An Auction (long post)
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Have you ever run a fundraiser? Did you know that people expect the President of the organization to give an opening speech? Have you ever heard of a hotel banquet facility that would refuse to serve any guests over the guaranteed minimum? I didn't and haven't, but that's the way it was last night. Last night was the 23rd Annual Auction, the primary fundraising event for my Kiwanis Club. I was told shortly before the beginning of the event that, as President, I had to open the auction with a speech. Previously the largest group I'd ever spoken to was a high school speech class, about 30 kids who were mostly as scared as I. I barely passed, though I found it prudent to keep a change of underwear in my locker that semester. This was a crowd of 300+ people, almost all strangers. It was much easier than I expected, as the food had just arrived and hardly anyone was paying any attention to me. All afternoon we were worried - the staff told us that since we'd paid for and guaranteed 280 people, that's all the seats they set up and we would get no more. Walk-ins could just stand in the corner and go hungry. The person in charge of printing tickets for the event was unavailable, and someone said that we'd printed 400 tickets, of which 60 remained unsold. A mild panic ensued, persisting until I noticed that, of the random selection of unsold tickets not one had a sequence number higher than 300. Odds would favor at least a few bearing a higher number, if any such had in fact been printed. After a collective sigh of relief, and more than a few contemplative beers and bloody marys, we decided not to worry about it. But when the 280 seats were filled, and there was still a line at the door, the hotel staff relented and set up more tables.:-D The event started well, despite my inconsequential opening speech, the food was excellent, and the bidding was furious! It's a dual auction - a silent auction, where people mill about looking at items and writing down bids for them until we close a table of goods and declare the winner, and a Live auction where they bid using numbered paddles in response to prompting from an auctioneer. In years past most items sold for about 50% of retail value; this year many items were bid far above retail! I take that as a sign of consumer optimism, as this bunch was clearly not in search of cheap Christmas presents as they were for the past two years. The numbers aren't final yet, but at first glance we probably netted $20K. That's $10K from the live auction, $6K from adver
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Have you ever run a fundraiser? Did you know that people expect the President of the organization to give an opening speech? Have you ever heard of a hotel banquet facility that would refuse to serve any guests over the guaranteed minimum? I didn't and haven't, but that's the way it was last night. Last night was the 23rd Annual Auction, the primary fundraising event for my Kiwanis Club. I was told shortly before the beginning of the event that, as President, I had to open the auction with a speech. Previously the largest group I'd ever spoken to was a high school speech class, about 30 kids who were mostly as scared as I. I barely passed, though I found it prudent to keep a change of underwear in my locker that semester. This was a crowd of 300+ people, almost all strangers. It was much easier than I expected, as the food had just arrived and hardly anyone was paying any attention to me. All afternoon we were worried - the staff told us that since we'd paid for and guaranteed 280 people, that's all the seats they set up and we would get no more. Walk-ins could just stand in the corner and go hungry. The person in charge of printing tickets for the event was unavailable, and someone said that we'd printed 400 tickets, of which 60 remained unsold. A mild panic ensued, persisting until I noticed that, of the random selection of unsold tickets not one had a sequence number higher than 300. Odds would favor at least a few bearing a higher number, if any such had in fact been printed. After a collective sigh of relief, and more than a few contemplative beers and bloody marys, we decided not to worry about it. But when the 280 seats were filled, and there was still a line at the door, the hotel staff relented and set up more tables.:-D The event started well, despite my inconsequential opening speech, the food was excellent, and the bidding was furious! It's a dual auction - a silent auction, where people mill about looking at items and writing down bids for them until we close a table of goods and declare the winner, and a Live auction where they bid using numbered paddles in response to prompting from an auctioneer. In years past most items sold for about 50% of retail value; this year many items were bid far above retail! I take that as a sign of consumer optimism, as this bunch was clearly not in search of cheap Christmas presents as they were for the past two years. The numbers aren't final yet, but at first glance we probably netted $20K. That's $10K from the live auction, $6K from adver
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Just to not - I've been reading with interest, but nothing to reply :rolleyes:
"Vierteile den, der sie Hure schimpft mit einem türkischen Säbel."
mlog || Agile Programming | doxygenI know - I only posted it because no one else was active. Consider it light reading for a Sunday.:-D "Your village called -
They're missing their idiot." -
I know - I only posted it because no one else was active. Consider it light reading for a Sunday.:-D "Your village called -
They're missing their idiot."It sounds as though you had a very stressful night! Hope it was worth it!! Ellwaffles :-)
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Have you ever run a fundraiser? Did you know that people expect the President of the organization to give an opening speech? Have you ever heard of a hotel banquet facility that would refuse to serve any guests over the guaranteed minimum? I didn't and haven't, but that's the way it was last night. Last night was the 23rd Annual Auction, the primary fundraising event for my Kiwanis Club. I was told shortly before the beginning of the event that, as President, I had to open the auction with a speech. Previously the largest group I'd ever spoken to was a high school speech class, about 30 kids who were mostly as scared as I. I barely passed, though I found it prudent to keep a change of underwear in my locker that semester. This was a crowd of 300+ people, almost all strangers. It was much easier than I expected, as the food had just arrived and hardly anyone was paying any attention to me. All afternoon we were worried - the staff told us that since we'd paid for and guaranteed 280 people, that's all the seats they set up and we would get no more. Walk-ins could just stand in the corner and go hungry. The person in charge of printing tickets for the event was unavailable, and someone said that we'd printed 400 tickets, of which 60 remained unsold. A mild panic ensued, persisting until I noticed that, of the random selection of unsold tickets not one had a sequence number higher than 300. Odds would favor at least a few bearing a higher number, if any such had in fact been printed. After a collective sigh of relief, and more than a few contemplative beers and bloody marys, we decided not to worry about it. But when the 280 seats were filled, and there was still a line at the door, the hotel staff relented and set up more tables.:-D The event started well, despite my inconsequential opening speech, the food was excellent, and the bidding was furious! It's a dual auction - a silent auction, where people mill about looking at items and writing down bids for them until we close a table of goods and declare the winner, and a Live auction where they bid using numbered paddles in response to prompting from an auctioneer. In years past most items sold for about 50% of retail value; this year many items were bid far above retail! I take that as a sign of consumer optimism, as this bunch was clearly not in search of cheap Christmas presents as they were for the past two years. The numbers aren't final yet, but at first glance we probably netted $20K. That's $10K from the live auction, $6K from adver
Sounds like you handled it quite well! My first public speech was when I was a Bobcat cubscout and I presented an award for some civic group. All I needed to say was "On behalf of the kids and the members of the council, I'd like to present you with this mug with our council's emblem" or something like that. I can still remember freezing up after "On behalf o the kids and members of our.........." I can still recall the people in the front rows looking up at me and flashbulbs going off. Finally some kind gentleman rustled the paper on the podium - it had the words on it. Then I just read the rest of it and handed some guy the mug and everyone applauded. It got printed in the newspaper, but I have no recollection of what the event was for.
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Sounds like you handled it quite well! My first public speech was when I was a Bobcat cubscout and I presented an award for some civic group. All I needed to say was "On behalf of the kids and the members of the council, I'd like to present you with this mug with our council's emblem" or something like that. I can still remember freezing up after "On behalf o the kids and members of our.........." I can still recall the people in the front rows looking up at me and flashbulbs going off. Finally some kind gentleman rustled the paper on the podium - it had the words on it. Then I just read the rest of it and handed some guy the mug and everyone applauded. It got printed in the newspaper, but I have no recollection of what the event was for.
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Why do we subject little kids to such horrors? There's plenty of time to be terrified after one is an adult.:doh: "Your village called -
They're missing their idiot." -
Why do we subject little kids to such horrors? There's plenty of time to be terrified after one is an adult.:doh: "Your village called -
They're missing their idiot."I don't know what effect that had on me. I have never had a problem speaking to groups - although I have never addressed 300 people! I've taught classes and gave a wedding speech to a party of over 150 but I knew a lot of them.
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