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You are here: Home / Blog Post / Auction venue problems: What to do when not all guests fit in the space
Oct 15

Auction venue problems: What to do when not all guests fit in the space

Sherry Truhlar Leave a Comment

First, watch this video showing a challenging school auction venue. 

This elegant country club has hosted many PGA tournaments and serves as an attractive venue. But as you can see in the video, the set-up could present some problems for an auction, depending on the size of the crowd. 

In this case, the school auction had an enormous — and unexpected — rise in attendance this year. Nearly 60 additional tickets were sold! Figuring out how to manage the overflow was one of those “good problems to have.”

But what should you do when you’ve got too many auction guests to fit in the space? 

BEFORE you start selling tickets, this is an easier challenge to manage. Once you’ve sold the tickets, it’s a bit trickier. (I’ll cover ideas on how to manage the problem before you sell tickets in a future post.)

If your venue resembles what you’ve seen in the video, here are three ideas to mitigate problems:

1. Be judicious. 

Your best bidders should be in the space nearest the auction stage … or at least in the same room as the auctioneer.  Anyone seated far away should be non-bidders.

Non-bidders might be non-paying guests, such as teachers or students at a school auction, or clients at a nonprofit event. 

For instance, a few years ago I worked with a mental health facility. Clients were invited to attend the gala (for free) and were seated in the far back corner of the room to reserve space for the expected bidders near the front.

2. Add staff

If it’s impossible to keep your best bidders near the stage — or perhaps you don’t know who those people are — add staff. 

Put enthusiastic spotters in the troublesome area. They can keep a watchful eye on guests and can heartily shout out when a guest bids. Even if the auctioneer can’t make personal eye contact with the guest, he can hear the spotter shouting out acceptance of a bid.

3. Use audio-visual tools

I recall a friend telling me about an auction that had seated guests in two separate rooms. The overflow room had a large video screen showing the action taking place on stage  in the other room. During the live auction, staff ran back and forth relaying bids. 

A better solution? Keep the screen, but fit the auctioneer  and his team with a wireless system that enables them to communicate bids remotely. It’s more seamless and elegant.

None of these are perfect solutions, but auctions are rarely perfect, anyway! Do what you can to reduce problems.

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Copyright © 2013 Red Apple Auctions Co. All Rights Reserved

About Sherry Truhlar

Fundraising auctioneer and educator, helping schools and nonprofits plan more profitable benefit auctions. A prolific writer for her own blog and other fundraising sites, she’s been covered in The Beacon-News, Town & Country Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, Northern Virginia Magazine, Wiley's Special Events Galore!, AUCTIONEER, and other publications.

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Sherry, oh, Sherry! You were an invaluable asset to this year’s gala. With your assistance we were able to add so many new elements that truly made a difference in taking our event to another level. This year was the most successful yet! Everyone loved you and the amazing energy that you brought to the event. We look forward to having you again in 2018!

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Thank you so much for the outstanding job you did for us on April 1! I have received so much positive feedback from so many who attended. You even earned Sister Suzan’s (our Vice-Principal) seal of approval! Safe travels to all your many events and thank you for making our biggest fundraiser of the year our best ever!

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St. Henry District High School (Erlanger, KY)
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I was very fortunate to have Red Apple on board for my first auction. Working with Sherry was invaluable. She provided guidance at every phase of planning, from procurement on forward – and she challenged us to make our event more ambitious and more successful at every stage. Thank you, Sherry!

Pete Goldlust, Director of Development
Oak Hill School (Eugene, OR)
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Sherry, personally, I can’t even begin to tell you the immense amount of positive feedback that I received having YOU (and Darby) there with is this year! Some of the tidbits: You added EXCITEMENT and ENTERTAINMENT… You added EXPERTISE and FUN… You helped the evening FLOW, in a wonderful and positive direction… You were FUN,… Read The Rest “Anne Livaudais Knudsen, 5th year gala co-chair”

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You have NO idea of how many people came up to me (I know Julie as well) and said, ‘That auctioneer was incredible … she engaged the crowd, … she got the bidders to bid without being rude/pushing, … I loved observing her, I just watched her, … she did a great job.’ It was… Read The Rest “Staci Meruvia”

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Irene attended one of my New Hampshire auctions and assumed I must be a radio personality — until I started to chant that fast talk. “I’ve been to this event before with a couple of other auctioneers,” she said, “Your ability to get personal with people in a way that isn’t intimidating — men, women,… Read The Rest “Irene”

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Most product & consulting remarks are found on their respective webpages, but I’ve listed two below so you’re assured my products are as spot-on as my auctioneering.   Not only was our 2013 auction a blast, but our Washington, D.C. public school raised $67,000 — that’s $25,000 more than last year! The evening went off… Read The Rest “Carolyn Kahn-Hall and Andrea Del Vecchio”

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As a former Fox News Anchorwoman, I am often called on to perform at auctions. So, I know first-hand that auctioneering can be a difficult job. Sherry Truhlar is one of the best in the business. She is skillful at managing an audience and keeping them focused on the task at hand – which is… Read The Rest “Cynthia Steele Vance”

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Guest at The Potomac School 2014 auction (McLean, VA)
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