Gayla on November 5th, 2011. Table Captains are essential to the success of our event, serving as a bridge between our mission and the community. Here are some basic instructions for recruiting, registering and hosting your guests. We look forward to celebrating with you!
Tips for Recruiting Guests:
1. Identify potential guests
Brainstorm and make a list of 12-15 potential guests. Consider friends, family, associates and colleagues who may be interested in supporting the Rainbow Center. Remember that you’ll probably need to invite more than 9 people to fill your table of 10, as not everyone will be able to attend. If all your guests say “yes,” the more the merrier, as we can arrange for seats at another table.
2. Invite your Guests
Your guests may have questions about the organization and the event. Guide them to the Rainbow Center website (www.rainbowcntr.org) for details about the event and The Rainbow Center’s mission and programs. Your guests may be also interested to know why being an advocate for the Rainbow Center is important to you.
You can invite your guests verbally, electronically and/or by mail, whichever method you feel is most effective. We have an electronic “Save-the-Date” invitation that you can send out via email now. In August, we will also have printed invitations that you can mail or hand out to your guests.
3. Communicate Expectations
Our Annual Gayla is a unique opportunity for our community to come together and to honor and celebrate our local community. This is our primary fundraising event, and in addition to the ticket price, we invite everyone to donate items for our silent and live auction. During our “Raise Your Paddle”, we honor gifts of all sizes, and ask people to donate what they feel they can personally give. We also invite guests to contribute in other ways - by joining one of our campaigns, volunteering their time, or connecting us with other resources in the community.
4. Make Reminder Calls/Emails
Plan on contacting your guests again via phone or e-mail a few days before the dinner to let them know you look forward to seeing them at the event. In order to make sure they have time to get seated and settled, be sure to ask them to arrive between 6:00 and 6:30pm. This way they will also be able to participate in the silent auctions, golden raffle, wine grab and buy it now board.
Instructions for Guest Registration
You and your guests can register a couple of different ways:
1. Use our online registration that is a link on our Gayla Event Website:
https://rnbwcntr.ejoinme.org/MyEvents/BlackWhiteGayla2011/tabid/300745/Default.aspx
click on the “Registration” link on the left panel. In addition to the usual credit card information you will be asked to enter your table captain name and select the type of meal you would like.
2. You can collect the registration $ from your guests (cash or check) and turn it in at the Rainbow Center.
3. Your guests can call or come by the Rainbow Center and pay for their tickets. Remind them to indicate you as their Table Captain.
Additionally: We will need you to complete the Table Captain Guest Payment form. If all of your guests register online you will only need to include their names on this sheet. This will be used to cross check your guests to your table(s). If your guests give you their $ then please complete the form and include your guests name(s) and addresses. Select their meal type and the method of payment. The form is pretty self explanatory. Feel free to send the completed form to Laura at laura.brewer@rainbowcntr.org.
In either case, please get your complete guest list to us no later than October 24th.
Important!
All guests that register by October 15th will be entered into a drawing for the night of the Gayla. The winner will receive one of the Signature Gayla engraved wine bottles.
Night of the Annual Dinner: November 5, 2011
1. Arrive early
Many table captains will come a bit early to decorate their tables. That is not necessary but some folks like to do this for their guests. Please make sure your guests register when they arrive so they can obtain their bid cards, programs etc. Introduce them to other guests and encourage them to participate in the silent auction, wine grab, and buy it now board.
During the Live auction encouraging and cheering on your friends always makes the evening more fun.
2. Collect Dessert Dash Bid Card
At the beginning of the live auction our auctioneer, Laura, will explain how the dessert dash works. Their will be a bid card on every table that should be passed around so your guests can enter their dessert bids. Runner will come around and pick up the cards.
After the Event
Thank You’s
The Rainbow Center will mail thank you letters during the week following the event. However, you might want to express your own thanks to your guests with a note or a phone call, as well.
And, most especially, we thank you for contributing to the success of our Annual Gayla by serving as a Table Captain!
Questions?
