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►Don’t Make This Critical Mistake With Your Schedule

 May 10, 2013 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS
Clock Face Microsoft Clipart

The Trick You MUST Know About Benefit Auction Timing

Today I got an e-mail from a client stating,

“we will be advertising the event as starting at 7pm and ending at 10pm”

“Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo,” my brain screams, as I scramble to hit the “Reply” button before I read even one word further.

This is one of the MOST important tidbits I share with Benefit Auction clients:  the 30-1 Rule.

 

Here’s my hastily typed plea:

Ooh, ooh, ooh, this is one of those things I must speak up about 🙂

 

If you want people to be engaged in the event between the hours of 7:00-10:00, then you must must must advertise as 6:30-11:00, because people never arrive right when doors open, but 15-20 minutes after, and then have to park, walk, register, etc., so the earliest folks are beginning to engage in the event just before 7, with the majority trickling in AFTER that.

 

And then at the end, people mentally check out of an event when they believe they have experienced all that was included in their ticket price. If we say it runs until 11:00 BUT we internally plan to have all money raised and everything wrapped up by 10:00, then they feel they are getting home “early” and leave with a good impression that we were efficient.

 

If you advertise that the event ends at 10:00, people will be looking to leave by 9:00-9:15, hoping to let the babysitter go early or perhaps to beat the line at valet, and those departures before our event goals are wrapped up can really create a bunch of problems for checkout and put a damper on the evening.

 

Please please please add the 30-minute cushion to the front and 1-hour cushion to the end 🙂 I promise you that doing this will allow us to have guests engaged and content to be in attendance during the “action” hours of 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

 

Jenelle

Comments are closed - Categories: Auctioneers, Better Buyers, Charity, Consulting, Event Logistics, Other Money Makers

►Congrats to the Red Wagon Gala Committee

 April 22, 2013 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS
Red Wagon Gala Christ Child Society Naples

GALA GAL Jenelle Taylor conducts the 2013 Red Wagon Gala for Christ Child Society Naples

Here’s a quick example of great post-event press coverage, Red Wagon Gala in the Naples Daily News.

This nice summary and accompanying photos ran just days after the event, and serves multiple purposes:

  • appreciating those who just attended
  • publicly thanking major sponsors
  • recognizing the hard work of the committee and volunteers
  •  and raising visibility for the organization.

This kind of coverage has to be arranged in advance, so that a reporter and photographer are in attendance.

For your next event, take the time, no – make the time –  to reach out to local papers, TV stations, society magazines, or even area event website managers to get a commitment for coverage for this 1 Night, Once a Year event you’re pulling off!

After all, we all know that once it begins your event whirls by so fast that you’ll probably need  to read about how it all went too 🙂

Comments are closed - Categories: Charity, Event Logistics, Live Auctions, Sponsors

►Sponsor Recognition

 March 19, 2013 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS

What else can you do to thank your event sponsors and cost underwriters besides just listing them in the program?

It’s good to do more, since your guests may never open those programs you spent so many hours (and dollars) on. Since you want your sponsors to feel honored and appreciated, consider adding as many of these other recognition tactics as you can:

  • Offer a Patron Party with auction preview and menu tasting one month prior
  • VIP reception an hour before general admission
  • VIP post-auction reception with gelato, decaf cappuccino and swag bags
  • Give sponsor tables Auction Bucks (incentive bidder credits) for their guests
  • Provide champagne, a dedicated server for the dining table, premier seating
  • Make sponsor thank you foam core boards and place on easels at the entrance
  • Project sponsor logos on the wall
  • Make a Power Point slide show which loops during dinner of sponsor logos
  • Have a parting gift with a sponsor thank you card attached, such as:

Sponsor Thank You card tied with ribbon to some kind of parting gift, like a mini bag of chocolates. This recognition piece might say…

“Please join us in thanking these sponsors for their generosity. When you support them, ______________ benefits!”

or

“Tonight’s festivities made possible by these fine sponsors. Please consider supporting them with your business!”

or

“Thank you for supporting ___________this evening. Please consider patronizing these sponsors who made tonight possible”

 

What other sponsor recognition ideas have you seen? Please share in the comments!

Comments are closed - Categories: Charity, Consulting, Event Logistics, Sponsors

►Donation Card Designing

 March 15, 2013 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS
Photo of Jenelle Taylor GALA GAL

A benefit auctioneer should conduct your Donation Appeal

I was talking with a fundraising auctioneer pal yesterday about “donation cards” – the little cards that are either placed at each seat or peeking out of the program.

 

As your fundraising consultants, benefit auctioneers work with you to raise the most money for your cause. Donation cards are one option, but that approach lacks both urgency and peer encouragement. Your guests might never pick up that donation card, or may take it home with good intentions and no follow through.

Since auctioneers know how to handle a microphone and a stage, we are always going to recommend a traditional “direct appeal”, meaning a well planned part of your evening with an inspiring testimonial and the call to the “raise your paddle”.

In fact, a structured, auctioneer-led ask routinely raises $20,000, $60,000, $100,000 and up with professional auctioneers across the country. Whether you call it Fund a Need, Fund a Cure, Fund a Cause, Paddle Raise, Call for Donations, Cash Call, Donation Appeal, Direct Appeal, Planned Appeal, Bid to Give, or any other name, we believe that nothing connects your mission to your audience more than a straightforward but tactful conversation with your supporters, all working together toward a common financial goal. Then, when you add in Challenge Matches and similar giving incentives…the Paddle Raise concept is very hard to best.

However, if for whatever reason you still want to stick to donation cards on the table, I did a Google Image search of Donation Card and found tons of examples to help you plan and design! Check them out here: http://tinyurl.com/DonationCardSamples

Comments are closed - Categories: Auctioneers, Charity, Consulting, Live Auctions, Other Money Makers

►Voting with Dollars – Genius Quick Tip!

 March 14, 2013 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS

Image Credit depositphotos.com

Does your event have a contest component where guests “vote with dollars” such as a costume contest or dance contest?

 

Typically, guests purchase lengths or bundles of tickets, and then they “vote” by putting tickets into containers (paper bags, glass bowls) for their favorite contestants. As the night goes on, they can purchase tickets again and again to help a particular candidate win with the largest number of tickets.

(As a side note, the same process works for the Bucket Chance to Win, previously called Chinese Raffle.)

 

So, hundreds of people have been piling tickets into containers for hours, and now you have to quickly count them up to announce the winner. What if you have a bunch of contestants and tons of tickets? How can you count all that super fast, you ask?

 

Thanks to seasoned Orlando fundraiser and Femmes de Coeur President Judy Conrad for the solution:  Borrow a super-sensitive and perfectly calibrated gold measuring scale from a local jeweler…and simply compare ticket weights to find the winner, no counting necessary!

 

GENIUS! Thanks, Judy 🙂

Comments are closed - Categories: Consulting, Event Logistics, Grab Bag, Other Money Makers, Raffles/Chance Drawings

►Black Tie Events…for Free? Auction Underwriting for the New Millennium

 February 14, 2013 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS

Have you seen this? http://www.dodgedartregistry.com/

Underwrite your Benefit Auction just like the new Dodge Dart Registry idea

Crowd-funding idea for your next auction?

The website reads, ”

NEW RULES FOR BUYING YOUR CAR. Pick out the features you want in your new Dart and then invite friends and family to sponsor individual parts of the car.

You can raise a portion of the cost of a new Dart or the full price. Then all you have to do is go to a dealership and pick it up.”

 

How clever! Not only does this speak to a hip, Millennial generation, it offers a solution to funding a major cost –  by crowd-sourcing.

What a great idea to change up how you offer sponsorships this year for your event. Sure, most events already ask for sponsors, but typically at generic dollar amounts not tied to anything specific. Anyone else bored with the “Sponsorships available at $25,000, $10,000, $5,000 and $2500” approach?

This year, be forward thinking and socially savvy. Post a great photo from last year and offer opportunities to underwrite parts of the event at all different price levels. Instead of funding the engine on a future Dodge Dart, your supporters can fund the venue, the food, the bar, the linens, the decorations, the invitations, the technology…even pay for your professional auctioneer!

Just like chipping in to buy a beloved and deserving person a new car, your benefactors will feel good about helping fund something concrete, and empowered by being given a real choice. Come to think of it, isn’t that exactly the feeling we want to give our non-profit supporters all the time?

Comments are closed - Categories: Auctioneers, Charity, Event Logistics, Other Money Makers

►MC or not MC?

 July 3, 2012 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS
Emcee for your event

Who’s your MC?

I got cc’d on an e-mail that one of my November events confirmed a local TV anchor to emcee (or MC, if you prefer) their gala. This is a common practice which you’ve no doubt seen or done.

There are so many logistics to juggle when you’re planning a fundraising event:

which venue, what entertainment, ticket pricing, getting folks to attend, staffing, auction items and on and on. And who’s going to run this thing??

If your event has a live auction or Fund-a-Need appeal for donations, there’s just too much riding on your 1-Night, Once-a-Year event to risk with just Joe Anybody. Hire a professional who does fundraising for a living, all year long. Once your fundraising is safeguarded, consider asking this auctioneer to serve as MC for you. Benefit Auction specialists will be charismatic and able to command the crowd’s attention. Doubling up like this will save you time and money, since you won’t have to do the back-and-forth to confirm and manage another person or pay for another meal.

If you want a different voice to host your event for whatever reason, then certainly invite a community dignitary,  involve your Board president, a TV news anchor, or even a celebrity in your program.

But whatever you do, don’t hand over your fundraising

to anyone who is a professional something-else!

 

Those well meaning folks can leverage their personalities and knowledge of the crowd in a support role. Use your special guest in direct interaction with your attendees, but leave the auction psychology to the fundraising pro.

Your celebrity or community dignitary can best benefit your event by:

  1. Donating a Chance-of-a-Lifetime opportunity to the auction. (Actress Cheryl Hines   donated a private poker party with her to her favorite central Florida gala!)
  2. Hosting his/her own table for the dinner portion and inviting folks to bid for the chance to move to that VIP table
  3. Working the Live Auction on the floor, shaking hands and encouraging those who bid
  4. Drawing attention to your high-end items by visiting with folks at the Live Auction table during the 90-minute preview time

Your Board president can best benefit your event by:

  1. Hosting a pre-event VIP reception for last year’s big spenders and this year’s sponsors and special guests, giving them an initial hour to sip champagne, schmooze, and shop the auction unencumbered by the masses. These guests might even get a mini live auction with 3-5 things that are only offered to this elite VIP group.
  2. Promote the importance of fundraising by escorting VIPs and likely deep pockets personally to the Live Auction display table and facilitating an introduction with the auctioneer. This serves your guests by making them aware of the opportunities only available that night, and it initiates the rapport important to getting more bidding.
  3. Thanking the event sponsors and really explaining how their large gifts allow you to provide services.

Your TV news anchor (or Board member, CEO, staff member, or services recipient) can best benefit your event by:

1. Sharing the emotional appeal of your mission by putting faces and personal stories to the services you deliver. Getting the right person to introduce the video, deliver a keynote, or set up the Fund-a-Need appeal is crucial.

2. Being available to the guests throughout the night, mingling and adding a welcoming warmth to the festivities.

While several folks are appropriate for various aspects of MC hosting, the money you need to operate for months will come from the auction and appeal proceeds, so entrust the opening bids, the increments, the snap and sizzle of the numbers to a benefit auction specialist.

Comments are closed - Categories: Better Buyers, Board members, Consulting, Event Logistics, Live Auctions

Free Conference Call to “capture and capitalize” wisdom

 June 18, 2012 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS

In your job, whatever it is, every day you’re either offering your expertise or listening to someone else share his/her expertise. And every day, you’re wasting wisdom that could be leveraged to save you time, which saves you money, which means more for your bottom line. Take a few seconds to do this one thing, and you’ll build your arsenal of resources and get smarter, all for FREE!

Capturing your Expertise

Think about it – if you work with a charitable cause, in the course of your day, you may (more…)

Comments are closed - Categories: Technology

Dropbox-ease in to adopting new technology

 June 17, 2012 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS

I want to love technology, really I do. But as I’m sure some of you agree, when it comes to technology and things that are supposed to make my benefit auction management easier, the timespan from “intrigued about it” to “overwhelmed by it” falls in the single-digit minutes.

So I’ll try to help you (more…)

Comments are closed - Categories: Technology