Hello,

We have a very condensed time frame for the CSTS event due to theater limitations.

First, we have doors opening at 10AM on a Saturday with the film at 11.

We want to give everybody a chance to do the raffle/silent auction/whatever thing, but we'd also obviously like to do a costume contest.

Do you think its possible to do all that in an hour? We pretty much have to vacate after the film.

Theres the possibility of going someplace else afterwards, or maybe setting up a white tent in the parking lot to contine, but it would be great to fit everything in.

Any suggestions?

what about an interval mid movie to do it all? in my experience if you do your raffle at th beginning you'll miss latecomers who would buy tickets.

We had a similar situation. We had a table at the entrance and folks bought raffle tickets on the way in. During the costume contest, late comers could purchase tickets, then after the costume winners were announced, we drew the raffle winners.

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In my experience, unless you have a person with a very authoritative personality who can really keep things moving along, I think you'll find that you can't fit all of this in in the hour before the movie without doing some of the other things people have already suggested. And, everyone else's point about the latecomers is very valid.

As much as we've tried to time block our our events in the past, it's never gone according to plan and there's always something that comes up that you did not expect. That hour really is really only 30 to 45 minutes once you make announcements, get people seated, get the costume contestees organized, get the audience quieted down, etc. I'm not trying to be negative - just realistic. If you do have the opportunity to move the party somewhere close after - even in the parking lot - I think that would be a great option to explore. I think you could also turn it into a way to get to know your audience members a little more intimately and possibly gain some new recruits.

Just my opinion.