On bidder name versus numbers. We tend to see that friendly competition may fire up some of the bidding. So I don't know that we would give up using names. Probably good points to both ways.
I've been to several silent auctions this spring. As bidder I highly recommend having the bid sheets printed on the computer and having the item name in the biggest typesize, maybe the value and donor the next biggest.
Think about it, you are strolling past dozens of items, trying to pick out the ones of interest as others behind you also try to look. So the traffic moves fairly quickly.
I went to one where about half were hand-written. Even those printed in nice handwriting were difficult to scan quickly. It takes more time to stop and get your brain to figure out handwriting.
Another had a big event logo name and title at the top. The eye was naturally drawn to that because it was most prominent item on the page. Then you think "oh wait, that's just the event, scan down further, find the ITEM name, oh there it is" It slowed things down even after we got used to it.
Yet another had cryptic descriptions. So it might say "Dinner for 2", but the donor names weren't that obvious, so you had to examine the sheet to see WHERE?? Or they had a lot of hotel packages for "Weekend Stay". But some "weekends" were one night and some were two. This wasn't always clear.
So bidsheet readability and emphasis on the key points/descriptions should be a priority.
I just finished my third Silent Auction in March. My suggestions would be:
1. Make a catalog/brochure to hand out including all the items in the auction or if you have a fairly large auction, list the top 20 or 30 items and categorize the rest. For example, we had three tables that closed at different times. We hightlighted those items and specified the closing times. Highlighted the sports memorabilia and divided the rest of the space by listing the categories.
Enclose a Wish List on the last page of the catalog brochure. Keep it simple. Have a place for them to write the table number and item. The wish list gives bidders a road map as the night goes on.
2. Clearly mark every table. (Table One, Table two..etc)
3. When placing the items on the tables, categorize them. i.e. Gardening/Household, Automotive, Pet, Travel, Children..etc. If you have areas that are designated, people will return to their "favorite" items much more easily.
4. We tape the bid sheet to the table in front of the item.
5. We used bidder numbers, rather than names and phone numbers. This is a tough one and depends on the size of your school. After talking to many people, we felt that some bidders may give up if they see a family name on a bid sheet, that they know may be of means. It is human nature to think to yourself, "I can't outbid Tammy Sue, her husband is an attorney"
This was my first year having an online auction AND a silent auction. Good Luck! You can do it!
Audra =)
Someone in an earlier reply mentioned not using all big baskets for items and I concur. We just did our first silent auction and there were all large baskets. Several parents were upset that there was nothing smaller that they could afford to bid on. Since it was our first, I don't know if it would have made us more money or less, but at least there wouldn't have been any hard feelings.
The best thing we did was put xeroxed copies of gift certificated onto paper triangles and placed them in a circle on a round table. That made it very easy to read them.
Another good thing they did was set up the day before and let the students come through to see what they wanted to get their parents to bid on. A day as an honorary principle went for $80.
What I think we should change -
1. We asked for names and phone numbers on the bid sheets. Some names were mispelled when the winners were announced and there was a problem policing students bidding.
2. The people putting the baskets together didn't tally the values correctly (they didn't understand the value because it was unfamiliar) and a $600 basket went for $50.
Big tip:
If you're in Colorado or another sports crazy area, get as much sports stuff as you can for the auction. The autographed photos of John Elway, Mohammed Ali and other sports celebrities were some of the top money makers.
We also raffled $25 Walmart (for kids) and $50 grocery (for adults) gift certificates and got 100's off the raffle. I haven't heard the tally yet. We just did our auction last night. But I saw people using it as a way to just donate money. They were buying $20 in raffle tickets for a $50 item. They obviously just wanted the school to benefit.
My one best piece of advice for a silent auction: stagger the closing times for your bidding sheets rather than closing all the bidding at once. We had 3 "waves" of items, each grouped together in the room, and each with a mix of values. At 8:45, the bidding on the first wave of sheets was closed.
So, if a bidder is over bid at the last second, he can go to the items in the next two waves and bid, or increase his outstanding bids. About 20 minutes later, we pulled the second group of sheets, and so on.
It's been my experience that people come to a fundraising auction expecting to spend $X. Using bid waves gives everyone who wants to spend money a better chance to participate.
