Gala Auction Tips, Tricks and Musings: Event Preparation

More Event Theme Ideas

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:15:04 GMT

Many clients ask us for event theme ideas. So, we've gone through the archives, and found lots of event names and ideas. Do you have others? Please add them!

Celebrate the Season:

Spring Fever
Mardi Gras
Valentine's Ball
Octoberfest
Spring Gala
Four Seasons of _Org Name_
A Colorado Christmas
An Old-Fashioned Christmas
Christmas Around the World
March Madness
Carnivale

Highlighting the Cause:

FurBall (animal shelter/rescue)
Hearts & Hands
Come Fly with Us
Shake Bark & Roll
50 (or other #) years of Spirit
Hats Off to _Organization Name_
Diamond Anniversary
Hard Hat High-Heeled Happening
Heart Ball (usually American Heart Assn)
Artful Living
Art from the Heart

Creating Atmosphere:

Fantasy Auction
Fun Fest
Jewels of the Sea
Casino Royale
Pizzazz
Harbor Lights
An Elegant Affair
An Affair to Remember (c)
Home on the Range
Denim & Diamonds
Candlelight Ball
Black & White
Margarita Ball
Rock'n Rodeo
Lights, Camera, Auction!
Moonstruck
Moonlight & Stars
Western Hoedown
Western theme "Bonanza!"
Fiesta!
Wild, Wild West
James Bond (foreign travel, glamour, romance, etc.)
Paint the Town Red
Puttin' on the Ritz
Shaken, not Stirred
Splash!
Surf's Up
Masquerade
Night of a Thousand Chances

Time and Place:

A Night in Las Vegas
Viva Las Vegas
Monte Carlo Night
Rock around the Clock
Hurray for Hollywood!
A Step Back in Time
Around the World
Friday Night Fever
Blast from the Past
Groovy Auction
A Night in Tuscany
April in Paris
Rendezvous in Paris
Into the Jungle
Springtime in Paris
New York, New York
A Day at the Beach
An Evening in the Tropics
An Evening Beyond the Great Wall
Cruise to _______
Spirit of the Islands
Madrid
Luau
Tropical Nights
Beijing Fling
Asian vacation
Dance Through Time

Miscellaneous:

It's a Bling Thing
A Touch of Magic
All That Glitters
Golden Apple
Nutcracker
Diamond Anniversary/Jubilee
Anniversary/Birthday party (e.g. 25th, 75th, 125th, etc)
With a school mascot of angels, the themes vary each year: Angels go to Paris, Angels go to Italy, etc.
Crab Feed
Hollywood Nights
Luck of the Irish

Food & Feasting:

Grape to Glass
Pleasures of the Palate

Inspirational:

Praise Him All you Shining Stars
Bids for Kids
Building for the Future
Dream Makers
The Power of Education
The Sky's the Limit
We Are The Light
Signs of Hope
Growing Dreams
A Passion for Life
Celebrate Community
Celebrate the Vision
Carry on the Hope
Celebrating Artists
Ain't no Mountain High Enough
Hearts Across the Valley
Circles of Community

Theme Ideas

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 03:54:29 GMT

During our Roadshow seminars this summer and fall, we've encountered a great deal of interest in theme ideas. What themes work well? Can you give us some ideas?

So here are some themes that we've heard on this trip, and we'll add more as we get a chance. Feel free to send in your ideas!

Lights, Camera, Auction!
James Bond (foreign travel, glamour, romance, etc.)
Denim & Diamonds
Moonstruck, Moonlight & Stars
Anniversary/Birthday party (e.g. 25th, 75th, 125th, etc)
Luau, Tropical Nights
April in Paris, Rendezvous in Paris, Springtime in Paris
Western Hoedown, Western theme "Bonanza!"
Fiesta!
Black & White
New York, New York
A Colorado Christmas, Christmas Around the World
Beijing Fling, Asian vacation
Cruise to
With a school mascot of angels, the themes vary each year: Angels go to Paris, Angels go to Italy, etc.
A Night in Tuscany

Tell us your favorites--we'll add them also!

Let Go of Perfectionism (part 1)

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:52:47 GMT

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.

Try as you go - Name Entry

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 20:49:17 GMT

Name Entry

Auction! is designed to handle many conventional and some unconventional forms of addressing people. The formats are documented, but many clients don't feel they have time to read the user guide. In this case, the fastest way to learn a program is to try it out, look at the results, and then check the user guide for additional insight.

So, enter a few names and items, and then try printing name tags, bid sheets, catalogs and reports, etc. Review the results carefully, and take a few moments to look through the appropriate sections of the user guide. Pay particular attention to how you've entered husbands & wives with identical or different last names. The Sample V3 Pikes Peak Snowball Project has examples of different data entry styles, so you can review them without typing a variety of cases.

Test your data entry format in the sample project. You can readily adjust your team's data entry style for best results, instead of correcting entries later.

Record Payments Promptly

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 19:09:06 GMT

From time to time we hear from organizations who are struggling with post-event financial accountability.

How does this happen? In some cases, the reservations team focuses on table groupings and menu selections; setting up tickets and payments in the software seems like "overhead." Or on event night, the cashier does not record payments on invoices, but simply accepts payment.

The school business manager picks up and deposits the cash and checks, and now the auction team is trying to figure out who paid, whose credit card to charge, etc.

Financial accountability is important for your event. When you're about to charge guest credit cards (via Auctionpay or manually,) it is vital to have recorded cash and check payments correctly. We suggest:

Pre-event. Create a ticket type for each price point that may be used by guests. Record their reservations/ticket purchases AND record the payments made.
Pre-event & Post-event. Click Insert, Expense to track/edit expenses as you go. This is not a formal bookkeeping system, but will jog your mind for the final rollup of your event proceeds. These expenses are reflected on the Report, Financial Statement.
Event night. Auction! prints a standard or custom payment block on invoices. It's quick and easy for your cashiers to initial it and record check numbers, cash received, or last few digits of a credit card.

Train your team to take just a moment to quickly scribble these key data elements, and fold the cash or check INSIDE the cashier's copy of the invoice. You can take these back to data entry to record them in the software on event night, or the following day.
Post-event. When using Auctionpay terminals and the Sync Linkage, do not record credit card payments made on event night. The Sync takes care of these for you automatically.