Over the next several weeks, I will go into detail into examples of these types of items, but for now, I want to introduce the 5 types of items they should incorporate into their live auction.
1. Trips
This could be anything from a trip to a B&B 45 minutes away from your town or it could be a luxury condo in Mexico. I usually like to see a local vacation (something that the winning bidder could drive to) and a travel vacation (some place further away that is different from their local area...beach...ski vacation...Europe...etc).
2. Meal/Dinner Party
People love these items. It could be anything from a chef created meal in the winner's home or an exclusive specialty chef's dinner at a hot restaurant in town. These are great experiences for multiple bidders to go together on a great item.
3. Unique Experience
A "Unique Experience" is something that people can't go and recreate on their own or buy from another vendor. These unique experiences are something that they only get because they are supporting your organization. This one is all about who you know and getting creative. I would recommend sitting down with your staff, board members or auction committee and have a meeting committed solely to brainstorming who they know and out of the box ideas. Remember there are no bad ideas in brainstorming.
4. Alcohol
People eat up (or drink up) these items. This could be an exclusive brewery tour (not one that they could normally sign up for) where they are involved in the creation of a small batch beer, or you could sell a "Wall of Wine," or a wheelbarrow of booze, or an exclusive wine tasting experience. The possibilities are endless. NOTE: This one is not appropriate for many organizations, so keep that in mind if it goes against religious beliefs or if you support recovering addicts. Please know I would only recommend this to you if it did not conflict with your organization's values.
5. Sports
Bidders love the opportunity to support your cause while being able to enjoy their favorite teams. This could be anything from a sports package with a couple tickets to one each major sports teams' games to a meet and greet with a popular player or even a signed jersey.
For more ideas...
Keep checking back because I will be covering these items in more detail in the next several weeks. You can look for them on my social media accounts where I publish all of my posts as soon as they are ready.
