Developing An Auction Dinner (Part Three - 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 Plan Implementation

3. Handicapped

If you want to be inclusive of all types of attendees, make sure the facility you choose can accommodate people who have handicaps. If you are not sure what is required, your local municipal office will have all the information needed.

4. Prizes

As mentioned previously, high quality auction and raffle prizes are a must. This point can’t be emphasized too often.

5. General Raffle

It’s the same with the general raffle items. Keep them high quality and bunch low value items together in complimentary sets. The other point with the general raffle is to keep it simple, flowing and short. Nothing will turn attendees off more than a long drawn out general raffle pull.

(To be continued)

Developing An Auction Dinner (Part Three - 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 Plan Implementation

2. Facility

Finding the right facility is difficult even in large population centres. Finding the right facility in smaller population centres is nearly impossible. With this in mind here are a few points to consider.

• Including sufficient space for your raffle tables and display areas for your silent and live auction items, how many people will the facility hold at a sit-down dinner? The seating capacity determines how many tickets you can sell. The optimum number of attendees is between 200 and 300+. Your gross revenues will increase in relationship to the number of quality attendees.
• Is there sufficient lighting in the prize display areas? If not, you will have to make arrangements to supplement the existing lighting. This is very important if you are to maximize the amount of money people will bid on your prizes.
• Are the facilities clean and well organized? If not, you and your committee many have to pitch in to make the facilities acceptable. Nothing turns attendees off more then a dirty disorganized facility.
• How are the food facilities? Does the venue have on-site cooking facilities? Does the venue provide the food? If they don’t, what local caterer is available? All of these are questions that need to be answered before you finalize a contract with the facility.
• Is the facility easy to reach? Is it in an acceptable part of town? People will not attend your event if they are not comfortable with the facility chosen.
• Is there adequate parking available at or around the facility? If not, what alternative options are feasible? This may not seem like a big deal, but people don’t like to walk a long distance, especially if they formally dress or if the weather is inclement.

All of these points must be considered and answered to your satisfaction. If they can’t be answered satisfactorily, you might consider facilities in neighboring areas. If this is not possible and you still want to proceed with your event, consider all of the challenges and correct them as best as you can.

(To be continued)

Developing An Auction Dinner (Part Three)

 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 Plan Implementation

1. Event Tickets

It is important to finalize your basic event information as soon as possible. You will need this information for your tickets. Information such as what, where, when need to be included on your ticket.  The other item that needs to be included is a ticket number. This should be on the ticket so that you can control the number of tickets sold verse the number not sold. You will need this for your final reconciliation. You can also use the ticket numbers as a control for your silent and live auctions. As long as you have the ticket holders name, you can use the number as a control rather. This is a much easier method than having the winner write out his/her name during the auction.

(To be continued)

Developing An Auction Dinner (Part Two - 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 Planning

9. Great Food

They say that “the way to a man’s (woman’s) heart is through her/his stomach”. This is very true for holding a fundraising event. Make sure that the food being served is of top quality, is interesting and that there is plenty of it. If you are unsure of the quality, try to get a taste test and/or talk to others who have used the facility and get their opinion about the food and the service.

10. Complimentary Wine

While you don’t want drunks attending your event, people who have been “loosened” up a little with wine, make for a much more relaxed group. Relaxed people, enjoying themselves, are likely to spend more on the prizes being offered. Offering a reasonable amount of complimentary wine on each table can add to the enjoyment and success of your event. An additional benefit is that attendees feel that they getting value for their ticket price.

11. Parking

To add to the grandeur of the event, consider either valet parking or a shuttle service. These would be especially helpful if there was a large parking lot with space far away from the entrance or if the weather was inclement. Liability considerations may make these services unadvisable. If you do consider these, contact your insurance broker for advice.

(Part Three of this series, "Developing an Auction Dinner" will talk about Event Plan Implementation.)

Developing An Auction Dinner (Part Two - 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 Planning

7. Quality Prizes

When you are developing your event’s budget, make sure you include money for the purchase of quality prizes. The amount you need depends on how many people attend you event and how many donated prizes you can collect. A word of caution… be selective on the types of prizes you accept. This may sound like poor advice, but inappropriate prizes lower the quality of your good prizes. People WILL judge your event by the type of prizes you offer.

8. Main Prize

As mentioned above, quality prizes are needed to hold a successful event. The main prize should be a “SHOW STOPPER”. It something you can advertise and promote. A great major prize will help your ticket sellers sell tickets. It will give them something to talk about. It will give your event that extra “oomph” that people will talk about. It will become the “WOW” factor that creates a desire for people to attend your event.

(To be continued)