Become a Captain. We’ll teach you how.

What Captains actually do

Captains host the club’s get-togethers: they arrive first, greet everyone by name, make the introductions, and keep the evening flowing. They work the conversation menu when the table needs a nudge, watch the room for anyone left out, and land the close so the night ends on a high.

It’s the Toastmasters discipline translated for get-togethers — less podium, more long table. And it’s a genuine skill: members routinely tell us the Academy made them better hosts at their own dinner parties, better chairs of meetings, better humans at barbecues.

The craft, in eight short modules

The core curriculum is eight modules, each short enough to finish with a cuppa:

• The Captain’s mindset — what a host owes the table, and what they don’t.
• The first ten minutes — arrivals, introductions, and killing the awkward before it sets in.
• Reading the room — spotting the quiet one, the dominant talker, and the moment to step in.
• Working the conversation menu — when to use it, when to bin it, how to make it invisible.
• Timekeeping and flow — courses, rounds and energy: keeping the night moving without hurrying it.
• Safety and inclusion — the non-negotiables: first names only, everyone in, always.
• The close — endings matter: how to wrap so six strangers leave as six friends.
• After-action — follow-ups, mutual matches, and turning one good night into a standing crew.

A playbook for every event — and every generation

Graduate the core and you unlock the playbooks: one for each of the club’s 11 activities, from dinner parties to bushwalks to pickleball — before, during, after, and what to watch for in each. Hosting a gallery matinee is not hosting a trivia league, and the playbooks know the difference.

Then they’re tailored again by crew: 11 activities × 4 generations. Hosting Gen Z is not hosting Boomers — pace, tone, topics and accessibility all shift, and your playbook shifts with them. You’ll never walk into a get-together without knowing exactly how to run it. See the full menu on Ways to meet.

Then the club pays you

Captains never spend credits on their own events — hosting is always free for the host. On top of that, the club pays you for the nights you run:

• +12 credits every time you host a get-together — your next one’s on us.
• +3 full-house bonus when every seat fills.
• +25 credits every five get-togethers you host.

The Certified Captain track

For Captains who catch the bug, there’s a formal Certified Captain track: host regularly, keep your ratings warm, and work through the advanced modules. Certification is the club’s mark of a host who can run anything, anywhere — and it carries the best earn rates and first pick of events.

Apply from your member profile: Profile → Become a Captain. The Academy is free for every member, takes about an hour at your own pace, and the only prerequisite is liking people.