Are you ready to rumble?

BRRMM.  BRRRRRRMMMM.

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the Heavy Equipment Training Academy as I was driving through Washington, D.C. yesterday.

For those of you recent blog readers who are wondering what in the heck I’m talking about, let me fill you in.  A few weeks ago, I suggested a new benefit auction idea … you can read about my auction procurement suggestion of a bulldozer training lesson here. What a fun item for men and adventurous women attending your auction fundraiser.  I think it’s a really nice idea for a school auction.

During my drive, I paid better attention and noticed that the Academy is adjacent and across the street from an elementary school.  I bet the boys at the school love to watch the equipment operators at work during recess.

The Academy is next to a school.

I know that my brother loved to play with his Tonka trucks in the sandbox as a kid.  And, because my Dad was involved in operating some of those pieces of equipment through his business, my brother’s friends thought Dad was the bomb.

(c) 2009 Red Apple Auctions LLC

A silent auction item gets a little lift from a popular movie.

Using a popular movie title to draw attention to a silent auction item was a little tip (or trick?) I saw at one my auctions this past weekend.

Julie & Julia was released in August.  I liked the movie.  It’s generally received positive reviews.

This charity capitalized on the vibe and good feelings of the movie by writing “Julie & Julia, Part 1″ in the silent auction header description of a French cooking class.

In the Washington, D.C. area, L’Academie de Cuisine is a well-known culinary school.  Professional chefs and amateur cooks can take classes there.

Its founder, the elegant Chef Francois Dionot, is gracious with donations to area charities.  Sometimes I’ll see his cooking classes (like the one in the photo) for sale in the silent auction.  Other times Chef Dionot himself will donate a dinner prepared by him, which is always a live auction item.

Although this auction donation is always popular with the crowd anyway, I still liked the clever approach this non-profit took.  The organization is reminding bidders that they (like the actors in the movie) might also become inspired by a French Chef — if they just would give themselves the gift of bidding on this item.

What item are you including in your auction that is a repeat donation?  Maybe there’s a way to spice up the description with a popular movie title to attract some new eyeballs to the bid sheet.

Bonsoir, mes amis.

(c) 2009 Red Apple Auctions LLC

Yes, it's a garage door. Photo is courtesy of www.style-your-garage.com.

These garage doors are impressive.

Someone sent the link to me a couple of weeks ago.  Although I’m sure it would sell in a benefit auction (I’d recommend putting it in the silent auction for most of the auction fundraisers we do), I am not sure how likely you are to get the donation.  It’s a German-based company.  If you’re a German school … or have a fluent German speaker amidst your ranks … maybe you should call them!?

The photos are less than $300 and they have many styles.  (Check out their website.)

(c) 2009 Red Apple Auctions LLC

A hand-written one-time-use bid board is placed at the check-out area of this auction. It lets guests know if they won.

Some organizations deliver purchased merchandise to each guest while they are seated at their tables.  But most organizations require guests to pick-up their auction items at the end of the evening. Here’s a silent auction idea to save you some time.

A common question my team fields from the guests is, “How will I know if I won anything in the silent auction?  If I didn’t win anything, I don’t want to stand in the check-out line.”

How can you easily let bidders know if they won?

There are several ways to let winners know.  The simplest way is to use signage.

Signage can be reusable or one-time use.

This reusable bid board was placed near the check-out area. The circled bid numbers alerted guests that they needed to pick-up an item.

Reusable auction signage is made of a material (a chalkboard or white board) that allows winning bid numbers to be circled and erased each year.  In contrast, signage meant to be used once is constructed of posterboard or foamcore.

Signage should list the winning bid numbers in numerical order. This allows a bidder to quickly scan the list and see if he’s a winner.

The signage should not list the names of the winners or the items they won. That information is unnecessary to the purpose of the winning bid board.  In fact, the only reason a guest’s name would be listed is if the organization isn’t using bid numbers.  (And if your group isn’t using bid numbers, why on earth not?  The benefits of using bid numbers are well established.)

Place the auction signage in areas easily seen by guests.

1.  If guests must exit the main area from a common door (such as guests leaving from a single ballroom door), the signage can be displayed just outside those doors.  Guests will view the sign as they walk through the door on their way to coat check and check-out.  I recommend stationing a volunteer or two next to the sign to draw attention to it, just as an airline will station a representative outside of the jetway to alert offloading passengers of gate changes.

2.  The signage can also be posted near the check-out area itself.  Put the sign on a easel so it’s at eye-level or a little above for easy viewing and reading.

At this large event with several hundred guests, the winning silent auction bid numbers were listed on a Powerpoint slide and displayed on the A/V screens. Guests knew whether they'd won any items in the silent auction long before the live auction started.

In addition (or in place of) signage, your event can make use of A/V screens by displaying the winning bid numbers on the screen.

A volunteer will need to create a Powerpoint slide once the high bidders are finalized.  Save the slide to a handy zip drive and run it over to the individual handling the A/V equipment.  He can easily upload the slide and display it to the crowd.  While guests enjoy their meal, they can see whether they had the winning bid in the silent auction.

Like this idea?  Click here for more silent auction tips.

And here’s a silent auction idea for an item (maybe a tad crazy) worth reading.

(c) 2009 Red Apple Auctions LLC

I love to learn.  I believe that any subject can be interesting — an adventure, really — if you simply have the right teacher.  I’ve undertaken dozens of classes over the years just for the pleasure of learning.  (Auction School was one of those classes.)

Tonight while driving back from a client meeting, I passed a training academy which was so unusual it made me whip my neck around to read the sign again.  Call me crazy, but this could be a unique auction item idea for the live or silent auction.

It’s been months since I’ve driven on Howard Road between I-295 and South Capitol Street.  The last time I took that route, the area had a new elementary school, a sheet metal building, and (what appeared to be) an abandoned junkyard.

Today, the junkyard was gone and the sign on the chain link fence read HEAVY EQUIPMENT TRAINING ACADEMY. Bulldozers, dump trucks and other construction equipment sat behind the fence.

A Google search revealed many of these heavy equipment schools across the country.  Although the individual training courses offered by the academy are several weeks long, I wonder if the academy might be persuaded to donate a 1-hour hands-on lesson (with an instructor) to operate a bulldozer? Or a backhoe?  Or an excavator?

Consider the potential of this idea …

If Tonka dump trucks were your husband’s favorite sandbox toy, you could buy him the real deal experience at your charity auction fundraiser!

He’ll enjoy a one-hour dump truck lesson for his birthday while you support your non profit.  On his big day, send a buddy with him to take (hilarious) photos, and by the time they both return from the adventure, you’ll have his surprise birthday party all set-up.

This sounds like such a riot that it almost makes me wish I had a husband.

Does your young son love to watch the bulldozer operators working along the highway?

Perhaps the academy would donate the opportunity to sit in a real dozer at the academy. Your son would be in 7th heaven.

I’ve heard it said that men are just little boys who never really grow up.  If that’s true, then these big boys toys would be a perfect fit for the man in your life.  I suspect that even adventurous females would bid on this at a fundraising auction. (I know I would.)  I envision this idea as being more of a silent auction item, but it could go into the live auction, too.

BRRRM.  BRRRRM.  BRRRRRRRRRRM.  (My best attempt at writing the sound a bulldozer makes…)

(c) 2009 Red Apple Auctions LLC

While walking the silent auction area with the auction chair, she pointed out an item I hadn’t seen sold in prior auctions.  It was a metal printer’s plate from The Wall Street Journal.  The plate was the image from the newspaper’s front page.  (I wanted to include a photo of it here for you, but I got caught up in other tasks and – dang it – forgot!  Sorry, friends.)

The auction chair had contacted a friend of hers who worked at the newspaper.  She asked for the front page printer’s plate from November 5, 2008 — the day the world learned that the United States had elected its first African-American president.  For Obama fans, history buffs, or new junkies, I thought this was a neat piece of history!

The Auction Chair told me that she found these plates relatively easy to obtain, even without a contact at the paper.  Multiple plates are often made of each front page.

The school’s crowd was fairly conservative so the Obama election didn’t excite those guests, but I still think this is a great concept for any group looking for unique auction item ideas, especially as a silent auction item

My recommendation is that if you know of someone who works at your local newspaper (The New York Times, The Miami Herald, The Washington Post, etc.) start with your contact first.  But if you are truly “cold calling” the paper and don’t have a lead, ask for the Community Relations or Marketing department.

(c) 2009 Red Apple Auctions LLC

Moving out! Sailing yachts from Miami to Fort Lauderdale pre-sunrise.	One of the great things about my job is the people I get to meet.While working an auction in Miami, I sold an item which involved an afternoon on a private yacht.  One of the patrons attending invited me to join the crew in moving some yachts from Miami to Fort Lauderdale.  The boats had been shown in the Miami Boat Show and needed to be piloted back up the intercoastal waterway.  We left before sunrise, arrived in Fort Lauderdale a few hours later, and had a yummy Thai lunch.  What a nice way to spend the morning! Boating activities are a good live or silent auction item, although I typically sell them in the live auction.
Heading up the intercoastal waterway enroute to Fort Lauderdale.	Regardless of whether you live near an ocean, lake, reservoir, or river, there is likely someone in your community who has a boat.  Think about how you might incorporate a boating item into your auction fundraiser.To help get your creativity flowing, here are three auction items (edited for space) I’ve sold recently which involved boating: Private Cruise to Eclectic Stiltsville for 6 people (in Miami, FL): Take a 33′ Gradywhite out to Stiltsville and enjoy a catered lunch in one of the seven remaining homes known from the days of Al Capone.  These homes are literally built on stilts in shallow water in Biscayne National Park, one mile from shore.  Fish, swim, snorkel, and party the day away while getting to experience a home with a vivid past.

Murder on the High Seas (in Norfolk, VA): Set sail from Virginia Beach aboard a 68′ yacht.  During the 4-hour evening excursion, four couples will investigate Archibald Frath’s murder in this murder mystery game.  Enjoy cocktails as the plot unfolds, dinner in a private room at a local waterfront restaurant while the boat is docked, and sip on dinner drinks aboard the boat afterwards when the murder mystery is solved.

A Day on the Bay (in Washington, DC): Join our favorite conductor of the chorus and her friends aboard this 46′ yacht.  Drop anchor in a secluded cove for a gourmet meal with wine.  Good for 8 adults.

I sell tons of boating auction packages, and they are always popular! Sometimes they are fishing packages; other times it’s simply time spent on the water.  If you haven’t investigated this option for your own charity auction, I urge you to add a boating-related auction package to your targeted solicitation list.

(c) 2009 Red Apple Auctions LLC

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