EP 14: 3 Proven Event Strategies to Help You Increase Your Donations in One Night, with Dean Crownover

Jeff: Welcome to the Elevate Your Event podcast, where we talk about how to plan and execute an unforgettable event that will dazzle your guests and generate more income for your organization. From fundraising and securing trendy auction items to event production and logistics, get the best tips and advice from seasoned fundraising and event professionals who have been in your shoes.

Jeff: Welcome back to the Elevate Your Event podcast. We are going to try something we haven't tried before, which I'm super excited about. We have a guest with us today, Dean Crownover, Benefit Auctioneering Specialist, and he is joining us electronically. So you're not in the studio with us, and I trust technology. I know it's amazing. This is going to be awesome. We are so happy to have you with us today. And joining me today to chat with Dean is Kristen Wheeler.

Kristen: Hi.

Jeff: Kristen and I work for Handbid, and Dean has graciously agreed to join us. Dean, why don't you tell the folks about yourself and what you do?

Dean: Well, hello, guys. And it's not technology. It's magic. This is magic. It's magical. Well, I am a professional benefit auction specialist. That means I auctioneer galas, all fundraising benefits. I only do galas or nonprofits. I consult with a client usually up to a year out, because that's when they book me, and we consult the whole way. Let's call it 90% of my job is all the consulting behind the scenes to set up the revenue streams, to make them the most profitable and successful they can be -- from run of show to everything in between. And then the 10% of the job is, if we've laid it all right, get up on that stage and raise them the most amount of money they've ever seen. Hopefully, right? That's always the goal.

Jeff: And what you mentioned there, I think, is important. Your job starts well before the event starts, working with these folks.

Dean: Absolutely. In fact, I will not take a job if they call a month out or something like that. I usually don't take it because I'm not just a hired gun who shows up and does bid calls. No, no, no. I need to be embedded because I want to be their diplomat too. I want to know all about their cause.

Jeff: That totally makes sense. And it's hard to do that when you're running against the clock trying to get something organized. So talk about your fundraising consulting, because what we like to do on this show is give advice based on our experience and what we know are best practices. Talk about some of the strategies and things that you suggest to your clients, the things they can do at their event.

Dean: Oh, wow. Okay. Where do I begin? How long is this podcast?

Jeff: Six hours? Perfect.

Dean: All right. We're good.

Jeff: Give us your favorite. Let's start with your favorite. How's that?

Dean: I'll give you a couple of faves. Okay, hands down -- the generic term is paddle raise or fund-a-need. You guys know what it is, but for those who don't, that is where we ask the audience for just pure donations. Just give. And it's in a very systematic, organized way. It is at the event the number one revenue stream, period. And I'm not talking about sponsorships or ticket sales. I'm talking about just using money people want to give. And they want to buy less now, right?

Kristen: So question for you on that: do you typically have some of those higher donation levels already lined up before you walk in the room?

Dean: Yeah. So there's usually -- I say to a client, you've got two pieces of homework. Well, three technically. Number one, we're going to work out the levels, and for the first level it really helps to have a verbal agreement, whether that guest can be in the room or not, because it's just as successful. Preferably somebody raises, and I call out their bidder number and we give them a big round of applause. But let's say it's $10,000. "Mr. and Mrs. Jones could not be here tonight, ladies and gentlemen, but they're starting us out at $10,000. Give them a huge round of applause." So that opens the door. "Who else will join at ten grand?" Now, if other people do, excellent. About 50% of the time they do. But if they don't, then I simply say give Mr. and Mrs. Jones another big round of applause, and I move to the next level. We don't pick a level cold, because early in my career I remember a chair once said -- I asked, "Do you have a guaranteed first level?" and she said, "Yeah, start at $30,000." Nobody raised. Then $20,000. Nobody raised. Then $10,000. Nobody raised. $5,000 -- I finally got somebody. It killed the room.

Jeff: We were just talking about that.

Kristen: Yeah, you can absolutely lose a lot of momentum that you've created through your event and through things leading up to it, just by having amounts called out and getting that awkward silence.

Dean: One of my favorites is when they have the commitment and the person is in the room, and they forgot to raise. I had this happen recently where literally two minutes before walking on stage, I turned to my executive director and said, "Is the $10,000 person here?" She said, "Yeah, he's sitting right there." Great. So we did the whole setup and the testimonials and all that -- because the setup is a big part of this -- and I said, "Who will give $10,000?" Crickets. Oops. Later, she went up to him and asked what happened. He said, "I was so into the testimonials and what was going on, I totally forgot to raise." But it left us hanging a little bit. We recovered, but it's a great excuse. He ended up giving it, so it worked out.

Jeff: That's good. And so you mentioned the raising of the paddle. I would imagine you're in the room, you're guiding this process. So that is your preferred method. You don't want people pulling out their phones and trying to donate online and showing some sort of live thermometer up on the screen, or do you have some experience with that too?

Dean: I do. And I have found, for my audiences and what we do -- because I love technology, don't get me wrong, definitely one of the first in Atlanta to embrace it all the way, going back 13, 14 years -- but there is an emotional connection when they raise a bid paddle and other people see it. So just Saturday night, the first level was $5,000. It was a small school, and we knew we had one. A second one raised. Then I saw a third lady just look at both of them and nod and go -- and she raised. There was an energy going on. Had they all been looking down at their phones, it's very different. So there are cases where I still have them raise, because what happens is I call out their bidder number, I thank them, and we write it down to put into, say, Handbid at the end of the night. But I have had cases where I still call them out, and then I say, "Go right into your phone afterwards and put it in." And in the case of a higher level, a lot of times they're going to give in a different way -- they're going to write a check or give through some other method for the higher numbers. But I've done both. I just have too many people come up to me afterwards and say, "Wow, I gave much more than I thought I would because I was just into what this organization does." And "I saw the raising and I just wanted to give more." I do hear that.

Jeff: And you might be shocked to hear this coming from someone who founded a mobile bidding company, but I absolutely agree with you. I think that it's difficult to use technology well in that environment. I've seen it done well. I just think it's harder. To your point, people feel a little stressed when you're like, "Get on your phones. We're going to show a thermometer up on the screen." Everybody's like, "I gotta get in there, I gotta get in there. I want to see my name on the screen, I want to see the thermometer go up," and they're stressing out. I still think the paddle raise is the way to go. I mean, how easy is it just to raise your hand, right?

Dean: And I don't do a thermometer for one reason. I've seen where we hit the goal, and it stopped. I don't want them to ever know where we're at because I tell them at the end, right? We set a goal that we market, because marketing of the paddle raise is tremendous. People aren't doing enough of it. Marketing matters because couples often make decisions at home on how much they're going to give, and we want them to be talking at home to give a bigger amount, rather than being broadsided when they come to the event and saying, "Oh, gosh, they're going to ask -- let me give the minimum." So we want to market, market, market. We market a goal that is very small, usually. So I look at their data. If they did $100,000 last year, I'll probably say, "Let's market $50,000," knowing we're probably going to get $150,000, because we're going to go over. So when I say, "Ladies and gentlemen, I've got terrible news. We didn't raise our $50,000. We raised $150,000," they go nuts. And the live auction usually follows, because I'm a big fan of doing the paddle raise first. And the live auction -- the energy stays, right?

Jeff: You hear that? Hey, you and I are on the same page. There's another podcast we did where I'm the only one out on an island saying paddle raise first. So you and I, yeah, we're aligned.

Dean: I've been doing that for five years, and we have our own convention, the Benefit Auctioneer Summit through the Auctioneers Association. It's the meeting of the minds, the best of the best. And we were in the minority. There were only a couple of us that would stand up and say, yes, we do it first. And Jeff, do you know why? Do you like doing it first? Do I know why?

Jeff: Well, I gave my reasons on the last podcast. He certainly knows why.

Dean: Tell me the number one reason.

Jeff: My number one reason is because usually it comes right after whatever program people are doing. Those people are connected to what you just said, and now you're asking them to support that. In a lot of cases you interrupt that by having people who probably aren't going to participate in your live auction anyway sit for 30 minutes through a live auction, just to ask at the end. So that's why I like doing it first. You lose that emotional connection. And 100% of that audience can give in the paddle raise, where only maybe 20% can afford the live.

Dean: You're absolutely right. It's the emotional roller coaster. We hit them with the emotions, collect there, and then get into the fun and frivolity of the live auction where a minority can play. So if everybody else wants to go to the bar, whatever, we got them. They already participated.

Jeff: Right.

Dean: So yeah, I'm a big, big fan of doing it first.

Jeff: Hey, just want to let you know this episode is brought to you by Handbid. Handbid is mobile bidding and auction technology software built by fundraisers for fundraisers. We're able to help you with everything from ticketing and registration to mobile bidding, live auction recording, appeals -- you name it. And the nice thing is, in addition to the software that we provide, we have a ton of services we can offer. If you need help getting everything set up, if you need coaching, counseling, or advice on how to get through your event -- if you need someone to show up and make sure it runs smoothly -- these are all the types of services we offer. If you want more information about what we do, please click the link below or reach out to us at handbid.com. We'd be happy to talk to you.

Kristen: Dean, what are some other elements that go into an effective and successful paddle raise? How do you set the tone? We've talked before about videos, and you touched on connecting people to your organization. What are some effective ways you've seen people do that, generating that connection and that power of influence in the room for the paddle raise?

Dean: I like what I call the funnel system. Assume it's a seated dinner. We got them in the room. We did our welcome -- short welcome -- let them eat dinner, let them talk to each other at the table for a little while, no programming. Then when the dirty entree plates are gone and the desserts go down, the second part of the show begins, which is going to be the fundraising. I usually like the executive director, or whomever is the spokesperson for the organization, to come out and give their -- if you will -- two-minute state of the union of where the organization is. "Thanks to you, the audience, here's what we've done in the last year, but here's what we need to do in the next year, and we need your help." Then she or he would probably introduce a short video. And I say short on everything -- short speeches, short video -- because the attention spans are tiny. We're a Zoom generation. The audiences are what I call Generation Blend. It's now millennials and older, so we need to keep attention spans in mind for everybody. But we do a short video, and it may be about the person who's coming up or the family that's coming up, because I like that followed by a live testimonial, and that's about two minutes as well. So in about six minutes they get to know the organization pretty quickly, funneled down into a specific case. Then the executive director would thank the testimonial person and say the keywords: "And now we need your help. Let's bring up Dean." And that's usually the first time I'm on stage. That is a perfect funnel system to get them emotionally charged and ready to give.

Jeff: I like that. And I like the fact that you've narrowed it down to minutes, knowing that you can capture people's attention for a very short period of time. I think we wrote a blog about this once about how people's attention spans now are shorter than that of a goldfish or something.

Dean: It is. And I guess that's -- I have a 16-year-old, so TikTok is his world. I don't know if that's because of that or what's going on, because of Zoom over the last couple of years. Not saying I don't like it. This is what I tell my clients: they want to overprogram. And I say, no, no, no. You got them in the room. They already know why they're there. They already know they're here to give. We're marketing that. You don't have to preach to that choir. You don't have to do these 10-minute presentations and 15-minute -- I'm kidding you not, I did one where they had three 10-minute speeches before I got out. And we lost the audience by the time I got up there.

Jeff: That's brutal.

Dean: It was too much. Just remind them why this organization is awesome and why giving to them will change a life. And you can do that in six minutes.

Jeff: I agree. Okay, well, that was your favorite, and I absolutely agree with you. A very critical piece of any fundraiser is to do an ask, because you don't get what you don't ask for. So you should ask. I 100% agree. So you've got a book. Paddles Up, right? Great book, read it. You've got some interesting strategy in there. I want you to share some of these with us. One of the ones you mentioned in there is the Golden Ticket. Why don't you describe what the Golden Ticket is?

Dean: The Golden Ticket is a drawing or a raffle, depending on your laws. So it's important to know all of your raffle laws and your drawing laws -- make sure you're aware.

Kristen: That episode is coming.

Jeff: That episode is coming with an attorney, by the way.

Dean: Tell them to come to Georgia. I love Georgia, but we're county by county on how you have to do it.

Jeff: You are. I know. I think in Georgia the sheriff has to sign the raffle license.

Dean: You are absolutely right. And it is so hard to understand. I had a client the other day who said they were told they had to be on their property to draw it, even though their gala was at the hotel 30 miles away. And I'm like, what? I don't know. We hear different things. But the Golden Ticket is a drawing. It's a high-end drawing, usually about $100. And it's usually for something magical like a trip to Tuscany or the Caribbean, all-inclusive -- something that's a no-brainer for $100, maybe $200 or $300 to buy two or three chances. And we sell the Golden Ticket. The best practice here is to sell it well before guests get there. Sell it to people who can't come. Make it open to everyone. And then you're going to sell the majority that night. And then you draw it. Jeff, Kristen, when do you draw it? When's the best time to draw a Golden Ticket?

Kristen: Gosh, I don't know. When's the best time in a run of show? Maybe before your live auction.

Dean: Bingo. Right before or right after. And because -- how many people will lose? 99.9%. So you've got that winner. And then everybody else knows, okay, I lost that, let me bid on the live auction. And by the way, I'm a huge fan of taking that Golden Ticket item and -- assuming I can duplicate it, which you can with a consignment trip normally -- selling it in the live auction as a surprise item, because 99.9% of the people lost. They've been emotionally connected to this thing for a couple of weeks and wanting to win. I did it a couple of months ago. We raised about $18,000 in the raffle, and then I turned around and sold five more for $8,000 each. And I think it cost my client $2,000 each. So it was a win.

Jeff: Yeah, I like this idea. If you think about it, you sell 100 of these, you've made $10,000. You probably bought a consignment item to give away for that raffle that cost you a few thousand dollars. That's a good profit for the charity. And then the ability to turn around and take the people that got slightly emotionally connected to winning that item and give them another opportunity to win it -- that's a great idea.

Dean: Especially if somebody who was not in the room won. Now it gives it to everybody. But here's the keys to making it work. Number one, survey your clients well in advance -- especially board members, people who've been there before, who come on a regular basis and are likely to buy this. Where do they want to go in the next two or three years? What's a bucket list item? Tuscany in the last two years has just been so hot. Now I think it's Portugal -- Portugal's really starting to brew. So we look at where this audience is more likely to want to go. That's the first thing. The second thing is, let's get a low reserve price from a consignment company, but let's make sure it's a quality trip. We don't want to stick them in a C-rated motel somewhere in the middle of the desert, unless that's where they want to go.

Jeff: We should have you back to talk about consignment because you probably have a lot of experience and input there. That's an interesting topic because it is important which consignment companies you work with. Think about it: the person who buys that trip is going to be dealing with that company probably a year from then. And it's tough because everybody's moved on -- the auctioneer's mentally moved on, the charity's mentally moved on. And all of a sudden it's like, wait a second, this trip we sold a year ago -- it's an extension of the organization.

Dean: So if you don't have a quality company -- and there are many -- the customer service matters. That owner, if they had a terrible time, they'll blame you, the organization. You're the one who's going to get blamed first, so it's worth doing your due diligence. And I'm happy to share -- auctioneers can get referral fees from consignment companies and can make nice money on the side. And that's perfectly fine if everyone knows that. I choose not to take anything. I'm a flat fee, so I don't take any money from other vendors, because I want to make sure when I tell you about a company I like, it's because I like their customer service and I like their product. Because you, the client, are my number one, and I have to make sure I'm looking out for your interest first.

Jeff: Totally. And that makes perfect sense.

Kristen: So Golden Ticket. We love the Golden Ticket. That is a very cool idea.

Dean: And market, market it. You've got to market like crazy. Let everybody know and let them know when we're going to draw it. And then on the floor, have the best sellers possible. Put them in golden top hats. I talk about this in the book a lot -- Paddles Up -- make them visible above 500 heads, so you can see them easily. The other night, I did one at Druid Hills High School here in Atlanta. They have the Red Devils as their mascot. So it was a Golden Ticket and they found gold horns somewhere, and everybody selling wore them. It was awesome. All I had to say was, "Ladies and gentlemen, you want to buy one? Find anybody in the gold horns." And we always have a table next to the live auction display that's selling it, because I work the floor as the auctioneer. I hang out at the live auction display introducing who I am, showing the items -- assuming they got none of the marketing -- and I say, "Make sure you buy your Golden Ticket right next door." You want to make sure you lay out that room correctly too.

Jeff: And I think -- may not be totally true, but I'm pretty sure you've been known to wear a gold jacket sometimes as well.

Dean: That's right. I've got 35 jackets, and I let the clients choose because they become a thing, and it's great. I'm wearing a new purple one now. And I sold one -- this is very organic -- I sold one two weeks ago because people on the floor will ask, "How much for that jacket?" I sold one the other night for $20,000. I literally get their bidder number, bring them up, take all the stuff out of my pockets, put the jacket on them, and I give all the money to the organization. They just have to buy me a new $200 jacket. So it's like a trade. It's this fun, weird thing. It doesn't happen every gig. I don't push it. It happens when it happens. And I've never sold it under $5,000. But it started years ago where a guy stood up and said, "I'll give $5,000 to the organization if I can have that jacket." I turned to my client and said, "Who is that? Is that for real?" And she said, "Yep, that's my fiance." I got his bidder number, brought him up, and the jacket had a bow tie that came with it. So later that evening I took off my bow tie and gave it to him too. You've got to love those organic moments that just get people excited and happy.

Jeff: We had an auction once -- well, actually it happened multiple years, but the year that I was there, we auctioned something very desirable off, and we had a donor that we knew, if he was in the room, he would bid until he won. And then he would say, "You know what, I'm going to donate it back. Go auction it off again." And we would start it all over. So instead of making $5,000 or $10,000 from the item, we were making $10,000 or $20,000 from the item. Those moments are always just -- you just can't plan them.

Dean: Isn't that amazing? We did an auction once and there was a female auctioneer, and she was auctioning off a diamond ring. Well, the guy bidding in the audience for it was her boyfriend. Uh-oh. So as it's going up and he's fighting for this thing, she starts crying, because she's probably thinking to herself, "Okay, either this ring is coming my way, or he's ditching me and going to..." Either way she's going to be happy or sad. Anyway, it was kind of a cute moment, and he did ask her to marry him.

Jeff: Because that would have been really horrible on his part if he said, "Hey, I'm breaking up with you." They're not going to hire you again after this.

Dean: That's right. That's awesome. I haven't heard that one. I'm so lucky, and I think you two are as well. We get to see the good in people. I get to see it every night, and I'm just very lucky.

Jeff: For sure. Well, I would tell you what Toby Keith auctioned off on stage, but this is a PG podcast.

Dean: Is it a big old Jack Daniels thing?

Jeff: No, but it came in a brown paper sack, and it was called "sight unseen," and it probably needed to remain sight unseen. But anyway, for another time.

Kristen: It's certainly a unique item you can't get anywhere else.

Dean: And you don't want to get anywhere else. It wasn't a diamond ring, was it, Jeff?

Jeff: No, it was not. But anyway. Let's talk about another one that you mentioned in the book: the Sell the Farm Sponsorship Generator. What is that? How does that work?

Dean: Sell the Farm means create line items beyond your normal sponsorships and sell those at a smaller level. You're not giving away tickets. You're not giving away much. And by the way, giving away tickets to these -- even the bigger platinum sponsorships -- the trend is going lower, because you want more people in that room who can give and who want to come. And a lot of sponsors don't send people. So sell the refreshment station. Sell the bathroom. Sell the bathroom, because there's two places everybody goes: the bars and the bathrooms. And I'm a big fan of putting marketing in both those places. But why not sell the bathroom? Create a $1,000 sponsorship and get a plumber to put a poster in there or an 8-by-10 showing he's the sponsor. It's brilliant because you don't have to look like NASCAR. You don't have to have logos everywhere, but you're selling lots of little things -- centerpieces, decor, little line items. And this has helped get clients to the 100% mark where they're walking in in the black.

Jeff: And it covers the cost of some of these things, too, which is nice.

Dean: And we sell logos on the cups, right, for what we serve drinks in. So it creates that connection for the sponsor. I'm not just writing you a check, which is always what we want -- and many people are willing to do that. But it creates the connection of, "I'm actually making a difference in this way by covering this cost, and I'm getting some marketing out of it too." I walked into the Atlanta Humane Society brunch that I do and saw a huge poster that said "Auctioneer Sponsored By" with a realtor's name. And I loved it because I've been preaching, please sell me. I want every dime, everything you're paying for, to be covered. And they took it to heart and they did -- they got everything covered.

Jeff: So that's a goal, Dean. Sell your jacket, sell your pants, your shoes -- whatever it takes for the organization.

Dean: I love it. I'm willing to do it.

Jeff: These are helpful. And like I said, your book was really informative. It's got a ton of these types of ideas in it. So tell our audience real quick -- Paddles Up -- how do they get a copy of your book if they want to read it?

Dean: Oh, you mean this book? It's free. I give it to all nonprofits. Paddlesupbook.com. Just go over there, put in your email address, and you'll get a PDF right away. If you want a hard copy, you can go to Amazon and type in Paddles Up, but take the PDF. It is all information, no fluff. No call to action, nothing -- I don't do that. It is pure info because I want to constantly make sure my clients are up to date on everything. They're overworked. They're underpaid. They don't have time to keep up with the trends. Every time we're back together, the first thing out of their mouth is, "What's the latest trend?"

Jeff: That's definitely helpful. And when you come up with that next latest trend, you definitely need to reach out to us. We'll have another episode with you and talk about what that latest trend is.

Dean: I'd be happy to.

Jeff: I want to wrap up with one last question. We started talking about this when we introduced you -- your title, Benefit Auctioneering Specialist. Let's talk about what that is, because I would imagine that some of your competition probably includes the drunk board member, or Cousin Eddie, or some dad at a school who just seems to have a great personality. Is that true?

Dean: Yeah, early in my career, my favorite thing was, "Hey, we need to replace the board chair who got really drunk and started cussing out everybody who was our MC," or that dad at the school who might have gone a little rated R.

Jeff: Toby Keith, apparently.

Dean: Well, yeah, and his brown bag. I want to hear more about that later. A Benefit Auctioneer Specialist -- or Auction Specialist, I think, is what they're calling it now -- is a designation from the National Auctioneers Association, which I'm a member of. There are benefit-auctioneer-only auctioneers. You can get this designation. It's basically a school. You go and do their classes, you have to do a certain amount of what I call a mini thesis, to show that you know what's going on and that you're qualified to consult. And I'm lucky that I come from 25 years of theater, film, and TV. I was a full-time actor here in Atlanta, squeaking out a living somehow, where I couldn't do anything else. I did a lot of corporate stuff and all that. So I came in with that background, which was really lucky. I know how to work an audience. I know how to stay clean. But I learned through BAS how to sell and what our job really is for the organization. I was the first person in Georgia to get that designation. I was real surprised nobody had done it yet. I think there's one in every state now. But there are about 200 to 300 of us. And it's a wonderful designation. We have to do continuing education to keep it, by the way.

Jeff: No, and I want to give you guys all the credit, because having done as many events as we've done, you can tell the difference. When you put a BAS-trained, highly skilled person up on the stage, a couple things we know right off the bat. Number one, that charity has already been equipped and trained in advance on what they should be doing. And two, that person knows how to extract as much money out of the room as possible. We've seen other types of situations flop. I've seen really highly trained, highly talented cattle auctioneers get up and auction off items -- hey, they have a great chant. I kid you not, they're amazing. But they burn through items like they're burning through 500 head of cattle, and the audience is not engaged. They're not entertaining the room. They're not getting people connected to the charity and the item and the organization. They're not playing bidders off each other and all the other things that we've seen effectively work to drive the bidding up.

Dean: 100% agree. Quick thing on that -- and you're right, because not all auctioneers are created equal. We each have our own specialties. I had a woman at a high-end auction, and I could tell she was a woman of means and that she wanted to buy a very high-end item. I said, "Well, it's number four in the lineup. I'll look at you when I start the bidding." She said, "No, I don't trust auctioneers." And the roundabout way of saying she was afraid of getting ripped off. And I said, "No, no, no. I don't talk fast. It's called the chant, like Jeff just said, but I don't have to talk fast. I'm only selling five or six items. I can go slow." And I said, "Ma'am, I will look at you. The bid is now at $2,000. You just raise. It's now at $3,000." She ended up winning it for about $10,000. Because you have to hold hands and make sure they feel comfortable. I'd say a good 75% of my audiences have never been to any kind of auction. I had never been to an auction before I became an auctioneer. I didn't even know what I do now existed. And here in Georgia, you have to have a license -- half the states require a license. So we have to go through another auctioneer school. That's beyond BAS. That's the state of Georgia, and you take a huge test. And that's continuing education too. So there's a whole world. My job is to hold hands and make people comfortable.

Jeff: When we first did our very first event, I think I was the auctioneer. You just have items and you start asking people to bid. And then when you go to an event and you see it done right, the light bulb comes on. And then when you really see a good auctioneer, it takes you to the next level. Hey, you can be an amazing benefit auctioneer with a great chant and still entertain the audience -- that has nothing to do with the chant. But it really helps to know how to connect with the crowd. Rally the room. And I always appreciate an auctioneer who says, "Okay, what are the names of your top donors in the room? Where's he going to be sitting? Where's she going to be sitting?" And not only that, but during the cocktail hour, during the silent auction hour: "Point out Mr. Smith to me. Point out Mr. Jones to me." So they can make that connection, and then they take it from there. The best auctioneers take it from there.

Kristen: I really appreciate that. It takes a lot of pressure off the fundraiser.

Dean: It does. And I love the dynamic where sometimes auctioneers will play off the husband and wife, where one of them wants to bid and the other one doesn't. It's all in good fun, but it also works.

Jeff: Well, you're talking about one of the things that -- a lot of people ask me. The number one question I get is, "Do you talk fast?" The number two question is, "Are you nervous when you go up there?" And now, this many years in, not really. But I think it's because I've elected to work the room and talk to a good 80% of everybody there. Because now I get to see your face, you know who I am, I know who you are. We have a rapport. So by the time I get up there, you're just my friends.

Dean: And on the husband-wife thing -- I was once doing one at a school. There was a bidder on the right and a bidder on the left. Having at it, I mean, raising and raising. I'm going fast. And all of a sudden everybody started laughing. I said, "What are you laughing at?" It was a husband and wife, and they didn't realize they were bidding against each other. They couldn't see each other. And they both knew one of them needed to bid. I said, selling it at the high price -- wherever it landed is where it landed.

Jeff: No question asked about why they were on opposite ends of the room?

Dean: They were just social. They were having fun. They just didn't realize. And I did one over the weekend where my wife was there. We talk about what not to bid on, and she bids on the "what not to bid on." And I have to legally take her bids.

Jeff: Yes. Oh, my wife takes my paddle number away before the live auction starts every year.

Dean: I can't do that. I'm the auctioneer. It's in my pocket. She takes it and rips it up. "You're not bidding." I've seen that.

Jeff: My wife has lost too many of those. She's not paying attention, and all of a sudden we own something she doesn't want.

Dean: I've seen where people will grab their partner's hand and put it down and not look at the stage. I've seen it all.

Jeff: That's awesome. Well, this has been really informative for me. It's been enjoyable to talk to you about all these different ways that you can make your event better. We'd love to have you back, especially when you have your next amazing trend or idea that you want to share with our audience.

Dean: It would be great. We love trends. I'd be happy to. And if you ever want to talk consignments and all that, there are so many wonderful facets of what we do.

Jeff: You could talk for hours and hours.

Dean: We can, and we will.

Jeff: We'll consider that booked. We'll get that on the schedule, because it's been an absolute joy to talk to you. We're going to wrap up this episode of Elevate Your Event podcast. Dean, thank you again for joining us, and I know our audience is going to thank you. And if you want to get a hold of Dean -- maybe he should be your next auctioneer -- Dean, how do they reach you?

Dean: MyBenefitAuctioneer.com, but I like to make it easier. I have one called WorkWithDean.com.

Jeff: Love it. And we'll post all of those links in the description of the episode too, so you can tap into the description and find all the ways to connect with Dean there. All right, well, thanks to everybody, and until next time, have a great event and best of luck in your fundraising.