Developing An Auction Dinner (Part One - Continued)

 I have had the privilege of attending and working with thousands of auction dinners throughout North America for over 20 years. Some had several thousand attendees, while others only had fifty or so. The articles that follow are meant to give an overview of how successful auction dinners are conceived, planned and managed.

For anyone who wants a complete "Developing An Auction Dinner" package, complete with working manuals, workbooks, sample forms and PowerPoint presentations, visit my Festival and Event Planning website.

Event Development

17. Raffles

Event raffles are great for raising money from attendees who either can’t or won’t bid for auction items. They allow attendees to participate in the event without committing large amounts of money. It is very important, however, that the prizes awarded are of high quality and good dollar value. Additionally, they must be interesting and easy to play. Again, they should be in keeping with the theme of your event. Here are some “rules” to consider.

·         If you are having a general raffle, do not have too many prizes. If you have a lot of prizes available, it is better to combine some into larger more valuable sets. Remember, you want your attendees to go home thinking that they received great value for attending.

·         When selling tickets, make sure you have some way of identifying those attendees who have already purchased tickets. They are there for fun, not to be hounded to buy tickets

·         Have enough ticket sellers on the floor. You need to get as many attendees buying ticket as possible.

·         Have some raffles have limited tickets available and make a big deal when they are all sold.

See what other “rules” you can think of that will benefit your event.

18. Offsite Bidding

Sometimes people would like to attend your event but cannot because of personal reasons or prior commitments. It might be to your advantage to put an offsite bidding strategy in place for your live auction, especially if you have really unique and expensive items to auction off. It is not appropriate or workable for most events, but if it can be done, it might add dollars and excitement to the event.

(To be continued)