EP 29: Efficient Event Strategies for 2024

1. "you need to use technology" (Jeff, line ~357) -> "it's important to use technology"

2. "You need to use technology from a company with their staff who know how to help you run a successful fundraiser" (Jeff) -> "It helps to use technology from a company with staff who know how to help you run a successful fundraiser"

3. "you need to understand how that technology can be effectively used" (Jeff) -> "it's worth understanding how that technology can be effectively used"

4. "You need to ask for money" (Jeff, line ~349) -> "It comes down to asking for money"

5. "you need to let your donors make decisions for themselves" (Jeff, line ~196) -> "it's important to let your donors make decisions for themselves"

6. "You should make sure that you've done as much work as possible a week ahead" (Roger) -> "We find it really helps to get as much work done as possible a week ahead of the event"

7. "Maybe you should hire somebody to help you use it" (Roger) -> "So it might make sense to hire somebody to help you use it"

8. "commit to learning what you need to learn" (Roger) -> "commit to learning what's necessary"

9. "you should run your event and your nonprofit like a business" (Jason) -> "Think about running your event and your nonprofit like a business"

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: Hey, welcome back to the Elevate Your Event podcast. We have a special presentation on this episode. We're going to replay a panel discussion that I was recently on for the NX Unite webinar series. This one was on emerging trends and fundraising strategies for 2024. We had a great cast of moderators and panelists talking about trends, lessons learned, and how emerging technologies can play into your fundraising strategies. So we're going to play this. If you have any questions, reach out to us. If this is a podcast you want to share, please do that. If you're liking the Elevate Your Event podcast, please give us a five-star review. We're on Spotify, we're on Apple, and anywhere else you might be listening. So enjoy.

Colleen: Hello, everyone, and welcome to our panel. My name is Colleen Carroll, and I serve as NXUnite Lead here at Nexus Marketing and will be your moderator for today's panel. Our topic is efficient event prep strategies for fundraising events. As usual, I'm really excited to jump into the conversation, but I do have a few quick logistics to cover. NXUnite is made in partnership with Nexus Marketing and serves as a powerful community resource designed to foster connections and facilitate lasting relationships within the mission-driven sector. NXUnite serves as a central hub for connection, and on it you can find upcoming industry events, suggested influencers to follow, trusted solutions, and cause-driven podcasts. NXUnite also provides webinars, demos, and of course, panels with experts such as the lovely folks here with me today. All right, today's hour-long panel will include time both for questions curated by my team and questions from you all, our fantastic audience. So at any time during the panel session, please feel free to start submitting your questions either directly in the chat or in the questions tab, and we'll use the second half of the session to address as many as we possibly can. The earlier you get your questions in, the more likely we'll be able to address them, and the more likely we'll get through a larger number. So if you've already come into this session with an idea of what you want to make sure we talk about, feel free to start submitting questions right now. If at any point you're having technical difficulties or logistics issues, please let us know. My colleague Maloo is here under the Team NXUnite username and will be keeping an eye on the chat. We'll reach out to anyone who's expressed any difficulty. So give a holler in the chat, let us know what's happening, and we'll figure out how to get you back on and enjoying the session as quickly as possible. I also want to mention that this panel session is being recorded. So if you get to the end and the insight you heard was just so fantastic you need to hear it a second time right away, that's awesome news. It's going to automatically be in your email inbox at the end of the session. Just give it a few minutes after we wrap up and you'll have access to that recording. The session will also continue to be accessible on the NX Unite website in the on-demand panel section. So if you have any friends in the industry who you think needed to be there, that section is perfect for them. Feel free to share that same registration you used to sign up and they'll be able to access the recording. All right. Finally, before I introduce today's panelists, I want to give a big thank you to our audience, whether you are joining us live and letting us know in the chat where you're calling in from, or you're watching the recording tomorrow, a week from now, a month from now. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to be part of our NXUnite community. I hope this panel is helpful. And if you are joining us live, I hope you'll submit those questions so we can address the topics most relevant to you and your team.

Colleen: All right. To begin with introductions, I'd first like to introduce Cody Hayes, who is the CEO and founder of Marketing Mission, a digital marketing firm that helps nonprofit organizations use marketing tools and resources to advance progressive social change. With over seven years of nonprofit experience, Cody's happiest days are spent behind his computer screen helping other nonprofits change the world. He helps organizations grow their impact through creative, data-driven digital marketing. So glad to have you here today, Cody. Also joining us today is Jason Champkin, who is the vice president of business development at Winspire, a global provider of luxury experiences for charity auctions and fundraisers. He is responsible for the next stage corporate brand vision as the company's branding leader, driving performance via product and service innovation, strategic brand planning and positioning, multi-platform content marketing and communications, creative digital campaigns, customer success, and business development. So glad you could be here today, Jason.

Jason: Glad to be here, excited to have this happen.

Colleen: Me too. Also joining us today is Jeff Porter, founder and CEO at Handbid. Jeff is no stranger to fundraising events, having participated in them for over 25 years. He ran his first fundraiser in 2005 and has managed over 50 auction events and fundraisers for his own charities, not to mention hundreds more with Handbid. Jeff has been involved in technical product and software development since 1996 and has built and managed mobile app solutions since 2008. Glad to have you, Jeff.

Jeff: Absolutely happy to be here.

Colleen: Here also with us today is Lauren Batterby, who is the CEO and founder of Life Event Staffing, providing specialized auction staff for fundraising and corporate events across North America, serving both the United States and Canada. With over 10 years of industry experience, Lauren's expertise lies in fundraising events and silent auction technology. So glad you could be here, Lauren.

Lauren: Thank you. Really happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Colleen: Finally, here with us today is Roger Devine, who is partner and marketing director at School Auction. He is an experienced marketing professional with a focus on helping small technology startups and nonprofit organizations. Roger has extensive experience in the software, merchant processing, and publishing industries. So glad you could be here, Roger.

Roger: Hey there, everyone.

Colleen: All right. It is finally time for me to stop talking and for us to jump into the actual session. Cody, I'm going to have you start us off with our very first question. What have the past few years taught us about events and how should we bring those lessons into future events?

Cody: Good question. Raise your hand if in the past three years, you had an oh-no moment. What the heck are we going to do when it comes to events? Yeah. I think the past few years really taught us the importance of resilience and adaptability. I know we hear "resilience" a thousand million times in the nonprofit world. It's the world of technology and the way we're interacting with people -- it's continuously changing. Some of the traditional ways we raise money may become outdated and may also exclude some potential donors. What's nice about this influx of technology we're seeing right now, whether that's AI or having to pivot during the pandemic to virtual events -- what that taught me and what we brought to clients was this power of bringing people together through community. It doesn't have to be a paid experience. It doesn't have to cost to get in the door. Because once they're in the door, that's when they're going to be embracing you, hugging you, loving on you. But sometimes that admission fee is the barrier between them actually getting involved, attending your event, and not. So what we're seeing now is folks going back to in-person events. I keep telling them, great, have your in-person gala, but also livestream that thing. And don't put a ticket price on that livestream. How often do you get folks sitting at home giving you an hour of undivided attention? That's an incredible opportunity. So in this world of what the past few years have taught us, there's power in leveraging technology. And what we can do to bring it into our future events is being intentional with leveraging that technology to be more inclusive and to expand our reach in a way that brings our community together, rather than makes certain folks think, "I don't know if I can attend that event because I don't know if it's in my budget."

Colleen: Thank you so much, Cody, for starting us off there. Jason, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this as well. What have we learned from the past few years and what do we need to take with us?

Jason: Yeah, definitely the past few years have presented numerous challenges, but they've also provided opportunities and valuable lessons for event planning and management. As Cody said, embrace flexibility, have a backup plan. As I've always said, yes, you may have planned to have this centerpiece, that food, that speaker. No one knows if that changes except for yourself. Nobody's going to sit down at your table and go, "Oh, man, they did not have tulips in the centerpiece." They're not going to be upset about that. They only know that about you. So don't bring that self-inflicting pain onto yourself. Make sure you prioritize safety and the well-being of your guests. Make sure you're hitting any protocols that are in place, making sure that people are accessible, and embracing inclusivity. Make sure there are no barriers to participate -- physical barriers, mental barriers, financial barriers. Address those prior to the event happening so you don't hear after the fact, "I wasn't able to attend because..." One of the best things that ever happened out of the pandemic for the nonprofit industry -- it finally pushed everybody into using technology, even though we want to pride ourselves on being forefront runners in the industry of doing certain things and being socially conscious. That accelerated the adoption of digital solutions. Leveraging technology for the attendee elevates the experience, facilitates remote participation -- those are all great things. But one thing that is always true, always fact: communication is key. Clear and consistent communication is essential. By incorporating those lessons, organizers can create a safer, more inclusive, engaging, successful experience for attendees while adapting to the evolving landscape of event planning.

Colleen: Thank you so much, Jason. I'm excited to hear from the rest of our panelists, but very quickly, I want to let our live audience know that a poll has gone live. We've asked you all, how different are your events today in comparison to a few years ago? So if you want to contribute to the conversation, let us know where you're coming from. Please feel free to fill out that poll. All right, Jeff, I'm excited to hear from you. What are your thoughts on the last few years and the lessons we need to take from them?

Jeff: Well, I think just to pick up where Jason left off, it did teach us that people are willing to use technology to connect with us. Obviously, we've been doing mobile bidding since 2011, so a long time, but I still think there was that lingering hesitancy from some charities to try it, thinking it might be too much of a risk, or that their guests or donors wouldn't like it. And I think that was all proven to not be the case when it came to having to move everything online. That goes for a lot of industries, not just the fundraising industry. My dad is 80-something years old, had to learn how to cash his checks on his iPhone. All of those things forced people into it, and I think that all worked out. The other thing we saw -- and even for my own events this was true -- was that it gave us an excuse to change things. Because we were changing everything, or we were forced to do things, even when we came out of COVID and no longer had to do a virtual event, we felt like we had a little bit more courage to change things up on the other side. And I saw some really good results from that. The last thing I would add that I think a lot of our clients learned is it's important to let your donors make decisions for themselves and not make those decisions for them. In the past, we'd get on the phone with people and they would say, "Oh, my donors aren't going to use an app," or "My donors aren't going to use their phone at an event." Well, how do you know? Have you asked them? Have you tried it? And then what we heard during COVID was, "I can't ask my donors for money because they're financially hurting." Well, how do you know they're financially hurting? Some people were not hurting at all. Obviously, some people were. And we would encourage them: throw it out there. Run your fundraiser. Don't cancel your fundraiser. You're doing something important, right? You're curing cancer, or whatever it might be. Those problems are going to be around for a long time. COVID won't be around forever. Your donors understand that you have a huge task in front of you. Give them the opportunity to say yes, and then take that mentality past COVID into everything you do beyond that. Will your donors pay $10,000 for a trip to Tuscany? Find out. Don't make that decision up front. Will my donors donate $10,000 in a paddle raise? Well, if you don't ask, you don't know. A lot of those things -- as we've seen events evolve back into physical events, we are pleased to see the courage that a lot of our clients are taking, saying, "Yes, I stopped making decisions on behalf of my guests and donors. And I'm going to continue to stop making decisions on behalf of them. I'll use the data from my event to inform what I do in the future."

Colleen: Great. Thank you so much, Jeff. Lauren, over to you. What have we learned from the past few years and what do we need to take with us?

Lauren: Thanks, Colleen. Well, it's nice to know we're all on the same page, isn't it? I'm going to echo everyone: embrace technology. That is what we learned from the pandemic, and I'm seeing it move forward with us. Use it to widen your audience. That is what we learned. And there are so many different types of technology. I'm not just talking about using it for a silent auction, but for your ticket sales, even if they were remote ticket sales at the time. The use of social media as well -- I think a lot of nonprofits really did embrace how they could push out their event when it was virtual at the time to be able to, again, be widely spread. We were all stuck at home indoors, and I don't have the statistics, but I would love to hear if nonprofits saw an influx of where their audience was coming from. If I was to lend advice on how to carry forward with this use of technology within our events moving forward: use tech experts. At the end of the day, that is still what your audience wants to see, no matter whether they're sat in the room with you or outside of the room. No one wants to see technology fail. No one wants to see a stuttering video. So if you've got the right tech team on site making sure it runs smoothly, you've got your auction team making sure the software is running smoothly throughout the night. If it's the ease of pushing a button to log in, purchase a ticket, and then bid or donate, then there is your streamlined event. Technology offers all of that to us at the moment. And again, to second what everybody else has said, we have found that you don't need to make decisions for your donors anymore. They can use their phones. As much as they try to say, "Oh, no, I don't know what I'm doing" -- well, we actually have staff on site that can assist you with that. This is how you do it. This is how you press the buttons. And then the majority of the time we get there and they say, "Oh, I've been bidding all week. I know exactly what I'm doing." Fantastic. So embrace the technology.

Colleen: Wonderful. Thank you so much, Lauren. All right, Roger, any final thoughts on what the past two years have taught us?

Roger: First of all, what they said, because that's all really smart stuff, and you should listen to the really smart people that are here. But let me give you a slightly different perspective. Having heard that, I agree with what's out there. But there's an element I think we should explore the nuance on a bit, which is that we're talking about fundraising events. We're not talking about your total fundraising mix. We discovered ways in which our donors wanted to interact with us, et cetera. But one of the things we're learning coming out of the pandemic, over the last nine months or so, the most frequent attitude I've gotten back from our customers is: "Thank you so much for that whole virtual livestreaming auction thing that you did. That was really useful. It really saved our bacon. And I never, ever, ever want to do another one ever again because they're not any fun." The place that events have in the fundraising mix is that they are social fundraising. It is social fundraising. People want to get together. One of the things that we knew before the pandemic, but is now coming back and is more emphasized, is we can do social fundraising. There's a portion of our supporter base who wants to support us through social events. And there's a portion that wants to support us by doing a fancy social event, by putting on fancy clothes and going out and acting as if we've all got more money than we do. This is a portion of what happens that makes fundraising events work. And as much as we want to democratize them and spread our reach out, the thing I would emphasize is: we definitely want to democratize our fundraising. We definitely want to spread our reach. But we're going to use multiple tools in the fundraising mix to do that. And I think we should use events to do what events are good at. They're not a part of every nonprofit's fundraising mix for various reasons. We're going to talk about some of the challenges involved in putting them on. But what's coming out of this is that everybody really wants to get back together again. And one other thing I haven't heard mentioned so far is the other big learning coming out -- and this may segue into our innovative strategies question, Colleen. So maybe I should go first next time since I went last this time. But the idea is that silent auctions, if that's going to be a portion of your event, if you're going to incorporate a silent auction as one of the elements of your fundraising event -- they don't have to go back into the ballroom. They came out of the ballroom for the pandemic and a lot of our customers said, "Hmm, that part I don't need to bring back. I don't need to haul between 30 and 80 items and set them up on tables. And then at the end of the night, pull them all back down and get them to the right people. I can do all of that online ahead of time." I still want to have a gala. I still want to do a live auction. I still want to do a fund-a-need. I still want to do a raffle. I want to serve people dinner and do all of that. But that silent auction component -- many of my customers have said they're done with doing that inside the physical event.

Colleen: Thank you so much, Roger. Very quickly, I want to check in on that poll. We asked, how different are your events today in comparison to a few years ago? 70% of you said we've made minor adjustments but mostly the same. And 30% said significantly different. So it seems like no one is doing the exact same thing they were doing a few years ago, which is frankly not a surprise but nice to hear. All right, we are off to a really great start. I am already learning a ton, but I want to be mindful of time. So I'm actually going to condense our second and third questions, panelists, just to give us a little more time because I think they are related. Roger, you are right, I am starting off with you this time. The two questions I'm combining are: what are the innovative strategies we can use for successful fundraising events, and what are some key elements that contribute to a really successful event?

Roger: Okay, thank you. And I'll be a little more concise here. If I'm going to give you one tip for an innovative strategy that you may not have incorporated into your fundraising event before, here it is: incorporate recurring donations as part of your special appeal. If you're going to do a special appeal, a fund-a-need, a direct ask, whatever you call it -- people are used to being asked for a big chunk of money. Give them the option to give you multiple smaller chunks of money. That's easier for some people. That's going to make it possible to democratize the reach on this. So that's my one innovative strategy. The other thing about a memorable or impactful event -- I think we want to start with making sure your event is well organized and well staffed, and that as much as possible, you front-load the work involved in managing your guest flow before the event. Make sure you have a buttoned-up ticket list, you've got all your procedures ready to go, and that everybody working that event understands what your organization is going to be asking attendees to do and what the challenges might be in getting them to actually do those things. We find it really helps to get as much work done as possible a week ahead of the event.

Colleen: Thank you so much, Roger. Jeff, over to you. What are those innovative strategies we can use for a successful event and any key elements we should keep in mind while planning?

Jeff: Yeah. Just to pick up where Roger left off, the question was around a successful event. I do think charities should be doing events. It needs to be part of their entire fundraising mix. When you're smaller, it's probably maybe the only thing you're doing. But events are a great entry point into a relationship with a new donor. That is critical when you're thinking about how to grow your donor base. It's a great way to do it. One of the elements -- look, I've been doing fundraising a long time around my own fundraising events. I have a mobile bidding company. I don't love building auctions either. I don't love silent auctions. I don't like going out and getting the items for it. But it is necessary, because you have to give people a way to engage with you at an event. Not everybody walking in that door is ready to donate $100 or $1,000 to your charity. They might spend $1,000 in your silent auction and walk away with some basket of meaningless stuff. And now you have their name, their email address, their phone number, and you've got a financial transaction with them so you can thank them. So it's just part of the mix. There's a variety of things you have to have in your fundraising event. I love Roger's idea of turning one of your asks into a recurring one. Why not? That creates a lasting relationship for those that are ready to do it. It comes down to asking for money. I know that sounds odd, but I just went to an event. They spent all this time and effort organizing it, and we get through probably the third quarter of the event and they decide to cancel the appeal. I was like, why? They're all in the room, there's 500 people here. You have to ask them for money. And their response was, "Well, we were afraid they weren't into giving." Again, that's someone making a decision on behalf of their donors, and we've talked about that. So the last thing I would mention in terms of how you make an event effective is the importance of using technology. And again, that's the repetitive thing everybody's saying here, but you don't just need to use technology. It helps to use technology from a company with staff who know how to help you run a successful fundraiser. If you want to go buy technology off the shelf and find the cheapest thing and try to figure it out on your own, you can do that. But I think you're going to run the risk of creating a frustrating donor experience -- even possibly more frustrating than just using paper bid sheets and checking people in at the door off a spreadsheet. Because I've seen it get worse. I'm sure Lauren will back me on this one. When you decide you're going to employ a technology company, it's worth understanding how that technology can be effectively used to run a seamless guest check-in. How can I minimize the wait up front? You're talking about creating a memorable experience. Well, a memorable experience can't mean they wait in line for an hour to get in. And it certainly can't mean they wait in line an hour to get out. That's why we built Handbid in the first place, because our memorable guest experience a year before we launched Handbid was people in line an hour to get out of the building. So think about that. Think about the people running your event. I get it, it costs a little bit of money to invest in not just the technology platform but possibly the staff that will come in and run it. But it will save you in the long run, because you stand to lose a much more valuable relationship with an individual. I wouldn't say necessarily at the event -- I think people will give you money even if they have to raise their hand because the technology isn't working or whatever. But in terms of a long-lasting relationship, it's difficult to maintain that if you're frustrating your guests in and out the door.

Colleen: Thank you so much, Jeff. Lauren, over to you. Thoughts on innovative strategies and how can we incorporate key elements into our events?

Lauren: Thank you. And thanks, Jeff. You've led me quite nicely off the back of what you were saying. I think I might be touching on the final question here, but: budget and prioritizing your investment. What is your return on investment with the money you spent? Choosing the correct platform to make sure it's robust enough to run the event you need, making sure the staff are there to not miss a bid. That outlier bid is out there and you've got a couple of volunteers that are like deer in headlights because they've never done that before. And then $10,000 just went out the window and we've got no idea where it was in the room. That would never happen if you had someone doing this multiple times a week. The data is collected, entered into the system, and a seamless payment is collected by the end of the night because there were professionals on site who knew what they were doing and were experts with the technology. As much as we all love a good dance at the end of the night, your two or three thousand dollar band is not going to recoup those fees for you the same way your technology, your staff, and your auctioneers will. Everyone knows you've probably got Steve on table three who tells a few really good jokes, so yeah, let's get him up next year. No -- not if he didn't speak clearly enough, not if he's not following the best practices our auctioneers have been trained on. They're worth their weight in gold by the end of the night because they could have doubled your funds. So really prioritize in your budget where you stand and how you're going to recoup that back. I think that's the fundamental underpinning of where you can strategize toward running your event.

Lauren: On key features, I've got a fun story to tell, so if I can have an extra minute. Coming from a real-life event, it was back in London a few years ago, and this ties to what I was saying about strong auctioneers. You don't need to spend a fortune to be creative. This charity we were at that night was building a school in Africa, and they decided to run their appeal moment with tangible impact. Here's where I'm going. Each person, no matter how much they donated, knew where their money was going. The auctioneer started at the very top: "Who in the room will give me 20,000 pounds? This will put the roof on our school." There were at least three or four hands in the room. So we had four roofs, which is fine. Next level down: "Who's going to be the bricks and mortar? Who's going to put the walls on this school? Who'll give me 15,000?" Again, a few more went up. He then did windows, doors, tables, chairs, all the way down to books and stationery at the 50-pound level. I'm telling you, I don't think there was a hand in the room that didn't go up. And they all left with that giving-glory feeling. They knew what they had given, whether it was the roof at the 20,000-pound level or whether they'd just given books and stationery to the children of the school. They left with that heartwarming feeling of giving. I've not seen it done very often. And I think it's actually a simple strategy. That was down to the auctioneer on the night. He made that work. So again, really prioritize where your spend is because it can have a huge impact.

Colleen: Great. Thank you so much, Lauren. Cody, over to you. Thoughts on how we can use innovative strategies with our events and any key elements we need to consider.

Cody: Absolutely. I'm going to take a little more of a branding and marketing approach to this. Over the events we've done for the past three years, the most successful ones have had a common theme tied to them -- they came up with a theme for their event that had a meaning and a purpose, and we rolled with that. In fundraising, I think creating this cohesive event theme taps into the emotional side of donors. It also gives us as marketers a really nice touchpoint to always come back to. If our theme is "Raise the Bar," I'm going to use musical references in the language we're using. I want to make sure the promo graphics look like they're a concert and the design follows that line. How can we bring all of that together through your logo design, your event tagline, the words people are saying on stage at your event, and through photos, videos, textures? We were talking about not knowing whether someone was ready. Jeff, you mentioned the story of how they pulled out at the last second because they weren't sure if their audience was ready. In a branded room, in a branded experience, where folks for the last seven or eight weeks have been seeing this same "Raise the Bar" messaging -- they're expecting these colors, this vibe. When they see it, it's overwhelming. Everything in this room feels like what was sold to me. We're following through on the promise we made to folks: hey, you are familiar with this. We've created an inviting space, even though we're in an empty warehouse. And it looked cool.

Cody: With that, I think being able to tie together an overall theme is really important. Let me give a specific example. In 2020, we worked with the Children of Armenia Fund. They were struggling because they had to go online with their in-person gala, which normally happens in New York City -- glitz and glam. And they were like, "What do we do?" So we had this conversation about needing to bring in a theme, because you're not necessarily going to get that experience in person. How do we build that online? We were talking with the development director, and literally his mom walks in the background -- she's from Armenia -- and he was like, "Hey, Mom, what is it about this cause that just makes you love it so much?" And she says, "You're always moving mountains for Armenia." And we were like, oh -- the neurons were firing. Then the development director comes back and says, "Actually, our campus sits at the base of this very famous mountain that is culturally significant to these folks." So we're like, this is perfect. Let's roll with this. We played on "Moving Mountains." We built a logo that has that actual mountain from Armenia in it, giving folks a sense of nostalgia. Through that, even though we were in the midst of the global pandemic and a lot of civil unrest in Armenia, that theme of bringing people together through this unity of, "Yes, we are, even through all of this, moving mountains for the children of Armenia" -- it helped them raise over $4.5 million for their event.

Colleen: Thank you so much, Cody. All right, Jason, ready to hear your thoughts. How can we have an impactful fundraising event with either particular key elements or innovative strategies?

Jason: Yeah, innovative strategy: think about running your event and your nonprofit like a business. Let's talk about building up to that event. We've all used the word "sponsorships" for years. I want you to take that out of your vocabulary. That's not the language of business. It's not in business school. We don't go out and ask for sponsorships. We talk about partnerships, collaboration. When you're going to build these packets that ask for money to help build that event and that experience, build it around a partnership. What is the opportunity for that business to have the exposure for naming or product placement and personalized engagement with that nonprofit? Because every nonprofit has its donor calls and it's unique, and it's essential to tailor strategies to align with your organization, your mission, your target audiences, your resources. Innovation comes when you're thinking creatively and finding ways to engage new supporters and inspire existing ones.

Jason: As far as building an impactful event, it needs to be in person. Build it immersively. Build experiences so that once you walk in the door, as Cody said, you're hit with it. Sight, sound, smell, taste, feel -- everything you can do with that is build the story. From the time I open that invitation, that invitation better reflect the centerpieces, tablecloths, food, entertainment, and everything else. So when I walk into that area, I know exactly what I'm getting. I know exactly why I paid $250 for that ticket, because it became a unique, memorable experience that was integrated and immersive. And then always, always, always make it seamless for the donor experience. Make it easy for them to donate. Make it easy for them to see what you're doing. Make it clear and consistent. And always have thoughtful recognition and appreciation of those partnerships that you developed before that event happened.

Colleen: Thank you so much, all of you. Roger, did you want to jump back in very quickly?

Roger: Very quickly. We talked throughout this little round robin. I agree with everybody that you want to bring technology into your event. I too sell technology. It will help you. But the thing I wanted to put in place here is that we've been talking about bringing in people who know what they're doing with your technology, people who are experts, being able to help you use that. And there's always some pushback. That's always a bit of a discussion at a nonprofit. And all I'd say is this: you're probably going to have a mix of some people from your organization doing things and some people that you're hiring to bring in. Make sure the people who are the amateurs, the volunteers, the newbies that are helping you -- make sure they know what they're doing. Make sure whatever task you've assigned to them, they know what they're doing. I had a fairly frustrating conversation with a prospect just yesterday where this woman, who is the development director, who wanted to run a fundraising event, told me, "I don't have time to learn how to use your technology." Okay. That's fine. I'm not telling you that you do have time. I don't want to argue with you on that. But if you don't invest that time, you're not going to get a good experience out of the technology. So it might make sense to hire somebody to help you use it. The other way to go is that if you're not going to hire somebody, commit to learning what's necessary. Please. Read the documentation.

Colleen: Thank you so much, Roger. I think you and I both feel that pain. Amazing. We've had some awesome audience questions come in. So I'm going to briefly pivot to some of those. However, to our panelists, if you were really hoping to answer that final question I had sent over in advance, send me a quick message in the chat and I'll make sure to get to you. But I do want to make sure we address some audience questions from the session. Lauren, I'm going to have you start us off. There was a question in the chat that asks: how do you help clients decide on headcount of event workers based on registration of guests? One event worker per 25 guests -- what other KPIs can you use to help them decide? For example, type of fundraiser event, paddle raise, silent and live auctions, etc.

Lauren: No problem, happy to answer that. We get asked that question all the time when we're advising. One per 25 -- we do one per 75 with our staff. We're that good. If you're using technology, I don't know the exact average of how many minutes it takes to check someone in, but you've got to make sure that information is correct, that it's going into the technology platform. Are we taking a credit card at the same time? Are we giving them a paddle? Is that number correct? It's really crucial to get that right in the first place. Because if we're handing out a paddle number that doesn't match what's in the system, we've lost a donation. That never happens when we use our team, but it is extremely crucial to funds on the night. So for our staff, it's 75 guests for every one check-in worker. If you're using volunteers, I would say it's more like one staffer for every 100 people. We would add volunteers as well. If we can do a mix, that's how we tend to advise.

Lauren: As for the KPIs on planning out the event, that's a good one for everyone, actually. We're all going to push silent auction. We're all going to say, obviously, a live auction because we know how keen an auctioneer can be. You've got to have that appeal because you've got to be asking for money, just like Jeff said. At the end of the day, they know why they are there. We shouldn't feel shame about having that ask throughout the evening. I would definitely do a form of consultation to find out exactly what had worked for them in the past. Were they willing to try something new? Who are the key donors they have in the room? Who are those repeat donors that keep coming every year? How are we keeping their demographic involved with the evening? That's quite a broad one to answer. I'd be interested to see how the other panelists answer that one too.

Colleen: Thank you, Lauren. Anyone want to jump in on this one? Jeff? And then Roger.

Jeff: We've toyed around with different metrics on how many people you need to check in. Honestly, it comes down to how good your guest list is. And also, what are you asking your check-in staff to do? We've done everything from code checks to validating parking to figuring out what stamp they need on the back of their paddle for their meal. The more of that stuff you ask your check-in staff to do, the longer check-in takes per party. So we try to get a sense of that. Our rule of thumb -- we're maybe a little more conservative than Lauren. We work with a lot of Lauren's staff at our events and they're good, so they can check in 75 people per person. We tend to recommend one to 50, but we're talking about one to 50 parties that we're checking in. Because when people walk in, they're typically walking in as a couple or a group. Not everybody in that group is going to bid. If you have a great guest list, we can check in all the people coming in, and then we need to register the one or two people in that group who might actually be bidding, swipe their card, give them their paddle number, stamp their ticket, check their coat, whatever else. Give them the three raffle tickets and the two drink tickets and the gold coin and the necklace, whatever. All of that we do on a per-party basis.

Jeff: As it pertains to metrics and KPIs, we talk about goals and they're all built into our software. Everything inside our software is built around goals. So the thermometers all have to go off a goal. If you don't know specifically what you want to raise or what you expect to raise, you're probably going to have a conversation with our staff to help you figure it out. Otherwise, the thermometers are meaningless. And that's from a live auction to a paddle raise down to a silent auction -- looking at fair market value and what you think you might be able to get out of the items, assuming your fair market value is accurate on what you put in there. But when I come into an event, I'll look to see how engaged the audience is. I'll look at bids per active bidder. In the past, the rule of thumb in the industry was looking at bids per item. We don't care about bids per item as much. That can be manipulated by bid increments. But bids per bidder tells you how engaged and connected this audience is in your auction on the silent auction side. On the appeals side, we encourage our clients to ask, how many people are a new donor in the room? Go back and look through your report. If you've connected your software to your CRM, it might be able to tell you. Sometimes people have to pull down the appeals list and say who donated this year that's either new to my organization, new to my event, or maybe they didn't donate last year. And then equally as much, who donated last year, came to your event, and did not donate this year or did not participate, so you can try to figure out why. I'll leave it there. There's a lot more we can talk about, but we're running out of time. And I think Roger has much more wisdom than I do on this one.

Roger: No, Jeff, I'm picking up what you're putting down there. The data-driven approach is, of course, how I want to answer the KPI question too. Your KPIs should draw from what you know about your supporter base and their past behaviors. It's one of the big reasons, one of the big benefits of bringing technology into your development department -- to track this stuff so you can start using it to predict where you're going. I will say, one little tidbit I can toss out here: pretty much averaged across our customer base, across 15, 17 years now, those organizations that do a special appeal at their event take home about half the revenue from the special appeal. It's almost always worth about half of what you bring in at the event. As long as you're planning it correctly, you know who's coming, and you know how to put that experience together for a successful appeal, it's going to be one of your big things there.

Roger: With regards to how many people you need to work an event, we can all give you rules of thumb. But you're going to want to do a bit of analysis, like Jeff was saying. What are you asking your check-in volunteers to do? How many steps are you asking them to execute? One of my pieces of advice when I'm going to work an event -- and I tend to work a lot of them -- is that if we're going to be validating parking, if we're going to have a coat check, that's a perfect place to deploy the volunteer you've got who you can't think of anywhere else you'd trust putting them. If you've got one of those volunteers whose primary virtue is that they're eager but not necessarily competent, have them stamp the valet parking. Have them validate the parking ticket. Use them for that. And then, getting back to front-loading -- this is a feature of our software, so I'm going to toot my own horn for a second -- if you can do advanced check-in where you get your guests to check in before they come to the event, you're saving yourself a lot of work there and your ratio of staff to guests can change as a result. And self-checkout is even better. So now I'm done.

Colleen: Thank you, Roger. Over to you, Jason, very quickly before we have to start wrapping up.

Jason: Yeah, thanks, Roger. I was the one that had to validate parking at one of the last events I went to. So I'm very capable of doing other things. But I appreciate that -- really making me feel valued at that moment. I love that you guys are talking about technology and being able to measure KPIs, but you really can't measure good KPIs unless you have good items. And this is a shameless plug that's going to come back to me -- being able to provide items at an experience level that's really unique, bucket-list kind of travel experiences that come from Winspire. Check out winspire.com -- that's the best place to find some great things. Work with companies like Jeff, like Roger, like Lauren, like Cody, because they are vetted professional organizations that are able to provide services that are only going to elevate your experience with your donors and your participants. So make sure when you're out there looking at these companies, vet them. Vet them thoroughly. Vet the auctioneers. It's one thing to be great on stage. It's another thing to be great on camera. Make sure they can do it across the board. Make sure you've got great marketing from Cody. And then you've got a technology platform that can back it all up with quality items, and then you're all set up for an event.

Colleen: Thank you so much, Jason. All right, I do have to have us start wrapping up because I promised we would end on time. That said, I'm fully aware we did not get to all the questions. I want to make sure to connect you to the people who can answer those questions. My colleague Maloo under Team NXUnite has just put a survey in the chat where you can let us know who on our panel you absolutely need to be put in touch with so they can answer your question. I want to make sure we connect you with the right people. Go fill out that survey either now or right after the session. When we wrap up, you'll still have access to the chat. All right. I have one final question for our panelists to make sure we hear from them. Before I ask that, I realized someone in the chat asked if they will be able to share this session with other team members. The answer is yes -- they'll be able to register on the same landing page and access it. All right. Final question, and Cody, I'm going to have you start us off. In a few words, what do you see as the future of nonprofit events and how can nonprofits get ahead today? It's a big topic, but we're going to aim for short and sweet.

Cody: Hybrid. That is my word. A combination of in-person and virtual, creating a unified experience for all attendees.

Colleen: Fantastic. Thank you so much, Cody. Over to you, Jason. Thoughts on the future and how we can get ahead today.

Jason: The future is bright. Keep trucking along. Keep doing what you've got to do, because if it wasn't for folks like you out there in this industry making a social difference, we would be in worse shape. So keep doing what you're doing. Events are coming back, travel's back, everything's back. Get out, pound the pavement, make it work. We love what you guys do and appreciate you so much. Thank you for being out there making the world a better place.

Colleen: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Jason. Lauren, thoughts on the future and how we can get ahead today?

Lauren: Just asking everyone to carry on being flexible and open-minded. Look what the pandemic threw at us. Look how we made changes and look how successful it was. If we can make it through that, we can make it through anything. So whatever is thrown at the world to come -- if we can just keep giving and just keep trying, being open about whatever creativity we can bring to our industry, that'll keep us all going.

Colleen: Wonderful. Roger, thoughts on the future and how we can get ahead today.

Roger: I'm just going to say that when I think about the future of fundraising events, I realize that everything I know about fundraising events, every trend I have ever experienced, everything I've talked about -- I've learned from our customers. So there's a hotbed of creativity out there amongst all of you. Basically just keep churning, okay? Because you're making it better every year.

Colleen: Thank you, Roger. Jeff, final thoughts on the future and how we can get ahead today.

Jeff: Yeah. I'll give you a couple of trends we're seeing, and then I'm going to talk about something Cody said. We're seeing a shift from formal to more casual -- there are more casual events now than in the past. I'd say more food trucks and less full-service catering at a lot of events. We're also seeing a lot more in person. And look, we do hybrid events. We do them in the commercial world as well. Most of our clients struggle with it. It's a little bit harder to pull off. Most of the auctioneers we work with in the nonprofit world aren't really trained on how to do a hybrid event. They're not used to having a remote audience. I like them, honestly, but I'm curious to see whether they're really going to be as successful. We do a lot of coaching. We actually run them because a lot of charities struggle with how to pull that off. But the one thing I want to mention -- and this has come up before -- artificial intelligence is going to change how events are run. We did a podcast on this recently. The technology that's coming out is probably scaring a lot of people on this call today. But it is freaky and cool at the same time. Everything from being able to have AI tell you, based on who's coming off your guest list, what auction items they're most likely to bid on, who has the highest probability of donating certain amounts at your event. You can also look at the types of live auction items that might work best based on their profiles. And it goes on and on. It's just absolutely going to change things. The AI today will write better event descriptions than most of you are writing in your mobile bidding technology anyway. So think about those things, figure out how to embrace AI technology in your upcoming events, and just see how it goes.

Colleen: Thank you so much, Jeff. All right. With that, we have reached the end of our panel. I want to give a huge thank you to our panelists. I know if we were in an in-person setting, there'd be a round of applause. So just know I'm sharing that emotionally with you all today. I also want to give a big thank you to our audience. Thank you so much for being here. I hope this session answered some of your questions. And again, if we didn't answer your questions, I hope you'll reach out or put them in our survey and we can connect you with the right person. I also hope you'll attend future NX Unite panels. It seems like we're going to need a 2.0 to this panel. I feel like Event Prep 2.0 is on the cards because there's so much to talk about with this amazing group of panelists. So thank you for being here. We're supporting the amazing work that you're doing. You're doing a great job. We're rooting for you. Just let us know how we can be of any help. All right. That is it for me. Again, a huge thank you to our panelists. And I hope you all have a nice rest of your day. Bye, everyone.