First things first

I've already made a few decisions, in consultation with the school foundation's chair.

We identified the need - replacing the 8-year old computers in the lab (they were installed 5 years ago, as used-and-refurbed machines; they were fine then, and really creaky now).

We decided to wait for the spring; I could probably force through an adequate event for November, but we'll do better with another 2-3 months of work.

We are going to hire a professional auctioneer, one who has earned the Benefit Auction Specialist designation. I know a bunch of them in the area, and will call around to check their availability for the spring. I'll probably write a post on this sometime in the next couple of months; I am solidly convinced that hiring a BAS is money very well spent.

We are going to hold the auction at a venue where we can serve wine and beer. I know school auction teams who are willing to forego serving alcohol if it means they can save money and use the school cafeteria; I'm not one of them.

We are not going to do a full dinner, but just serve appetizers. This will help us keep the ticket price down. This means I have to figure out a way to get all of the guests to sit down for the live auction, but I'm pretty sure a solution will present itself.

As for dates, we are going to look at Thursday nights; there's a much better chance we can book a venue and auctioneer of our choosing if we pick a Thursday.

And we are going to use SchoolAuction.net to help with the planning. (FULL DISCLOSURE: That's kind of a no-brainer for me; I'm a partner in the company.) I've already set that up this morning.