The Auction...part 2

I learned that getting people to come to your event sounds easier than it really is.  I decided to ask my teammates to help with this part, and in return I would share the "dine-out nite" money raised with them.  So we once again printed out a billion flyers.  I placed flyers around town in establishments that either donated an item or had a sports theme (ex:  Sports Clips barber shop).  I gave them out at work, and emailed copies to anyone who showed any interest in attending.  I used Evite and made it an "event" on facebook.  I asked a local vet hospital that owns a sign facing the main road that goes thru town if we could advertise the auction on their sign.  I did everything I could think of to get people to come!

My husband and oldest son at the auction

I even went as far as doing a short interview at a local radio station and having a front page article in the local newspaper trying to get people to come.  That was an experience...  I had never before been on the radio or on the front page!  I couldn't believe this was shy little me doing all these things!

In my daydreams, hundreds of people attended bidding on everything as I mingled with perfect ease...  Reality turned out to be something entirely different though.  There was not one person that attended that someone on the team didn't know.  There were only 1-2 bids on most items, and quite a few with no bids at all.  But even though the turnout was disappointing, the money raised was not!  It turned out that I had raised over $600 from the auction items and the raffle for the Buffalo Wild Wings basket to go toward my fundraising minimum, we raised $160 from the food sales to split, and $80 from the 50/50 raffle to use toward our gear expenses.  Not bad for a slightly sad turnout!!

My daughter and I at the auction

One of our auction tables

Well, lessons were learned once again.  Would I do this again?  Yes, though I would ( I guess I should say WILL since I will try to do it again this year) stress over it a little less.  I would definitely advise having more help than I did, since it was alot for one person and her husband to pull off, though it obviously CAN be done.  I would advise starting earlier, so you don't feel as rushed.  I would look into how others have advertised their auctions, so that maybe there would be a better turn out.  I don't think working any harder would be of any benefit, I would learn from others experiences how to work SMARTER.  This year I am already starting to think of ideas for it!  Anyone who reads this who has had a successful auction, email me what worked and what didn't for you, so maybe I can be smarter about it this time around!