One Thing You ABSOLUTELY Need to have at your event.

As a professional Benefit Auctioneer, I have found that in more than one instance, organizations make a huge mistake in planning and preparation of their event.  This is something that may end up costing them money in the long run.  Yet they could fix or help eliminate the problem with a simple upfront cost that would more than pay for itself, each and every time. 

No this time I am not speaking of the benefits of having a professional Benefit Auctioneer conduct your auction.  For more on my discussion on that I refer you to my other blogs here on the page.  No, this time I am talking about something materialistic that can easily be obtained.......A  Professional Sound System.

I have heard auction committees say we don't need to bring in a sound system, the venue we are using has a house sound system.  Which is absolutely correct in most cases, however many of the house systems are not designed for large crowds.  Yes they have them, and if you go in and "test" the system it may sound fine, in the preparatory stages of your event.  But there are other factors that you cant duplicate in that time frame.  Crowd size, which in all honestly is at best a good estimate as to how many people to expect on any given event, background noise, which goes into the crowd size as well.  But the fact of the matter is no matter how much noise is present the house system has to overcome that aspect. 

Many of the house systems are built into the ceiling, most of which are elevated beyond the 12 foot mark.  This means that more power and energy is needed to overcome the other factors that I mentioned.  When you turn up the sound or power, many times the end effect is that the sound becomes muffled, which in turn cost your organization money.  Why would this cause you to lose money?  For several reasons, The first and probably the most evident: If people cant hear what is being said, they will not respond.  As an auctioneer, Our job is to generate the highest amount of money for the item we are selling by effectively chanting and working with the crowd.  People are often fascinated with the auction chant due to the simple elegance and speed.  Many auctioneers, myself included, take great pride in their chant and strive to maintain that elegance and speed.  However, if the sound system creates a muffling factor, It causes us to change our efforts and may take some of the mystic away.  Also along that lines, while we are selling by using our chant, the audience is getting caught up in "Auction Fever".  That is an important element in the auction process because it does one very important thing, It encourages crowd participation.  SO, if your crowd can not understand what is being said and more importantly the details of what is being sold, how much profit is lost for the organization hosting the event. 

There are several great companies around that you can rent a system from for the event.  You give them the details in regard to what kind of venue you are working with and expected crowd size.  Many times they can provide the "perfect sound system" for your event.  Granted no two events are exactly the same, but they will be able to assist you in the planning so that the sound coverage is throughout the space. 

Contact the auctioneer that is assisting you in the preparation and planning of your event, they should be able to get you to some of the businesses that can help you with this.  Like I said before, the system will more than pay for itself and you and your guests will truly appreciate the addition.

The Planning stages of your auction

I have had the opportunity to speak to several auctioneers in regards to the topic: To be involved or not to be involved in pre-event planning.  One of the things that I asked the opinion of my colleagues is why there is an importance to have your event auctioneer involved in all stages of planning of your event. There is so much more that a professional auctioneer can provide rather than just showing up an calling numbers.

One of the first and probably the greatest reason to have the auctioneer's participation in the planning is: experience.  Many of the clients we work for plan for 1 auction per year. Some on rare occasions maybe 2 or 3.  However, this gives a very limited view as to what things work well, what may be hurting the results of your auction, and other things that may go unnoticed.  Why is that? It is because many of them don't attend other auctions planning committee meetings.  On the other hand, the auctioneer you use will have been in attendance to several different events and more than likely has had input in the planning stages.  A good auctioneer will provide you with the knowledge they have, based on the mistakes and more importantly the success's that they have seen in various types of settings. 

You should never be afraid to make a suggestion to the auctioneer as to an idea you have for your event.  The auctioneer will and should understand that each event is different and that you as the organization has an idea as to the type of people that will attend.  That being said, you also have the choice to listen and implement the advise that is provided.

The second reason to have the auctioneer involved in your pre-auction planning: Support and Encouragement.  A professional benefit auctioneer can provide you with support and encouragement through out the planning stages.  Why is this important?  It is important because with every event there is a proactive timeline and a reactive timeline.  If you stay in the proactive time line, your event will follow a more direct planning path which leads to an overall better success rating for your event.  When organizations start to fall off of that time line and things get out of sync, they cross over into the reactive timeline.  This time line causes several amounts of stress levels to be raised, things don't work out as planned which causes unexpected changes. 

A professional auctioneer can help to keep you from hitting those pitfalls that can cause the timeline change for your event.  Many times again based on experience, they will see a potential challenge before it takes places and can give the advise to prevent it.  This allows you and your organization to stay on the proactive timeline.  In addition to that, the auctioneer may be able to share shortcuts that will save you time, money and in some cases stress. 

What about those pre auction donation questions?  Again through experience, the benefit auctioneer can help with suggestions on how to procure items, the order to sell them the night of your event, How to create the needed packages using the donations received, etc.  This is often one of the most overlooked things in the planning stages of an event.  Event Organizers often get excited about the items donated, but yet can be at times, blinded by the item without seeing the bigger picture.  As crazy as this may sound, sometime the donations you get if not placed properly in a selling order can hurt your auction instead of helping it.  This is something that you will definitely present to your event auctioneer for advice. 

Keep this in mind, The benefit auctioneer is not there to take all the decision  making out of your hands but rather enable you to have a greater amount of success for you event.

As always I welcome your comments and questions in regards to my post.  Have a great day!

Volunteer Bid Spotters or Professional Ringman ??

My friend Ron Harke of Harke Auction & Appraisers wrote the following on his blog,  www.harkeauction.com/blog. This is a big topic of negotiation with every benefit auction committee and a professional benefit auctioneer.  However, usually after the event and using professional ringman, that organization will not want to go back to using :volunteer bid spotters" . Thank to Ron for allowing me to repost. 

Just about every Professional Benefit Auctioneer across the country has written a blog or article about this subject.  Volunteer bid spotters, or Trained Professional Bid Assistants, i.e. Professional Ringman.

I understand reasons why a school or non profit would not use their help. At the schools (large & small) all the moms, dads and grandmas and grandpas love to see their kids working the auction.  Waving that flashlight or sparkly wand. After all the parents are bidding and they get a kick out of seeing their own working in the crowd.

Non profits many times just do not want to spend the money for extra help, and yes many of their volunteers love to stand up and have fun and do the same as the students, wave the flashlight or sparkly wand, many do  love to entertain and believe they can and add to the evening, I do appreciate that.

Let’s consider the simple definition of each. 
Bid Spotter: A bid spotter stands in an area assigned by the chairman of spotters, does not move from his 4 or 5 table area and puts up his hand so the auctioneer can see the bid. Usually only with a  flash light or wand, with no yell or "Yep" and yes ,sometimes after a while just loses interest or starts talking to their friends around them.

A Bid Assistant:
 Hired by the auctioneer (via, the organization) he is there for one thing, "To Work" he is trained, (there are Professional Ringman schools that many attend) he has worked auctions, and knows the auctioneer.  He moves from bidder to bidder, he is as active as the auctioneer. Many times he does not use a flash light etc, because auctioneers and bid assistants communicate by sound as well as "gestures".  An assistant "Yeps" a bid and the auctioneer reacts to that, without even seeing the bid, because he knows his "assistant" has that bid.
The Bid Assistant is animated, adding excitement and helping to hold audience attention. He is not afraid to step in again asking the bidder to raise his bid.   It has been proven again and again that a Bid Assistant will more than pay for his fee, before the auction has ended.

Ok, so why don't more non profits and schools use trained Bid Assistants.  I think the answer is they just do not know enough about the Professional Ringman, or have not attended an auction using Ringmen. They have not witnessed the excitment.  If they had they would know what the Ringman does for a fast moving money producing auction. Estate, consignment, gallery or the Benefit Auction. 
 Many of these same schools and organizations still use volunteers and celebrities to auction (sell) their items and try to raise the bids at their one large benefit of the year. 

Benefit Auctioneers around the county agree! An Auctioneer and 3 perhaps 4 Professional Ringman can work an audience of 400 people.   Less if the crowd is smaller. That should tell you something right there.  That’s much easier that organizing 12 volunteers standing around the parameter of the room waiting for someone to raise their bid card.?

I think the old model is changing and will change, as more organizations have an opportunity to visit a Benefit Auction using Professional Ringmen(Bid Assistants)  Non-profits and schools are beginning to take notice that other groups are adding to their evenings, bottom line.  That’s what a professional, who does this for a living, can do for you. 

Please watch this clip from the NAA Ringmans Competition, tell me it would benefit you to use Professionals!!!!              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsngqAvBQjI

To Use a Professional Auctioneer or Not For Your Benefit

You and your organization are planning a fundraising event.  It has been suggested that you look into a benefit auction.  This is a great way to raise funds, without having to have multiple "fundraisers' per year.  Although there is nothing wrong with other types of fundraisers.

As you come to your first committee meeting to begin planning an benefit / charity auction, you will be presented with a very common question.  Who will we get to be the auctioneer for the event?  There will be someone that will say something like, "I know a guy/gal that is really good in front of a crowd, that MIGHT be able to do it." or someone will say, "Why do we need to pay someone to be the auctioneer?" These are just some of the questions that will or may be asked when the initial planning is started.

Let me address these two as I feel they are the most asked questions.  But before I do that, let me say this, I am not condoning any organization that doesn't use a professional auctioneer.  Many organizations choose not to for the simple fact, that they do not know the difference.  My goal is to provide information that will assist an auction committee to be able to have a profitable and memorable event.

Suppose that someone has said they know someone who is good in front of a crowd and MIGHT be able to do it for us, or the flip-side of that is we need to get a celebrity to do it.  Contrary to the belief of some, there is much more to what the auctioneer brings than just showing up and selling the day of the event.   A professional benefit auctioneer can help with many various things that will help you and your committee focus on other aspects of the event.  Most professional benefit auctioneers are willing to add valuable input and ideas that will help progress your evening in a favorable way.  After all the object of the evening is not only to raise funds for your organization that evening but rather to create an event that the guests will remember and will want to return the following year.

Another drawback of having a friend or a celebrity do the calling is the pressure of success that is immediately put on them.  If the event doesn't quite go as well as planned, or the crowd is not engaged in the bidding of items, the friend or celebrity may take it as an insult.  A professional benefit auctioneer not only is trained in working the crowd, just as importantly he/she is involved in working WITH the crowd. The Auctioneer knows when more time needs to be spent on a particular item based on the value, the interest showed, and if necessary how to peak a little more interest to increase the bidding.  This creates an atmosphere that is generally enjoyable for everyone.

The second question that is asked is "Why should we pay someone to do this for us?"  This is a subject that many organizations actually miss the importance of.   Many organizations think that by paying a professional benefit auctioneer that the profit from the event will be lessened.  The truth of the matter is that a professional auctioneer should not only be able to make his fee but should also be able to bring in more money than a non professional.  This goes back to the previous comments of the training and understanding the whole picture of the auction process.  Along with that, many organizations will not hesitate to pay for other aspects of the evening so that they don't have to worry about it, the caterers, the band or the DJ, the venue, etc.  The auctioneer is another service being provided that by using a professional may reduce the amount of stress to you and your event committee.

As you can see, a professional benefit auctioneer can bring many different aspects to an event.  So can you really afford to not use one at yours.

Oral Auction Items vs Silent Auction Items

Your organization is planning on using a benefit auction as a fund raiser.  You have established a committee and are in the planning stages of the event.  The question comes up, "What makes good live auction items and what makes good silent auction items"?

There are several things that you would want to take into consideration when this question arises.  First off and probably the most important question,  How many live auction items do you want to sell that evening?  This is an important point, and will need to be addressed with the auctioneer you choose for the event.  Each auctioneer has a different style and has a different amount of items they feel comfortable selling in an hour or two.  Most live benefit auctions should be limited to no more than two hours maximum.

The next point to consider is what is the expected crowd going to be?  This changes from event to event based on location, type of event, and what the benefit is for.  You may be able to use different items based on the demographics of the people that you are expecting to attend the evening.  For example a small church auction may be able to use a specially made cake by one of its members as a live auction item, but that same cake probably wouldn't do to well at a formal event.  This is another point that the auctioneer that you are planning on using should be able to help you with.

The third thing to consider is the anticipated value of an item.  Obviously you will want to put the items that will bring the highest value to your event on the live auction.  Gift certificates may not necessarily be a good item to put on the live auction for a couple of reasons. First, they are for an exact amount.  the people who are bidding know the value of them and usually will stop bidding before or at that particular amount.  Secondly, gift certificates may only apply to certain locations or areas.  This can cut your potential bidders down greatly. 

But what about when you have several of the same type of items, for example several donations of sporting event tickets to the same team.  These can bring high bids in the live auction unless you have to many sets.  This is the point when I suggest to create packages using the other items donated.  Maybe you can add a nights stay at a hotel or add a gift certificate for dinner.  Any thing that will add a little spice to the package and create a little bit of something different usually works.  Also when you set the order of items to sell if you do have multiple similar items, you want to space the items out so that there is some time in between selling each one.  Again the auctioneer that you are working with should be able to help you setting the order.

Hopefully this gives you some ideas that may help you to decide when you receive the donations for your auction as to where they should be put for the either.  Live auction or silent auction, the choice you choose on each item could affect your profit margin for the event.  The best advice to remember is, the auctioneer that you choose, should be both knowledgeable and willing to help you make these decisions on you items.