One Week to Go - Email Series #6

Getting close! We know you're incredibly busy this week, so we will not waste time: this is important stuff you need to know NOW.

Our support team either has recently reviewed, or will shortly review, your event site. (We aim to send out our reviews one week prior to the event, or online closing time.) We'll check some critical settings and note any potential problems we observe. Everyone listed on your Support Form (Admin > Site Settings > Customize Your Site > Organization Info) will receive a copy via email. Look for it soon.

The review is part of our job, and we're glad to do it. We're even happier when it gets read, and our suggestions are considered and implemented as needed to prevent problems - that's your job!

And now for our final list. You may recognize some of these tasks - many are indeed repeats, because you're getting close to the finish line. If you're already don, congratulations! If you haven't started...

Take care of these right away:

1. Have you tested out your credit card processing capability, including card vaulting (storage)?
2. Have you tested the network capacity at your venue and confirmed your hardware for the evening?
3. Does your event venue have internet connectivity you can control and recover?
4. Have you entered names for all of your guest tickets? Is Advance Check-in ready to go?
5. Are your volunteers trained?

Take care of these Gala Auction tasks as late as the day before your event:

1. Have you printed out your bid sheets and sign-up sheets?
2. Have you set up your receipt header and footer, organization name, and default address?
3. Have you linked guests who want to share bidder numbers, decided how to distribute bidder numbers, and set up your emails to invite guests to check-in online before the event?
4. Have you checked that the following items are entered with sufficient quantities: Raffle Tickets, Sign-up Parties/Buy-in Parties, and fixed price items such as Drink Tickets?
5. Have you printed out your emergency report as backup in case of loss of electricity or connectivity? (This report is a list of Guests and Items with the exciting title "Excel Backup." You can find it at the very bottom of this screen: Admin > View Reports > View Summary Reports > Sales/Revenue tab.)
6. Are the things you want to sell at check-in set up to appear on the check-in screen?
7. If you are offering a "share-the-pot" raffle, do you know how to calculate the pot prior to drawing/announcing a winner?
8. Do you have a complimentary ($0) ticket type available for sale at check-in as a quick fix for problem registrations?

Find links to help for all of these last-minute Gala Auction tasks, plus a few more, here.

Take care of these Online Auction tasks as late as the day before your online auction opens:

1. Are online opening and closing times correct?
2. Is your online/mobile feature visible to the public?
3. If you are planning to email invitations to bid, have you uploaded a list of your supporters? And have you edited your invitation email?
4. Have you edited your winning bid emails?
5. Have you set up your receipt header and footer, organization name, and default address?
6. If visitors to your site can sign up to bid, have you edited your Sign Up and Welcome page messaging?
7. Do you know how to manually extend bidding, if necessary?
8. Are your notifications (outbid, winning bid, and daily payment reminder) set up correctly?

Find links to help for these last-minute Online Auction tasks, plus a few more, here.

And don't forget the Help Overview Map on your dashboard page and, of course, the Help widget...

P.S.  We hope it's a great event and you raise a lot of money! Look for our next and final email--with tips on Closing Out and Cleaning Up--the day after your event.