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Blooper No. 7: Limited food choices
Always have at least one vegetarian option available for your guests. During certain religious holidays (e.g., Passover), offer appropriate alternatives for most of the items on your menu. Get to know your caterer immediately after signing your venue contract. Partake in a tasting. Encourage your caterer to think outside the box when creating your menu.
Blooper No. 8: Timing disasters
Work closely with your caterer to establish ideal timing of food placement and clearing of plates, as these activities can create significant noise and distraction from the speaking program. Avoid these activities particularly during the live auction and other fundraising portions of the evening. Always develop a clear contingency plan for what to do if the program runs behind schedule — will the night simply come to a close later than originally expected, or will you cut something out of the program on the spot? What can be cut if need be? Who will decide this?
Blooper No. 9: Embarrassing auction results
Command the audience’s attention before starting the program or live auction. If necessary, make use of an announcer, music, flashing lights, etc. For particularly “sensitive” auction items (e.g., a high-profile donor has donated personal artwork), arrange to have a bidder “planted” in the audience who agrees to bid a minimum amount on the item. This prevents a situation in which the item receives no bids or only extremely low bids.
Blooper No. 10: Auction package 'surprises'
Live auctions can create sensitive donor-relation issues. Make sure that the individuals who donate the items are reliable and understand the restrictions (or lack of) on the auction package. The last thing you want is for someone to spend thousands of dollars on an “unrestricted” sports package only to later be told by the donor of the package that the tickets are in fact NOT redeemable for the particular game in which the winner is interested.
Katie Skoog is the director of development for Families First Parenting Programs in Cambridge, Mass.
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