Follow these easy steps to plan for a great live event auction and make it simple for your supporters to participate:
- Tell your supporters
- Register Bidders in advance
- Invite supporters to purchase tickets
- Preview and promote items
- Share with social media
- Send reminders
- Share live event information
- Raise more with a Paddle Up, Fund-a-need, or raffle
- Review online bidding process
- Plan guest check-in process
- Organize event logistics
- Share how items will be awarded
- Plan item pick-up station process
- Ensure great wi-fi connectivity
Download your live event auction & guest experience checklist here!
Tell Your Supporters About the Auction |
Let your community know you are running an auction a few weeks before the auction online start date to get them excited! Be sure to build and activate your auction homepage before sending out an auction coming soon email. We have several email templates with default verbiage that you can customize (go to the Promotions tab > Create an email). If you are planning on using your email provider, just copy the verbiage from our templates to get started. |
Register Bidders in Advance
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Ask supporters to create a bidder account in advance before your auction begins to ensure a seamless kick-off. Here are some helpful resources to answer questions from Bidders or to share with your potential Bidders: Helpful Tip! In your emails, create clear and strong call to actions with clickable links. For example, if you are asking them to register for a bidder account, provide the direct link to the bidder registration form. Below are some examples of frequently used call to action:
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Invite Supporters to Purchase Tickets |
Before your auction begins, we recommend that you invite supporters to purchase their tickets for your live event. If your auction is running for an extended period ending with a live event, you can still send emails reminding supporters to purchase tickets. If promoting your auction through the Auction Manager, we recommend using the Buy Ticket email template (click on the Promotion tab > Create an email). If you are using your email system, you can copy and paste the Buy Ticket email template and provide a link to purchase tickets that will lead them directly to your ticket sales page.
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Preview and Promote Items
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Motivate your supporters by showcasing big-ticket and hot items before your auction begins:
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Share with social media | Encourage supporters to tell friends and family about your auction via word of mouth or social media. On every auction page, there are buttons for supporters to share the page via email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other popular sites. You can also share your auction and exciting auction items via your own social media account(s). |
Send Reminders
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Create a communications schedule to keep your supporters engaged. Below is suggested verbiage for emails, social media updates, website updates, newsletters, phone reminders, etc. Also, be sure to email supporters to let them know that bidding is open! Click on Promotion > Create an Email to send the Auction Open email template. Mark your calendar |
Share Live Event Information
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Help make sure attendees are prepared for event day by providing important event details and logistics on the website and via email:
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Raise More with Paddle Up, Fund-A-Need or Raffles |
Increase your fundraising total by implementing a Paddle Up, Fund-a-need, or a raffle. Paddle Up or Fund-a-need.
Raffle
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Review Online Bidding Process
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If you have some exciting items and expect competition, we suggest that you consider enabling bid extension to extend the auction end time by five-minute increments. You can do this for select items only. We also recommend familiarizing yourself with the bid increments and maximum bid process before the auction. This way you will have a good understanding of how it works, and you will be able to answer bidder questions quickly during the auction if needed.
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Plan Guest Check-in Process |
A well-organized check-in process is key to ensuring your supporters have a great auction experience right from the start. We recommend having multiple check-in stations and many trained volunteers to reduce the waiting time. We suggest:
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Organize Event Logistics |
Being organized and prepared will ensure a great guest experience. Make sure to recruit enough volunteers to reduce wait times, help answer questions, and easily direct guests. Key things to think about:
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Share How Items Will Be Awarded | It is best practice to announce when and how winning bidders can expect to receive their items prior to the auction close. We recommend providing this information in these key auction areas:
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Plan Item Pick-Up Station Process | Organizing the item pick-up process beforehand will help everything go smoothly after the auction closes. Here are some helpful recommendations:
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Ensure Great Wi-Fi Connectivity | While most bidders use their own data plans to make bids, we recommend reviewing the Wi-Fi connectivity to ensure that you can check in guests and process payments during close-out quickly.
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