Friday, September 24, 2010

Checking In

Anyone who has ever chaired an auction will understand, when I apologize for not blogging for almost a week and explain why.

We're in a little bit of flux, regarding dates (the calendar was already almost full before I ever volunteered to do this), and the venue (there is a preferred venue whose calendar for next spring has very few available dates).  I think I have an auctioneer, but I've only confirmed him for one of the possible dates (which works on the school calendar, but not at the preferred venue).

Problems like these can make a person crazy, but there are many more crazy-making opportunities ahead of me. So I choose to see it as just the current challenge.  Auction chairs, like any managers, must take these in stride.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Another way to handle procurement

Today, out in North Carolina, the Garris Chapel Church is holding their all-day fundraiser and silent auction. They are using SchoolAuction.net to manage it, and as such I've had occasion to talk to the chair a few times about the event.

What they do, that I have never seen another group do, is they ask all of the attendees to bring items for the silent auction with them when they show up at the event. They enter the items in the database at the same time they check in the guests, print bid sheets for the items on the spot, and put the items out on the table then for bidding.  They don't really know how many items they will have in the silent auction until it is almost over (due to late arrivals), but they also don't send out procurement letters or knock on doors.

I thought that was a pretty interesting idea. I'm not going to use it this year myself, but can see using it with a future event.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Thursdays, Saturdays and an Auctioneer

We may have a date.

The PTA Board voted for March 12th - a Saturday.  I had recommended March 10th, but primarily on the grounds that, this late in the game, I knew we would have problems booking an auctioneer, caterer and a venue on a Saturday night in the middle of the spring auction season.

And sure enough, one auctioneer just laughed at me when I asked her about her availability on the 12th.  But another auctioneer here in town, who I like a lot, does have an opening.  I'm talking to him later today.  And to the preferred venue - lets keep our fingers crossed.

I still like the idea of Thursdays - the conventional wisdom is that a Thursday event is less of a party than a Saturday event would be.  But I've seen a few Thursday school auctions and they have all been great successes, so it isn't Destiny that a Thursday event will be a dud.  And the costs are lower (several venues around here will donate a Thursday night to a school for an auction). But hey, these things are group decisions, and as long as we can make it work, I don't need to be a rebel.


Monday, September 13, 2010

On Signup Parties (aka Socials, Easel Parties, Pay-to-Plays, etc.)

As mentioned in an earlier post, there will be signup parties at this auction.

What's a signup party? Here's an example. Mike and Rebecca (parents of a sophomore at Hypothetical High School) decide that, as their contribution to the HHS auction, they are willing to host 12 people at their house on the day of the Kentucky Derby, and serve these people mint juleps and fabulous tasty food. It's well-known in the HHS community that Mike and Rebecca's house features a patio with a spectacular view of the valley and a gorgeous garden, and Rebecca has an awfully sharp wit and so we KNOW that people are going to want to go to the party.

The Procurement Chair and Rebecca sit down to discuss the idea over a julep or two, and decide to charge $35 per person for the 12 slots.  The Procurement Chair takes a few pictures of the patio and the view and a mint julep, and enters the Kentucky Derby Bash as a Signup item into the auction software, with a quantity of 12, and a price of $35.

On the night of the auction, the Procurement Chair puts a signup sheet on a table, surrounds it with pictures of the patio, of  the mint julep, and of last year's winning horse.  Guests who want to attend write their names down, and at check-out, pay $35 for the slot.  After the event, the Auction Chair prints out a report with the names of the people who signed up, and Rebecca emails them to tell them how much fun the party is going to be, and when to show up.

The auction books $420 in contributions from that item alone ($35 x 12 guests), and everyone is happy.

Here's a link to another blog post on Socials, by a woman I met through the PTA Great Idea Bank website.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Thinking about The Team

I know I'm going to get a few questions after Tuesday on how much work this event is going to be for everyone else - it's nice that I'm volunteering my time, but who else is going to have to work on this, and how much? So I'm thinking about what other people I'll need. Here's a first crack:

  1. Theme & Decorations Chair - I'll be frank; I'm not good at this.  I need someone visual, someone good at party planning.  I think I have this covered; the foundation chair said either she'd do this or get someone who can.  
  2. Food and Drinks Chair - the foundation chair, again.  She has a catering background, and said this is easy for her to do.
  3. Procurement helpers  - I'll take the lead on procurement - send the letters, take the phone calls, do the follow up, store the stuff. But two or three people who I could ask to make pick-ups would help. 
  4. Ticket sales chair - I can do this if need be, but as a new parent at the school, I don't have too much of a base here.  If I can find someone to spearhead a sales effort at meetings and picnics and the like, that would help. We'll have online ticket-sales capability through the SchoolAuction.net software, so that helps.
  5. Event-night workers - I'm going to pursue a volunteer-swap with one of the other area school auctions - their volunteers can work our event; ours will work theirs.  My general break-down for that swap-crew is 8 people total, for 6 hours each: 4 people for the front desk; 4 to be runners and will-call staff.  We'll need 5-6 more people to help with set-up on event day; that's probably a 4-hour committment. We'll all pitch in to clean up.
  6. The rest: someone with a truck or van will be helpful to find, for event-day hauling. It might be nice to print a small program; I bet I can get my wife to help lay that out. I can handle sponsorship sales.
What do you think?  What am I leaving out?

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Status Report on the RGMS Auction

Next Tuesday, the PTA has its first meeting. That will likely be the first time that many of the people in this school hear about my offer to chair an auction for this year.

It will be a little bit of a surprise; in the planning for this school year that went on last spring and over the summer, the PTA Board did not plan for an auction. They planned other activities and fundraisers, and one of the inevitable results of me showing up and offering to help out in this way is that I've made some work for those Board members - they will have to figure out how this will fit into the year.

So for now, the date is still unsettled; as is the question as to whether the money raised will go through the school's foundation or PTA. I don't have a theme yet, either. In the absence of that, I can't finish the procurement letter.

But it doesn't explain why I haven't STARTED the procurement letter. That would be simply due to procrastination.

Here's three links pertaining to writing a procurement letter:

Friday, September 10, 2010

On Auctioneers

I talk to a lot of auction teams when they are just starting to make decisions regarding their events. Usually, I'm talking to them because they are wondering whether using SchoolAuction.net makes any sense for their team, and whether spending money on that will pay off.

My position on that is probably predictable. But perhaps not completely. Because I will tell auction teams that the first, best place to spend some money on your auction is not with software - it's hiring a professional benefit auctioneer. I will tell my prospects that if it comes down to either hiring an auctioneer, or subscribing to SchoolAuction.net, that they should go with a benfit auction specialist this year, and then next year, come back and add the software.

Here's why: benefit auctioneers make your organization money. A lot of money. It may look like their job is to smile, talk kinda fast and call out bid numbers. But folks, that is just the frosting on the cake.

The professional benefit auctioneers I see working for our customers are, in the end, a lot like psychologists, with a specialty in crowds. The best of them spend time during the months before your event getting to know your organization - understanding why people would support it. Then on the night of the event, they spend the couple of hours between the time the doors open and the time they take the stage to sell the Live Auction items working the crowd who has shown up - listening, watching, and talking with your guests to get a sense for, and help shape, their mood.

Then, when they take the stage, they assume control. By that point, they know pretty well how each item needs to be presented, where they can look for bids, and how far they can push the bidding. And they sell.

Which is really an important thing to understand. The purpose of a live auction is to sell the items, and raise the most money possible for the school or organization. It is important for them to do so within certain parameters - respect the mission, have fun - but in the end? It's sales in real time, on a high-wire.

And this is why going with an amateur is a mistake. It's easy enough to find someone who is willing to stand on stage in a tux. It's possible to find someone who can mimic "the chant" of an auctioneer. It's really hard to find an amateur who is willing to take the fiscal success of your live auction in their hands and know which live-sales techniques are appropriate given the behavior of the crowd in front of them.

So, I am an advocate for Benefit Auction Specialists. They deliver the very biggest bang for the buck in your auction budget.

But software is a close second. More on that sometime later.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

On Stationery

I'm going to need to go get stationery for the Procurement Letter. Our school district has a Printing Services office, and I can get some through them with a district logo on it, next to our PTA name and address. This stationery is ugly, and inexpensive, and therefore perfect.

It's ugly, simply because the district graphics are well, a bit dated-looking. But that's perfect, since it also looks kind of bureaucratic and official. And because it looks like our school does not spend money on the Wrong Things.

I think this is important. We make a statement with stuff like stationery. And there is a balance between creating a fun event where people loosen up and contribute money, with creating the perception that we will be responsible stewards of that contributed money.

The procurement letter will look legit with the district stationery. And it will look a little austere. And that's good.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The Procurement List

One of the reasons I'm pretty sanguine about my ability to get this auction done without losing my mind is that I already have A List.

That is, a procurement list. A list of local businesses who are pretty good about donating items to fundraising auctions in our city. I have one because I have chaired two auctions here before, and have my database files from those events, plus I am pretty sure I can get the file from the last auction held to benefit this particular school. That happened two years ago, but the list should still be helpful.

I also know what a list should look like. If you don't have a good list, here's a few tips on how I go about building one.

1) To estimate the size of the list, set a goal for the number of items you want in the silent auction. My rule of thumb is a little less than half as many items as guests; so if I think I'm going to have 150 guests (my initial estimate), I'll shoot for 60-70 items in my silent auction. I'm probably going to hear back from 30-40% of the businesses I contact, so I'll need around 200 businesses on the list that I mail.

2) I'm going to look for 15-20% of those 200 (30-40 businesses) to be local restaurants. Restaurant gift certificates are incredibly useful items to procure; they can be packaged with other items easily, or used in a Feeding Frenzy, or on a Quick Picks board.

3) I want 80-90 of the 200 at least to be located within 3-4 miles of the school. Of the rest, I'll look for another 35-50 to be within the city, and the rest can come from around the state or even the region.

4) I want businesses owned or managed by school parents represented in the list, but I know I can't count on that for the bulk. I won't set a goal here, other than to try and to take what comes.

5) What I CAN set a goal for is to have 10-15 school parents host Signup Parties (a.k.a. Easel Parties, Pay-To-Play parties, etc). I love signup parties; they are easy to procure, and provide those all-important "something everyone can afford" items for the event.

6) For a live auction, I'm going to start by trying to find a Community Tradition-type item or two. I'm new to this school, so I'm going to need to poll the PTA board first, but I bet I can put together a Honey-Do Crew at least.

7) I also want to put together a couple of vacation outings for the live auction, so I'm going to ask around to see what families at the school might have vacation homes. If I can get one family to let me auction a stay at their home for a week, and one more to donate a weekend, then I'm feeling pretty good about that.

8) As soon as I get confirmation on the Benefit Auctioneer who is going to work the event, I'm going to set up an appointment with her to come to one of the PTA board meetings, and do a brainstorming session.

9) If I can get it, I am going to look at the data from the last auction, to see who bought what. This always inspires ideas.

10) To stock the Wine Wall, I am going to ask each family in the school to donate one bottle and to bring it to me at the Back-To-School PTA Picnic.

Bonus tip: I know there at least two other people who have chaired school auctions in our PTA. I'm going to ask them for their lists, too.

So. Do these tips pass your sniff test? What additional tips do you have?

"Welcome to the Suckers' Club!"

My friend Lori posted that as a response to my Facebook page yesterday. She's been a very involved parent volunteer herself, and so I knew she meant it in camaraderie. But still, it made me think a bit. The perception of the Auction Chair position is that is an ENORMOUS job; one which you have to be a little crazy, or a superhuman, to volunteer for.

Now, I've chaired two school auctions before, and through my work at SchoolAuction.net I've talked dozens and dozens of other chairs through their events. I've worked as a volunteer at roughly 30 fundraising auctions per year over the past 4 years. So I think I have a pretty decent handle on what the job entails. And while I certainly don't want to turn down the gratitude of the PTA for stepping up to the plate this year, I also know this little secret: it's not that bad.

Yes, the last two weeks leading up to the event can be hectic, as you realize all of the little details that somehow slipped through the cracks. Yes, recruiting volunteers requires asking people to help, which can be un-fun. And yes, procurement requires a certain boldness; you are asking for free stuff from people who would really rather sell it to you. And yes, there are probably tasks to do that you've never had to do before, like setting up a credit-card processing account, or getting a raffle permit.

But really, none of it is Rocket Science. It takes some dedicated time, and a system for tracking the to-do lists, and a couple of good lieutenants with a sense of humor. A case of wine and a room where you can store the procured items helps. My perspective this year is that I need to set up just a few Big Things here in the beginning, and then I'll be fine. I'll post on those over the next couple of weeks, and tag those posts as Big Things.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

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.

Well, THAT worked.

Today was the first day of middle school for my son. When he was in elementary school, I was really involved in that school's PTA; I was President for a couple of years, and chaired the auction one year. When he was "promoted" last spring, I sighed with relief; at a new school, I could lay back for a while.

But the PTA had a "Welcome" event this morning; coffee and donuts in the art room. I went and sat in the back and generally kept my head low. After it was over, I introduced myself to a few of the officers, and before I knew what I was saying, I had volunteered again. To be the auction chair.

So yeah, lay back. That worked.