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Planning Meeting for NTMN Silent Auction TMN Annual Meeting signup sheet

This meeting is a planning session for the Silent Auction.
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As the host chapter, NTMN will manage the silent auction at the Texas Master Naturalist Annual Conference in Rockwall October 18 to 20, 2019.

We are at the planning stage for the silent auction. We will do the following between now and the conclusion of the Annual Conference:

1. Review processes used to conduct the silent auction:
a. Where do the items to be sold come from?
b. How are the items listed so that bidders know what the thing is and current bidding status.
c. Determining what bidder won the item.
d. Letting the bidders know who has won.
e. Receiving payment from bidders for all the items that they have won.

2. Communicate to the other TMN chapter members how to donate an item for the auction. Give them a way to let us know what they will be bringing.

3. Determine if we will need to store some auction items prior to the conference.
a. Customarily TMN members bring their items to the conference on Thursday and Friday so these things would not need to be stored beforehand.
b. Last year 250 items were expected and over 400 were brought to be auctioned by Friday evening.

4. Receive items to be auctioned and inventory each thing.
a. Assign a number to the item so we can track it.
b. All items will be entered into Silent Auction Pro. This may include a bar code or a numbered label.
b. A brief description by the donor.
c. An estimate of it's value.
d. A photograph either shot with a smartphone by the donor or when we receive it.
d. If combined with like items (for example, we may want to put together several children's book to sell as a group). If there is a group, what is in the group?

5. Place the auction items in the area reserved for the silent auction.
a. This will be a somewhat secure area which will also be visible to everyone during the conference.
b. We may need to place small valuable items in a locked room at night.

6. Each person wishing to bid will have to register with their contact information in to Silent Auction Pro so we can quickly consolidate their winning bids and give them an invoice.
a. Register with their smart phone.
b. They will bid from this phone and receive messages when overbid.
c. We will also have laptops or iPads available at a kiosk for bidders not using a smart phone.

7. At the close of the auction:
a. Tally up the highest bids for each item.
b. Consolidate all the items won by each bidder into one invoice.
c. Receive payment from each bidder. Most will pay by credit card, but check may also be used. No cash.
d. Find the items for each bidder.
e. Give credit for any item "missing" from a bidder's list.

8. Offer unsold items on Sunday morning - bid or fixed price. We don't want to take anything home.

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