To be honest, the single biggest factor in our decision not to run a live auction was that one of the key team members has an extreme dislike of them and felt strongly that they did not want to be involved in that. (Personally, I find it a bit uncomfortable to run raffles as I dislike gambling, the idea that most people will part with money towards something they want and end up walking away with nothing - but where it's for charity, I can justify it as a way for them to basically give a donation, with the chance of getting a reward.)
The venue size played a part, too, however. With the limited seating/standing capacity, it is just not possible for us to have the ticket holders for both shows in the same space to run a live auction. One possibility could be to hold the auction between the shows, with the 6pm holders who wanted to bid staying on, and asking the 9pm holders to come an hour early, and assuming that there would be a smaller fraction of each crowd who'd be interested so we wouldn't breach fire regulations.
My concern, though, was that there would be a lot of 9pm holders who would not come early - they'd decide the auction wasn't worth sitting around for an hour, or they wouldn't have read the website/tweets/etc. for details, or they simply would not get there in time - and that we would end up with fewer people in total bidding. This might be made up for by the excitement and buzz that a live auction can generate, with someone working the crowd, talking up the items, reminding people it's for a great cause etc... I'm not sure, but my gut feeling with our local crowds was that having the auction run essentially simultaneously with things like standing in line waiting for your showing, and buying concessions, was the best way to go. Pretty much all 120 ticket holders came by and saw the silent auction items, as well as merchandise.
Live and learn, though. If I can work out space logistics, we may try it a different way next year!
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