RE: auctopsy

["Cartwright, Scott C" <Scott.Cartwright@PSS.Boeing.com>]

Great job everyone and thanks for the help in setting up and running the 
auction!  That was the most organized GSAS one I have seen so far!

Erik!  Great job and thanks a lot for your work on the "GSAS computerized 
auction system" :) .  I think the system worked quite well.  There were no 
major problems and I was able to fix most minor mistakes quickly with the 
laptop.  I feel that the communication between the auctioneers and the data 
recorders is the shaky link.  Everyone feel free to mention how the rest of the 
auction activities went too.......

One idea to try for next time is for all auctioneers to state the information 
about each item in a specific order every time (i.e. seller or donor id, number 
of lots of merchandise (don't change this while auctioning :) ), start bidding 
and then report like "SOLD to number(s) xxx for yyy dollars").  The auctioneers 
can suggest some other ideas for the data recorders that may help but one that 
comes to my mind is for the recorder that is entering the item to raise their 
hand or otherwise acknowledge that they have the info (OR DON"T have it) and 
are ready to proceed.

I forget how many people or how much money we typical bring in at the general 
auction but it sure seemed like a good turnout!

Erik,
        I will try to print the "splits" receipts out and I'll let you know how 
it goes.  I think you have a good list of suggestions for the auction too.......

BTW, I missed the beverage cart, Steve!  But thanks for setting some pizza 
aside for Victoria and I....  I think we ate it all except for one piece.

> ----------
> From:         Erik Olson[SMTP:erik@thekrib.com]
> Reply To:     gsas-board@thekrib.com
> Sent:         Wednesday, April 12, 2000 8:51 AM
> To:   gsas-board@gsas.org
> Subject:      auctopsy
> 
> I have the adjusted auction results now online at
> http://search.thekrib.com/cgi-bin/auction
> 
> Our net after splits is somewhere around $1754.  Cool!
> 
> I need lists of donators.  I have so far:
> 
> Snubber's
> Puget Sound Fisheries
> Burien Pet Center
> Amerpet
> Pilgrim Pet
> Midway Pets
> 
> African Northwest
> Denny's Pet World
> Flying Fish Aquariums
> 
> Aquarium Concepts
> Maser's
> Amazon Pet Place
> 
> Fin and Feather
> The Fish Store
> 
> 
> I think everyone did a great job!  Everyone kept cool even when things got
> a bit hectic or sour.  Steve's beverage cart was hillarious.  Seems like
> most of the software glitches we had in the Plant auction were repaired.
> 
> I was initially a bit bummed about the whole thing with a few of the
> splits getting missed (Sandy was, btw, full of CRAP about being off by $30
> -- There were only 3 items incorrectly marked unbid, total $16.. or $9.60
> for her, and I found the remaining one by doing a "Find in Page" on
> Internet Explorer (hit me upside the head, Bob -- we could have done that
> last night!)).  But then I got to thinking... in the "Classic" GSAS
> auctions, we've never dealt well with the splits.  In fact, we've just
> kind of had them on the honor system if at all.  So now I feel a lot
> better, especially after going through all the unbid items and locating
> them. Next time, if we have someone demanding corrections, let them write
> down on a piece of paper what they think they should be, and we'll do it
> the next day without them breathing down our collective necks. 
> 
> Scott, what I did for the plant auction (for the splits) was to start with
> the "people" page, then click on every person with a seller ID, and do a
> "Print" (from the browser, not the Pay button. :) of the web page for
> each. Then I took them, along with the checks you had written (or in this
> cas will be writing) and stuffed them in envelopes.  If you want, I can
> take care of printing out everything, and just drop them by your house
> sometime this week.
> 
> OK, so without further ado, here's my list of suggestions for next time:
> 
>  - Start auction 1/2 hour earlier.> 
>  - Bring big rubberbands in lieu of filling out multiple dots for same
>    bidder.
>  - Limit 20 lots per seller.
>  - Way to somehow rebid on partially-bid lots later
>  - Search function to locate lost items
>  - "Merge" function when we find a generic item is actually
>    supposed to be a "split" item.
>  - Re-evaluate or restate primary purpose of auction: Benefit club, not
>    sellers.
>  - Add "No Whining" to seller form.
>  - Have "Golden Handtruck" certificate for bidder #139 or equivalent.
> 
> That's all... good to put this thing to bed for another year.
> 
>     - Erik
> 
> -- 
> Erik Olson
> erik at thekrib dot com
>