Concordia Annual Auction

The 2009 Auction Committee

Concordia's Annual Auction is a parent-driven event and the auction committee is made up entirely of volunteers. Below is a list of the major committees and their responsibilities. If you are interested in being a part of one of these committees, contact michellede@ciss.com.cn to express your area of interest. No previous experience is necessary to become involved in the planning of this big event. For those interested in the 2010 Annual Auction, the first auction committee meeting will be held in September 2009. This is a great way to get to know the school and Shanghai while making new friends and having fun. We hope to see you on the committee this year!

Committee Job Descriptions

Committee Co-Chairs

Committee Co-Chairs

To solicit volunteers for the auction committe and to regularly meet, designate and monitor the progress of the committee. To select a venue for the event and to negotiate and liaise as required all contract details for the venue. To oversee the Committee Chairs for the various committees to ensure progress is being made in a timely manner. To select an audiovisual vendor for the event and to negotiate the contract on behalf of the school. To liaise with school administration on all issues including the designated beneficiary for the event. To call and conduct regular committee meetings as required and to provide a final report on the event and recomendations for following year.

Promotions

To design and layout posters, programs and tickets to reflect the Annual theme, and to liaise with printers. To prepare on-the-night welcome packs to include Auction programs, pen, bid paddles and promotional materials with a numbering system.

Ticket Sales

To sell Auction tickets at designated times on school campus and to keep track of ticket sales including table seating layout in ballroom. To prepare a table seating plan for the ballroom according to when tickets were purchased and level of corporate sponsorship. To produce a list of names to be used by the check-in reception on the day of the event as well as for the Accounting persons to correlate with the online spreadsheets for billing.

Corporate Table Sales: To contact potential corporations both past and potential new sponsors for corporate table purchases. To provide confirmed corporate sponsors with programs and tickets in advance of the event and to obtain names of attendees and menu preferences for hotel and accounting purposes.

Solicitations

Internal Solicitations – To solicit and liaise with Concordia faculty for classroom projects/donations as well as faculty donations. To ensure these donations are ready for the packaging committee by the designated time.

External Solicitations – This committee is good for shop-aholics as you will learn where all the good shopping spots are in Shanghai! Groups of parents contact local vendors, both past and potential new donors, for items/services for the live and silent auctions. To keep good record of vendors visited and items pledged for future auctions. To arrange the collection of/delivery of items prior to the event.

Packaging / Setup

Setup complete, the calm before the storm.

To package items in baskets or other appropriate containers to enable them to be transported to the auction venue without damage in an attractive manner. Item packaging should display items in the best possible way. Small items maybe purchased to enhance the appearance of a basket or certificate. To prepare descriptions of items for inclusion in the auction program. To prepare description tags for set up as required (for example, for the jewelry or baskets where the contents are not easily visible or a misunderstanding may occur). To prepare Bid sheets for the items. To prepare silent auction notice boards for bid winners.

Auction items on display

To organize appropriate numbers of large and small easels, music stands, clip boards etc from school classrooms for transport to auction venue. To prepare accounting, reception and payment areas at auction venue. To prepare area for photographer at auction venue. To arrange sufficient number of committee member vans to transport items to auction venue (large items are transported with a moving company). To prepare a floor plan of where the items are to be placed in the silent auction area to show them to their best advantage. To share this plan with the auction committee volunteers on the day of the event to speed up the setup.
Note: The entire Auction committee is involved in getting the items to the venue and set-up of the silent auction items on the day of the auction. Each sub-committee will know their individual responsibilities on the day including silent auction set-up, table layout, hotel decoration, security, entertainment and audio visual.

On the night coordinator/s

Silent Auction - To solicit student/faculty volunteers and train them in their various jobs - reception check-in, manning of silent auction tables, security for jewelry area, live auction, raffle tickets, accounting, spotters etc. To ensure we have sufficient snacks/drinks for volunteers on the event night. To signal the end of the silent auction sections. To settle silent auction disputes. To liaise with venue staff.

Ballroom - This is a behind the scenes role and not on stage. To solicit and train volunteers in their various responsibilites as required. To help to keep the auction evening running on time. To liaise with auction venue and audio visual vendor to coordinate timing. To run the lucky draw. To act as a backup to MC´s for live auction, handout certificates and keep track of item winners and bid amounts. To problem-solve issues in the ballroom as they arise.

Accounting - To solicit accounting staff. To train volunteers in their various jobs. To set up accounting computer program (Access based) with names, bid numbers and items. To collect bid sheets and determine winners, input into program and print receipts. To prepare board with bid winners. To trouble shoot bill and item issues.

Takedown - This role starts at approximately 11:30 p.m. To solicit volunteers to help with takedown. To tag large items for next day delivery. To dismantle and pack up as required for shipping next day. To return borrowed school items (music stands, clip boards etc) to classes they were borrowed from on Monday after.

Decorating

Table setting.

Ballroom table decoration - Color scheme, flowers, menu, table settings etc. To produce signage for corporate tables. To liaise with venue for other signage requirements eg Reception, Payment etc To work with audio visual vendor to supply graphics for stage backdrop. To provide additional decorations as required to support the theme of the evening.