Silent auctions continue.....

The Smith family had a benefit for Greg's dad at the American Legion in Merrillville. Jaime did an amazing job of setting up the silent auction. She had over 100 items and the presentation was so cool. There were so many great donations! Mechanics-wise, I really liked the bid sheets and the way she set up each section. She used half folders so the sheets wouldn't take up so much room on the table. They folded up nicely at "check-out" - flipping up vertically. It all worked really well. She color coordinated each grouping so that the "blue" items ended at 1:00, the "pink" at 2:00 etc. It generated alot of extra interest to have hourly closings and easily understood/visual reminders of what was ending. I helped with accepting payment. She made that easy too - with a receipt book, everything was recorded and simple to add up at the end. With a set of sheets, one for each item, that was matched with the folder when payment was made, it was easy to tell what had closed, what hadn't and what had been paid or was still unpaid. Ideas for another one ( should I be crazy enough to do it ) - have a third person that takes all the closed items either behind the cashier or another location and people can show their receipt to pick up their purchase. Pick up still doesn't go smoothly. Tags or something on each item to list the content. I think the write-ups I did are too long and too "serious" but having no write-up doesn't work either. Just needs something simple but informative.

I love making baskets ;) these are things we donated from some of my contest winnings/trade show swag. I did my share of shopping too! I ended up with a overnight stay at Shipshewanna's Water Park; tickets to a show at The Venue at the Horseshoe; a jewelry gc; a Pepe's gc; a book about the Indiana Dunes; and a quilted bag.