My home Lodge in Tenino is doing a Table Lodge on December 29th of this year. The tickets are $20.
Our Lodge uses wine for the toasts, but in shot glasses. That way there isn’t too much alcohol being consumed at once, and for those who don’t partake of alcoholic beverages, fruit juice is optional (and many Brothers exercise this option.…
My home Lodge in Tenino is doing a Table Lodge on December 29th of this year. The tickets are $20.
Our Lodge uses wine for the toasts, but in shot glasses. That way there isn’t too much alcohol being consumed at once, and for those who don’t partake of alcoholic beverages, fruit juice is optional (and many Brothers exercise this option.) This year, our featured speaker will be our Grand Orator. In previous years, we’ve had good speakers from many areas of the state, including VWB John Lawson, who came in from Kennewick.
We use nice table furnishings that we don’t use for our usual dinners, and we have things set up very formal. And yes, I wear my tux to the event, although it’s not required for all who attend. Attendance is pretty good. And there’s a level of Tenino joviality that keeps it from being too stuff-shirt, but not to where it loses its formality.
Centralia Lodge held a couple of Table Lodges in the mid 2010’s. They were quite successful. Same general idea, with a good dinner and nice Table Lodge ritual. All had a good time, and were definitely looking forward to the next one.
From my experience, I don’t think you need to run it up to $200 a plate for it to be successful, as you can get pretty good speakers in your local area that can bring a nice attendance. And sometimes, you can get a well-known speaker from another area of the country without much trouble, as Centralia Lodge did a couple of months ago, although that was via zoom. (Now, me typing this brought up another idea, but I don’t think a Zoom Table Lodge would work well. Good topic to debate, though!) And I think $20 a plate worked fine with the food; our Table Lodges never had “SOS” for a main course. In fact, the Brothers went out of their way to pull out all the stops for that main course. I’m confident that it will just as excellent this time as well.
My home Lodge in Tenino is doing a Table Lodge on December 29th of this year. The tickets are $20.
Our Lodge uses wine for the toasts, but in shot glasses. That way there isn’t too much alcohol being consumed at once, and for those who don’t partake of alcoholic beverages, fruit juice is optional (and many Brothers exercise this option.) This year, our featured speaker will be our Grand Orator. In previous years, we’ve had good speakers from many areas of the state, including VWB John Lawson, who came in from Kennewick.
We use nice table furnishings that we don’t use for our usual dinners, and we have things set up very formal. And yes, I wear my tux to the event, although it’s not required for all who attend. Attendance is pretty good. And there’s a level of Tenino joviality that keeps it from being too stuff-shirt, but not to where it loses its formality.
Centralia Lodge held a couple of Table Lodges in the mid 2010’s. They were quite successful. Same general idea, with a good dinner and nice Table Lodge ritual. All had a good time, and were definitely looking forward to the next one.
From my experience, I don’t think you need to run it up to $200 a plate for it to be successful, as you can get pretty good speakers in your local area that can bring a nice attendance. And sometimes, you can get a well-known speaker from another area of the country without much trouble, as Centralia Lodge did a couple of months ago, although that was via zoom. (Now, me typing this brought up another idea, but I don’t think a Zoom Table Lodge would work well. Good topic to debate, though!) And I think $20 a plate worked fine with the food; our Table Lodges never had “SOS” for a main course. In fact, the Brothers went out of their way to pull out all the stops for that main course. I’m confident that it will just as excellent this time as well.