I write while changing planes in Vegas on route back from Indianapolis.  We were there for Elegant Vintages, an auction benefiting the Indianapolis Zoo.  The event was a great success, and it appears that the auction at least matched last years, and may well have even exceeded the previous total.

Once again you have to look under the hood to see why this event has bucked the national trend.  Colleen and I agree that the secret strength of this event lies with the two chairs, T.J. Cole and Holly Banta.

They have been the Chairs prior to our becoming involved with this event, and that is least six years ago.  Apart from the obvious advantage of having two young, attractive, dynamic, food and wine loving individuals running the event, their continued involvement was particularly important this year.  They have a long term perspective, and know that the event is successful, though the totals may vary from year to year.  This removed the pressure to “out perform” the chairs of previous years.

Another advantage that comes with longevity is that they know what works.  Even though they were anticipating a drop in revenue, they insisted that the event maintained the same high quality that they were famous for in the past.  They knew that they would lose their audience if it was perceived that they had cut corners.  The wines for tasting during the evening were phenomenal!

Of course it is not realistic for most events to keep Chairs for anything like this period of time, and I am amazed at their generosity in taking on this role once again.  They both have full and busy careers, are in the midst of a major remodel and raise horses.  Thankfully they were helped some new lieutenants this year.

At the end of Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-award winning western, Unforgiven, Little Bill Dagget (Gene Hackman’s character) finds himself about to die at the hand of Edward Munny (Eastwood), one of the very criminals he’s spent his entire life protecting his little town from. “I don’t deserve this… to die like this,” Dagget says.

Munny pauses just long enough before pulling the trigger to reply, “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.”

Audiences at fundraising events these days are completely unforgiving, leaving little room for error before they turn on or tune out an event. And like Munny said, “deserve” has nothing to do with it.

It used to be that if a sound system was sub-optimal, a crowd would work to hear the auction and pay attention. I did a school event this year that had an unfortunately horriffic sound system, and the crowd took that as their cue to save some money. “What’s that? You want me to bid on what? I’m sorry, I can’t hear you, my 401k is down 37% this year!”

The event finished down 40% from last year’s totals. We’ll never know for sure how much the sound system cost them, but I’d estimate that half of that is attributable to how poor the sound was.

Start the auction too late? Unforgiven. Have too many speakers or too large a program? Unforgiven. Put on a poorly structured fund a need that doesn’t spell out what you need the audience to help you accomplish? No matter how badly you need the money, this year “deserve” alone has got nothing to do with it.

We have always advocated thinking of your event as theater, and planning your event so everything that happens does so for a reason.  This year, that reason has to be focused more tightly than ever before. We’ve seen plenty of evidence to back up our theory that people are attending less events than ever before. And if they are given the slightest hint that something is amiss, they are ruthlessly tuning out and saving their money for an event that deserves it more.

We just returned from Park City and the National Ability Center Auction.  I have not yet heard the final numbers, but I suspect that they may be ahead of last year.  As always it was a wonderful event, but there is no doubt in my mind that their focus on message explains their success.

The NAC helps people with disabilities to participate in the sports they love or learn to love.  This has a life-changing and life-affirming effect.

The event, named Red, White and Snow, brings over 20 wineries to Park City, Utah. There is the usual round of wine maker dinners and tastings, but the highlights of the weekend are the occasions where everyone, Vintners, Clients, Staff, Donors and Supporters get to interact on the slopes and socially.  Your heart would have to be made of stone not to be overwhelmed by the commitment, courage and dedication of everyone involved.

The night of the auction, Teague, one of the NAC atheletes who lost an arm and leg in a car accident as a child, introduces a video.  He starts by saying that he never expected to be an athelete, and the video ends with a clip of him completing the slalom course at an incredible speed.

My main challenge at the auction was simply to find a way to give the audience permission to make the donations they wished.  This is not an insignificant challenge in this time when “Frugality is the New Chic”.  I was definetly helped in this by the vintners who kept adding to their Lots.

The lesson from the weekend is that you have to fight for your organization.  The downturn in the economy has had a specific effect on potential wealthy supporters.  As a group they are attending fewer events.  Every organization is an a competition to make their event the most emotionally satisfying for their attendees to ensure long term success.

Last week a friend returned from a board meeting and announced that they were anticipating their event to be down 50% this year.  Talk about a self fulfilling prophecy!  If you are anticipating lower returns, TELL NO ONE!  It is one of those secrets that need to be whispered into a well at midnight.

As soon as they hear that you are planning on less, everyone from the lot donors to the lot buyers to the participants in the fund-a-need, will react accordingly.  This will create a downward trend that is hard to stop. On hearing that you anticipate 50% less revenue all the bidders will arrive planning to buy the same quality lots as last year for a big discount.  Unfortunately, in anticipation of lower bids, donors will have offered lesser lots.  Suddenly a planned 50% decrease becomes a 66% decrease.

If asked about your expectations you need a response.  A possible suggestion: While acknowledging the shape of the economy, we have very loyal supporters and so we hope the auction will be in the same range, give or take, as the last few years.

Every event I’ve done this year, except one, has started off the same way: With attendees exhibiting an almost palapable, universal apprehension during the cocktail hour. I’ve had people come up to me and ask me, point blank, “What’s going to happen during the live auction? Is anyone going to bid?” The universal unspoken question, “Will there be any money in the room?” is suddenly so front and center that it is no longer taboo to bring it out into the open.

I typically try to make light of it, asking if they’ve brought their checkbook and assuring them that we’ll make the most of whatever potential is in the room. The reality is I’m holding my breath for each and every event, along with the event chairs, staff, planners and beneficiaries. The economy has everyone lowering their expectations to the point that we all become joyously happy if we’ve got two bidders on every lot.

Overall, events are down. We know that. At this point you should be aiming to raise the same as last year, while secretly accepting that a 25% downturn may be the economic reality of the times. The best event I’ve done so far in 2009 came within 11% of its 2008 total; but there is a success story to be found in there.

Planning on a challenging economy, the staff lowered food costs by over $15,000 by replacing the caterer with three restaurants who came in and each prepared a course.  The event then hired a freelance wait staff (and paid about 1/2 what they typically did through a caterer) to serve the event. The result was they netted more money than they had the year before, even on a lower gross.

The challenge with lowered expectations is to not lower them so visibly that you let your crowd off of the hook. You have to change how you talk about and ask for money, and any conversation with a supporter that sounds exactly like conversations in the past is going to be immediately ignored.

But if you are a non-profit that provides services for the needy,  demand for your services goes up in a down economy. In and of itself, that is a new way to speak about the needs and expectations of the event, while acknowledging the reality we all are existing in. The catch is not to lower expectations to the point that everybody shows up expecting everyone else to make it happen - a collective SEP Field, if you will.

It is always about messaging. It is always about messaging. And this year, more than any other, that messaging needs to be done in a clear, two-way communication. If you are dependent upon a select few bidders to support your auction, find out if they are going to support you this year, and if so, how much you can rely up on them. You need their help, and you need them to buy in to your event and your organization.

The number one question you should be asking isn’t just, “Can I get them to come to my event?” It should be, “Can I get them on my board?”