| Barbara's profileGala Auction Tips, Trick...PhotosBlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
February 15 Let Go of Perfectionism (part 1)We know--this is hard! Typical auction chairs (including ourselves) are control freaks. We want everything to be perfect! It isn't always possible. Sometimes it could be possible, but it means you or your teammates will lose sleep and be very stressed. TRY to maintain perspective; on the scale of human endeavors and tribulations, minor details of a fundraising auction really are just that--minor details.
Last Minute "Stuff"When valued members of your community bring last minute items, and the items don't fit in the precisely numbered sequences designed for each category, don't agonize over the numbering. Don't renumber everything at the last minute. Your guests will not check to see if each item on the tables is in perfect numeric order. They won't reduce their support of your organization when there's a skipped item number in the catalog. Just give it an item number and move on.
Catalogs are last-minute stressors. The items just keep coming in, past the deadline, and you feel compelled to include every item. Then you're up all night revising item descriptions instead of handing the copy to your printer.
Use the Auction! Catalog Addendum capability to create an insert of "late arrivals" if you like, but send the main catalog with "on-time" items to the printer as planned. You'll get more sleep, and do a better job overall.
You may even have donors bringing items in on event day. Don't feel compelled to write "glamour descriptions" for these items. Create a few pro-forma items, say 995, 996, etc., with the title "Just Arrived!" a few days before your event and print their bid sheets. When an item is brought in at the last minute, HAND-write a brief description under the "Just Arrived!" title, along with a minimum bid and bid increments, and put the item on an auction table. If you have time to revise the description to something more specific, great, but don't worry about it. You've done everything you need to sell the item on event night.
(c) 2007, Auction Systems Inc, all rights reserved TrackbacksThe trackback URL for this entry is: http://auctionsystems.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!C864312468A2E497!166.trak Weblogs that reference this entry
|
|
|
+-+Windows+Live&referrer=){kind=small}
