The Top 10-ish Most Exciting Auction Lots of 2024

Marking a second straight year of 100% in-person galas, 2024 was a fun year for fundraising auctions. Trips continued to be successful, and dining and entertainment remained the most popular category across fundraising auctions. The most exciting trips transcended “retail” and included unique experiences, offered access to popular members of the community, or both. In this year’s top 10 list, I’ve included an example that covers both of those bases. More than a few dining and entertainment lots made the list as well.

Buy-in parties remain popular and profitable, and this year’s top 10 includes just one shining example. I have always been a huge proponent of the “instant gratification introductory lot,” as well as the collection of restaurants for a “year of dining.” This year, two organizations took both of those ideas to new levels.

The top trend of 2024 was the success of organization-related or organization-specific auction lots. Many organizations created extremely exciting and successful auction lots by utilizing opportunities or relationships from within. These organization-specific lots achieved multiple goals: they effectively communicated the message of the organization, gave donors the opportunity to remain engaged with the organization through redemption of the auction lot, and often were extremely profitable. Organization-specific lots provide a great example when creating your own lots. Not every organization can get a private plane donated for a trip to New Orleans, but most organizations have an experience in-house that could be utilized in their fundraising auction (contact me to brainstorm!).

As always, this list utilizes my arbitrary definition of what makes for an exciting auction lot. “Exciting” is about a lot’s uniqueness, creativity, and the buzz the lot generated at the event. Sale price is a factor, but more important is the number of people who bid on a particular lot.

Our first example took the concept of the “introductory, instant gratification lot” and expanded it. I am a champion of low-cost/highly desirable warm-up auction lots to engage the crowd and build momentum. If you have a DJ or band, including them as part of the opener is an easy ask:

Bubbles, Beats and Sweets

Once again, we are going to kick off this auction in style, with a party at your table, and your shot to start the dance party off with the perfect song! Start with some instant gratification: a bottle of sparkling wine chilled and ready to be served to your table as soon as you are ready. Paired with it is a selection of chocolates from Jesus Chavez and Linda Sanchez’s Casa De Chocolates, where they blend the essence of Mesoamerican chocolate traditions with modern, creative flavor pairings.

As if that weren’t enough fun, DJ Sami of the Heart of Gold DJs is here to rock the party. Sami’s been with Heart of Gold for a decade and they are going to let you pick the first song of their set!

How will you kick off the evening? So. Much. Pressure.

Opening Bid: $250                                                                                            Value: $500

A Year of Michelin Star Dining

Experience the pinnacle of culinary excellence with our exclusive live auction item: a year of Michelin-starred dining in the Bay Area. Indulge in the finest epicurean experiences with dinner for two at 12 prestigious restaurants, each adorned with coveted Michelin stars.

Your journey begins at Acquerello, where Italian elegance meets innovative flavors in a two-star setting. From there, venture to Angler for sustainable seafood and wood-fired delights. Gary Danko awaits, promising culinary mastery and impeccable service in an esteemed Michelin-starred atmosphere.

Continue your culinary adventure at Lazy Bear, where two-star communal dining meets avant-garde cuisine. Madcap invites you to savor inventive dishes in a setting that celebrates culinary artistry in Marin County. At Mister Jiu’s, modern Chinese cuisine takes center stage, offering a fusion of bold flavors and innovative creations.

Nari beckons with inventive Thai dishes, while San Ho Won showcases the art of Korean barbecue. SingleThread transports you to the bountiful fields of Sonoma County with a three-star farm-to-table tasting menu. Sorrel celebrates Northern California cuisine with rustic elegance and modern flair.

State Bird Provisions invites you to enjoy small plates bursting with flavor in a lively setting. Conclude your culinary odyssey at The Village Pub, where classic American fare meets contemporary sophistication in lush Woodside.

Bid for a chance to embark on this extraordinary culinary journey, where each meal promises to tantalize your taste buds and leave you craving more. Don't miss out on the opportunity to indulge in a year of Michelin-starred dining excellence in the Bay Area.

Opening Bid: $6,000                                                                                        Value: $7,500

 [“A Year of Fine Dining” or “Date Night for a Year” is always a popular auction lot and a great way to utilize restaurant gift certificates that would otherwise be spread out across the silent auction. This organization took that idea to a new level and gave their board an easy way to contribute to the auction.]

Animated Star of the Screen

Is the allure of the big screen and Hollywood lights calling your name? Capture your moment of entertainment fame and be a small part of an important animated film based on the novel “Tangles.” The movie tells the story of a daughter coming home to her oddball family to care for her mother living with Alzheimer’s disease.

 The winning bidder will be able to see their likeness transformed into a captivating animated character in a movie produced by Monarch Media. The film is currently in production and the talented team of artists and character designers are prepared to capture every nuance of your likeness for the viewing audience to enjoy. Your “avatar” will be as unique and vibrant as you are. And the piece de resistance is that your name will be listed in the movie credits and on IMDb!   

Opening Bid: $2,000                                                                                       

[This lot was sold at an Alzheimer’s Association event, offering an incredibly unique opportunity that also tied directly to the mission of the organization.]

Honorary Little Wishes Coordinator for a Day!

You will step inside the hospital with us and be a Little Wishes Coordinator for a day at LPCH-Stanford. As our special guest, you will lead activities in the hospital playroom located on the oncology floor, accompanied by Child Life Specialists showing you how our little patients escape into the Land of Play.

Opening Bid: $500
Final Sale Price: $12,000

[During the cocktail hour at this event, I chatted with the donor who purchased this lot the year before. They said it was a phenomenal experience, one of their most memorable moments of the year. They loved it so much, that they were one of the high bidders again, purchasing the lot two years in a row.]

An Evening with LANDO and Friends, “Part Deux”!

You are invited to join us for the “part feux” of an incredible and memorable evening of wine, food, and music. If you heard about how fantastic this evening was this past April, you know you don’t want to miss our second act. This unique lot is a culmination of Sam Lando’s friendships. Each participating winery is good friends with Sam Lando, and coincidentally, they produce some of the best wines in their categories (Cabernets, Chardonnays, Pinot Noirs, and Rhone varieties).

So let’s set the stage…

You and your guest will arrive at Back Forty’s tasting room decked out for a party. First, the crew will enjoy an extensive tasting with our fabulous featured winery partners. After the tasting, you will certainly be looking for some delicious food and Lando and friends will deliver! Our winemakers (and their wines) will join the guests for a seated meal where local chefs will delight the winning bidders with a wine country-inspired menu.

You may say, “All that is missing is some live music”, and we’ll say that we’ve got you more than covered! To cap off this fabulous evening, three songwriters will take to the stage while you are enjoying dinner and copious amounts of awesome wine for an intimate acoustic set.. This is going to be one for the ages!

Bid high for this incredible experience that will wow your senses!!

35 Couples: $3,000/Couple!

[This buy-in lot highlights the power of buy-ins: offering bidders a unique experience worthy of sharing with a large group, at a price that is well below the average of the auction, without sacrificing the total amount raised by this auction lot (35 x $3,000 = $105,000).]

Rock & Hammer Rarities: Pinot Noir Lot

With five NBA championship victories as Head Coach of the San Antonio Spurs and the most wins by an NBA coach ever, Gregg Popovich knows that putting in the daily work is essential to long-term success.

That’s the story behind Rock & Hammer Pinot Noir, the wine created by Coach Popovich and Rex Hill Winery, one of the pioneers of Oregon Pinot. Growing Pinot Noir is exceptionally difficult. Making wine from this fastidious grape requires intense dedication. A lover and collector of fine wine, Coach Popovich has worked with the Rex Hill Winery since 2005 to fashion the very best expression that Oregon can produce.

With this lot, you’ll receive every vintage produced by Rock & Hammer, beginning with their very first from 2005. These wines have never been available commercially, having been offered solely as part of Coach Popovich’s charitable endeavors. To our knowledge, a complete collection of these wines has never been offered — until now. In fact, this lot is so rare that it warranted a scoop on ESPN.com from sportswriter Baxter Holmes.

Includes:

• Rock & Hammer Pinot Noir: 2005-2017, 2019 (several signed by Gregg Popovich)

• Four seats to a San Antonio Spurs game from Coach Popovich’s allocation, on a mutually agreed date.

Donor: Gregg Popovich and Mike & Nancy T

[The uniqueness of this lot, coupled with the celebrity of Gregg Popovich resulted in coverage for this lot by ESPN sportswriter Baxter Holmes before the event took place.]

Opening Bid: $12,000                                                                     Value: $24,000

First Call to Kids Camp

Get first dibs for your kids this High Desert Museum Kids Camp season! Secure exclusive early access to registration for the 2024/25 Kids Camp series and get a coveted sneak peek of the Winter 2024, Spring 2025, and Summer 2025 camp dates and themes a full week before they’re released to the public. The High Desert Museum offers a unique, immersive learning environment where your kiddos can engage in hands-on discovery and exploration, making these camps highly sought after and quickly filled due to their exceptional, enriching experiences.

Don’t miss this chance to ensure your child’s spot in these popular programs, offering unforgettable educational adventures at one of the region’s most cherished institutions. Does not include camp fees, cannot exceed three spots simultaneously, and must be in one household.

Opening Bid: $500                                                                                            Value: $2,000

[Another great example of a very organization-specific lot, this package did not include the actual classes. It was only for the ability to be first in line, and any parent who has ever tried to sign their kids up for camp knows how challenging getting into camp can be.]

Six Bottles of 1989 in Honor of the 35th Anniversary of vinNEBRASKA and 40th of Stephen Center

From the wine cellar of vinNEBRASKA Board president Mark G comes a commemorative half-case of fine wine from ’89. Celebrating 40 years of the Stephen Center and 35 years of Vin Nebraska, you get six bottles of red that have held up well:

·         ’89 ZD Wines Napa Vally Pinot

·         ’89 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet

·         ’89 Peju Napa Valley Cabernet

·         ’89 Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet

·         ’89 Chante Cigale Chateauneuf-du-Pape

·         ’89 Rioja Vega Crianza

All housed in a custom made vinNEBRASKA wine box made by a local artisan so you can display these bottles proudly!

Opening Bid: $250                                                                                           Value: $500

[Milestones make for good auction lots, and this well-aged collection of wine from the year this wine auction was founded proves it doesn’t have to be a huge lot to be exciting.]

Bloom & Brunch: Flower Arranging Class

Twelve people enjoy the opportunity to learn the fine art of arranging flowers with our very own auction chair, Meredith J. Make your way to Amber J.’s house, where you’ll be welcomed on to her lovely deck with a mimosa. Then Meredith will give you a hands-on demonstration of the fine art of crafting bouquets.

From flower finding to color matching and stem trimming, Meredith will teach you all the ins and outs of creating colorful bouquets. For an example of her handiwork, look no further than your centerpiece tonight: Meredith created and donated all of them!

After learning how to create fantastic floral arrangements, you’ll enjoy brunch prepared with fresh eggs from Amber Jo’s “surviving chickens” – it’s a long story, we don’t have time for it now – and paired with more fun and bubbly!

Opening Bid: $1,200                                                                                        Value: $2,200

[The auction chair also created all of the centerpieces for this gala. This auction lot was a double-whammy: it emphasized her popularity as auction chair, and it exemplified her abilities as a florist. Once the lot was over, we then gave away all of the floral centerpieces on each table.]

Southern Sky Ease to the Big Easy for Frank and Pardis Gras!

Come fly with Southern Sky to New Orleans where old spirits fly! Feasting, sipping, snacking and more – with jazz, historic sights, so much to adore!

It’s the trip you’ve always dreamed of but never imagined would ever even be a possibility… much less come true! Four (4) of you are headed to New Orleans for 3 deliciously action-packed days (and 2 colorful nights). Best part? You’ll be doing all of this in the company of Birmingham’s favorite hosts: Pardis and Frank Stitt!

Friday: You’ll fly conveniently and comfortably on a Cessna Citation XLS private jet courtesy of Southern Sky Aviation. A quick stop at the Four Seasons to drop bags, then off to lunch at the legendary Galatoire’s, a Stitt favorite! At Galatoire’s, where lunch is grand, a second line rolls through, brass band in hand!

After lunch you’ll make your way to the Bywater for an afternoon with Patrick Dunne, renowned culinary historian and antiques dealer. At his shoppe, Lucullus, you’ll have exclusive access to his expertly-curated collection of 19th century silverware and French crystal glasses. But what good is crystal without Champagne and a good story or two?

Dunne will captivate you with his tales of wit and wonder, sharing the fascinating histories behind the treasures you explore while you sip and shop. (Bring an empty bag: leaving empty-handed is hazardous!) You’ll build quite the appetite, too…

So it’s off to dinner at Herbsaint to enjoy Donald Link’s refined Southern flavors with a French twist. A James Beard winner, Link’s dishes strike the perfect balance of comfort and creativity – just what you’ll need to recharge. And since no day in NOLA is complete without a nightcap, wrap up with a drink or two at Cane & Able.

Saturday: Sleep in! Enjoy a leisurely morning along the river, stroll through the sleepy quarter, or indulge in one of the spa services offered at the Four Seasons.

Lunch at Peche, an upbeat, artsy, upscale lunch spot before indulging in an afternoon of culture, wine and live music at Bacchanal, NOLA’s most beloved and lively backyard party. Laissez les bon temps rouler right on into dinner at N7, one of Bon Appetit’s “Best New Restaurants of 2016.”

After dinner, you’ll head to Tipitina’s or Preservation Hall. The night is still young; let the jazz cast its call!

Sunday: Those Stitt’s just won’t quit. It’s off to brunch at Brennen’s! Fill up on Eggs Hussarde and Bananas Foster before your guided walking tour of the historic Garden District.

With feasting, music, and stories to share, this New Orleans trip is beyond compare.

Opening Bid: $25,000

[This lot has it all: access, relationship, travel. The Stitts are some of the most popular restauranteurs in Birmingham, and the opportunity to go to New Orleans with them was all kinds of exciting.]

Lindsay and Michael Tusk: Quince Come in Your Home

Indulge in a culinary masterpiece as Chef Michael Tusk brings the refined elegance of Three-Star Michelin cuisine from Quince to your home. With a lifelong passion for the culinary arts, Chef Tusk offers you an unparalleled dining experience, showcasing exceptional ingredients at their purest in the comfort of your own home.

Prepare for an extraordinary evening as Chef Tusk weaves together contemporary flavors with hand-selected, exceptional ingredients, creating a personalized menu tailored exclusively for your party of eight. Every dish is a testament to Chef Tusk's dedication to sourcing locally and seasonally, with ingredients carefully curated from Quince's network of Northern California purveyors, including their own farm.

To complement this culinary journey, Lindsay and Michael will personally curate a selection of wines from their cellar, perfectly paired with each course, enhancing the flavors and ensuring an unforgettable dining experience for you and your guests.

Mutually agreed upon date.

Value: $2,000, Private Chef Experience — Priceless

[Dining and entertainment is always a popular category, and having two well-known chefs come to your house for a gourmet, wine-paired feast is the pinnacle of this type of auction lot. But if you can’t get Michelin-starred, well-known chefs, lean into the people to whom you do have access: your committee, your board, or popular members of your auction community.]

Full Orthodontic Treatment from Image Orthodontics

From Dr. Yan Kalika and Image Orthodontics: our 45th Season Corporate Sponsor, comes the ultimate auction lot: a winning smile! Dr. Yan will give you or your loved one the perfect smile.

And we’re not trying to say that you don’t already have a beautiful smile, or that you haven’t passed on great looking teeth to your kids. We’re just saying Dr. Yan is that good. Whether you’ve been meaning to touch up some long-forgotten needs, or your child is having some growing pains of the mouth, Dr. Yan will lend new meaning to “winning smile” with this full orthodontic treatment! Everything you need from start to finish (but you’ll still have to brush and floss yourself).

Opening Bid: $2,000                                                                           Value: $6,500

[This final example is here to underscore how important it is to know your community and offer auction lots that are enticing to them. The San Francisco Girls Chorus auction is supported primarily by parents of middle-school-aged children: a prime demographic for orthodontia. This lot was the most bid on, most exciting lot of the auction, with three sets of parents going back and forth to get a tax write-off on their kid’s braces.]

Red Alert! What to do in an Event Emergency

When something goes wrong at your fundraising event (and something always goes wrong) it is best to have a plan in place and be prepared to respond decisively. Most mishaps at galas are minor, and require a small response. But if a true emergency does occur, it is best to be prepared. In a life-or-death situation, every second counts.

Designate a Single Point Person

Make sure one person on your event team is the go-to person in the event of an emergency. Tell volunteers and other staff to let this person know if there is an emergency. Have this person in a visible, accessible place throughout the event so they can be found if need be.

Have a Plan in Place

Equip your Emergency Response Person with a plan, and make sure they have the tools to carry it out. Make sure they have the direct line for local emergency response professionals readily at hand, and that they have adequate cell phone coverage to make the call. It doesn’t have to be a complicated plan, and can be as simple as: “If someone is choking on their food, call 911 immediately.”

If you are doing your event in a hotel ballroom or professional event space, find out who their emergency response team is and how to reach them. For example, the Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco has a medical response team on duty 24/7, and respond immediately to emergencies in their ballroom – but only if someone lets them know.

Do Not Panic

Stay calm, keep your crowd calm, freaking out will only make the situation worse.

Act Quickly

Do not hope the situation will resolve itself and do not worry about the optics of what this will look like for your event or organization. If it is a life-or-death situation, every second counts. It is better to over-respond decisively than to fatally under-respond.

Give People Suffering an Emergency Some Space

If someone is experiencing an emergency at your event, do your best to give them space and privacy. Call as little attention as necessary to the emergency. Direct the audience’s attention elsewhere, and encourage the crowd to focus away from the emergency.

Be Prepared to Adapt

Depending on the severity of the emergency, you may have to radically change the course of your event. Engage your crowd honestly, and with respect, and they will help you achieve the most positive outcome possible.  

How to Prevent an Auction Takeover

It is a big challenge for any fundraiser when one person decides to take over an event and make it all about them. It shifts the focus of a gala, has the potential to derail the fundraising and could end up costing the event significantly.

There are no easy solutions for what to do once someone is already onstage, rambling on about their product, personal pet peeves, or other random tidbits. But there are a number of steps you can take in advance of your event to try and prevent any sort of auction takeover.

Set Clear Expectations

Tell each speaker how long they have for their speech before they start writing it. As a general rule, very few speeches need to be longer than three to five minutes.

Review All Scripts

It is reasonable to ask speakers to prepare for their time onstage by writing up their remarks in advance. It is also reasonable to ask to see that script in advance.  If someone’s script is too long, or off-message, seeing it beforehand gives you the opportunity to discuss that with them while there is still time to make edits and adjustments. There is little time to course-correct the night-of your event.

Designate a Stage Manager

Someone needs to be able to play the “bad cop” if need be, but it is also useful to have someone who is in charge of getting speakers on (and possibly off) the stage. From a show-flow standpoint, it is a waste of the audience’s time if the emcee introduces the next speaker, and that speaker is still seated at their table. Then the whole crowd has to wait while the speaker gets up to make their way through the tables to the stage.

Don’t let one of your speakers hijack your auction, have a plan in place to prevent podium piracy

Far better is to have a stage manager who ensures every speaker is at the stage, ready to go on when they are introduced, and encourage them to leave the stage if they speak for too long.

Have a Plan in Place

What do you do if a speaker goes on too long? Or launches in to an inappropriate tirade? How do you handle the worst-case scenario? At what point do you turn off a speaker’s microphone? (We’ve seen it happen!)

Create a plan and empower your stage manager to implement it. Hopefully none of those worst-case scenarios come to pass. But if you don’t have a plan in place, you’ll be scrambling to figure out what to do, instead of reacting immediately and decisively.

Tall centerpieces hurt fundraising auctions

Everyone wants their event to look great. The challenge is to strike a balance between form and function, especially when it comes to the centerpieces.

Even though they are see-through in the middle, the paper planes on these center-pieces are obscuring the podium.

As auctioneers, our ability to engage a crowd is dependent upon two things: the crowd’s ability to hear us, and our ability to see them. It isn’t just the bidder’s paddles or numbers that we need to be able to see: we need to be able to look people in the eye, because it reveals a lot about their personality. Do they want to be played with? Do they want recognition? Are they smiling? Do they look to their spouse for the go-ahead between every bid? Are they looking to see who is bidding against them?

There is a lot we need to see from the stage, all of which enables us to raise more money for you in your fundraising auction. Tall, bulky centerpieces that block the line of sight from the stage to attendees’ faces hinder fundraising. They wind up costing you money – usually much more than you paid for them – in lost auction revenue.

If I can’t see the bidder as auctioneer, it means I have to move around on the stage until I can see them. Provided I know they are there, and know that they are trying to bid. But when I’m working around tall centerpieces, I usually just get to see the paddle number, jutting out over a mass of flowers.

If a bidder feels like they aren’t being seen, they either stand up or put their paddle down. Either are sub-optimal ways to get your crowd to engage.

Short, theme-appropriate centerpieces work best. They enable the people in charge of décor to flex their creative muscles without their vision literally getting in the way of raising money. If a designer insists on doing tall centerpieces, make sure they are as transparent as possible.

When in doubt, sit facing the stage at a table and ask yourself, “Could I look the auctioneer (or any other speaker) in the eye?”  If the answer is “no” you have to decide if there is anything you can do about it that night, or if it is an issue you’ll need to address the following year.  Because our goal is to lower barriers to supporting your cause, not build them.

Personalize your paddle raise

The paddle raise is the most important component of most fundraising auctions, often raising more than the rest of the auction combined. The way it is introduced is crucial to engaging the crowd and ensuring success.

A good paddle raise pitch tells stories that connect your audience to your mission on a personal level. It doesn't have to be long, it doesn't have to be overly dramatic, it just needs to be honest and engaging. Like this video of Trent Yaconelli, associate executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of St Helena and Calistoga, at their BIG Night gala.

Display live lot numbers by any means necessary

Every live fundraising auction should make sure the audience always knows what lot number is currently up for sale throughout the entire auction. It is not enough for the auctioneer to announce the number of each lot as they begin to sell it, there has to be some sort of visual display that serves as an anchor for the crowd.

Fundraising auctions are usually rowdy affairs, with people talking at their tables throughout the auction. It is unreasonable to expect each and every audience member to pay strict enough attention throughout the entire event to know exactly where the auction is.

Displaying the lot numbers gives people the ability to tune in when a lot they are interested in is up for sale, and to enjoy their friends’ company the rest of the time (something we encourage, wholeheartedly). Usually this is accomplished through a slideshow presentation projected on to large screens.

The Taste of Howell Mountain event takes place in St Helena in a tent during the afternoon in June: a projector simply isn't an option.

Sometimes, however, it is not possible to have a projector or a slide show. Few projectors can be seen outside during the day, for example. Some venues do not lend themselves to large screens, and some events simply don’t have the budget for high-tech solutions.

It may look a little home-spun, but this flip-chart lot number sign does a very important job.

Our advice is to make the most of the situation in the best way that you can; be creative. Embrace low-tech solutions and find a way to make sure that your crowd remains informed throughout the auction. You can have volunteers walk the stage and into the crowd holding aloft a large numbers (like a high-class version of a boxing ring girl).  If you are in a gymnasium you can use the scoreboard to keep track of where you are.

We’ve even done a number of events that took the most straightforward, low-tech approach possible: a flip chart with each lot number pre-printed on it. Keeping your audience informed will always yield better results than doing nothing. And any auction with more than three lots needs a way to keep the audience informed.

The scientific case for hiring a professional fundraising auctioneer

One of the challenges of being a fundraising auctioneer is the number of amateurs who think they could do my job – and number of seemingly otherwise intelligent event chairs willing to believe them. I don’t know what it is about being an auctioneer that makes so many people think they could simply jump onstage and do it. Maybe it’s the fact that we all learn how to say numbers in sequence in elementary school.

When the stage has been set for success, don't leave it up to an amateur to maximize the potential of your crowd.

We are professionals who have focused on fundraising auctions as a craft so that we can hone and perfect that craft. I’ve long argued that anyone can look brilliant when an auction is going swimmingly well, but it is a true professional who can handle an onstage challenge with aplomb. And now I have scientific proof to back me up.

A fundraising auction is a high-intensity affair, a continual stream of in-the-moment decisions being made that range from the mundane to the extraordinary, and sometimes extreme. Most of the obvious decisions seem easy enough to make, especially to the untrained eye. But when an extraordinary situation arises, the person onstage has microseconds to respond before the crowd starts forming an opinion – good or bad. And it is when the time pressure is greatest that the amateur is most likely to mess things up.

Law and Finance expert Frank Partnoy, in his book Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, uses chess as the example of how novices cannot cope with time-sensitive pressure. Most of us novice chess players can muddle through a game of chess well enough to present ourselves as competent. But add a timed element, such as in blitz chess where you only have 30 seconds per move, and the difference between novice and expert becomes profound.

“Expert chess players cope well with this kind of intense time pressure,” writes Partnoy. “When grand masters play blitz chess, the quality of their moves hardly deteriorates at all. They instinctively pick the best move, right away. But when novices play blitz chess, it is a disaster. Either they tap their conscious system and use up too much time thinking about the next move, or they make quick, bad moves. Either way, their systems overload and they lose.”

In the real world and on the chess board, Portnoy argues, “The message is clear: if you only have a few seconds to make a decision, you had better be an expert.”

Why then, with tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line, would anyone risk giving the reigns of their auction to an amateur who is, statistically speaking, prone to messing it up when it matters most? The amount of money one “saves” in such a situation is outweighed by the performance a professional will bring to your stage.

And this isn’t just me saying this, it’s science.

The Top 5 Worst Ways to Introduce an Auction

The way in which a fundraising auction is introduced tells the crowd a lot about what is to come. Successful events carefully map out the transition to the auction, ensuring that we’re building momentum to an important moment for the evening and the organization.

Occasionally, however, instead of setting the stage for success the person who introduces the auction (and auctioneer) sends a completely different message. Here, then, are the top 5 least successful ways to introduce a fundraising auction (all of which we’ve experienced at real galas):

1. “I hate to interrupt your dinner, but it’s time to do the auction.”
2. “I know everyone is having a good time, but…”
3. “Boy, has anyone else’s 401k/portfolio taken as brutal a hit as mine did this last week? Seriously. I’m glad to see so many people given how bad the economy is…”
4. “There’s going to be some dancing later, we’ve got a great band, so just sit through this and we’ll get to the fun part.”
5. “I know we all hate auctions, but ours is short.”

That last one is, if you can believe it, verbatim from an event Ed did last fall - I was there, and saw the whole thing. And while a bad introduction for the auction and auctioneer isn’t the end of the world, it certainly didn’t set the right tone from the onset.

A bad introduction is also a sign of a lack of clear messaging across the entire event. If just one of your representatives onstage isn't tuned-in to your message, how off is the rest of your event? The lesson isn't simply to write a good introduction for your auction, the lesson is to do a message audit for your entire event, and make sure everyone is focused on your ultimate goal.

When Surprises and Fundraising Do Mix

One of my long-held tenets is that surprises in a fundraising auction seldom succeed. Many times have I stood onstage with a donor who midway through the bidding decided to "spice up the lot" and add to it in an attempt to raise more money. Usually their efforts generate exactly zero more bids.

But for every "rule" in fundraising, there is an exception to it, and this year I've been surprised by a few onstage surprises that worked.  While it is never possible to predict when a donor will pull an impromptu add-on, knowing these will help guide you when a donor gives you advance warning of their plan.

Radical Upgrade: The change being made to the lot was a major one, radically increasing the value of the lot. This isn't about simply "adding two more seats to the dinner" here. We're talking about adding 18 onfield-passes to the 18-person luxury suite at a Raiders game, so the winning bidder and all of their friends can go down on field and meet the players before the game.

Other major upgrade examples include a donor throwing in first-class airfare on the spur of the moment, or a vintner agreeing to show up in person to do the wine-pairing for a dinner instead of just donating the wine.

Donor Celebrity: It is also imperative that the person making the changes to the auction lot has celebrity status within the crowd. The guy who jumped up at his table and announced that he'd add 18 onfield-passes to the Raiders game was a high-level executive within the Raiders organization. People were as interested in impressing him as they were getting the additional benefits he was adding to the lot.

Lots of times someone will make a change to a lot believing they have major celebrity status with the crowd, only to find out otherwise. It's a painful moment onstage, one that usually gets blamed on the crowd, not the would-be celebrity.

Easy to Understand Changes: It is hard for an audience to hear what is going on at an auction, it's the simple truth. Making changes to an auction lot mid-auction are difficult, because people simply cannot hear the changes - and even if they can hear, they have to be able to process them.

If a donor is going to change a lot on the fly, try to make sure it is a simple, easy to understand change, such as adding more seats to the dinner or doubling the number of people who can go on the trip. Finer points, such as, "we'll be having the '72 Y'Quem instead of the '84" will get lost in the shuffle.

Generally speaking, surprises in a fundraising auction aren't a good idea. But if a donor insists, do your best to guide them to a surprise that is going to work for everyone - but especially you.