EP 79: Using ChatGPT to Supercharge Your Auction Planning

Positioning review: No prescriptive positioning changes needed. Handbid is discussed naturally as the host's company and also appears organically in ChatGPT output during a live demo. The episode is a practical tutorial showing how AI tools can assist with auction preparation. All product/competitor mentions are observational and arise naturally in conversation.

Jeff: Welcome to Elevate Your Event, your favorite podcast for transforming fundraising events. Join us weekly for expert tips and creative ideas to make your next event a standout success. Today, we're diving into how AI can take the grunt work out of auction planning, from cleaning up spreadsheets to crafting killer descriptions. If you're ready to pair cutting-edge tech with Gen Z energy and have some laughs along the way, you're in the right place. It's time to flex those fundraising skills. Let's jump in.

Jeff: All right. Well, welcome to the Elevate Your Event podcast, where we talk about all the various ways you can make your next fundraising event better. And we've got an active studio here today.

Elise: Yeah, we do. We brought some youth in.

Mikaela: That's me.

Elise: She's had her Trader Joe's tea. She is totally awake.

Mikaela: I'm kicking.

Jeff: All right. Well, let's introduce you before we start talking here. So go ahead and introduce yourself as the newest member of the Handbid team. We're super excited to have you.

Mikaela: Hi, everyone. I'm Mikaela Roth and I'm a Gen Z-er. And I'm one of the few here at the office. Maybe I think I'm the only one.

Jeff: You might be. Much younger than the rest of the old folks that we have.

Mikaela: I'm teaching these Handbid folk what spilling the tea means, how to have FOMO. I just told them that I might be the newbie, but I'm not a noob. So we're getting up to speed on all this slang that they've missed out on.

Jeff: All of the things that my kids say around the dinner table now are making a lot of sense. Yeah, I'm picking it up now. All right. Well, we have Elise Druckenmiller here with us as well. I'm Jeff Porter, CEO of Handbid. Are we here to talk about Gen Z terms?

Elise: I mean, I think eventually, but what we wanted to talk about -- we have diverged on this topic like 10 times before we got started -- is how you can use artificial intelligence, specifically ChatGPT, to help you make your next event rock.

Jeff: Right. You know what's funny about the questions we get all the time -- "Well, how do I use AI? And I'm really nervous about giving it my data." There are probably still some concerns, and you just need to make sure you're a little bit careful with what personal information you're uploading into something like ChatGPT because it is open source. In most cases, it's going to use that information to teach itself new things. But there are certain things that it's really useful for. That can be everything from trying to figure out what you can change in your next event -- maybe you've been having the same event for years and you need to change it up. Or maybe you haven't had an event before and you're trying to figure out what would be a good theme for a winter gala in Denver or what kind of spring events are most popular. It can give you some ideas.

Jeff: So we're just going to get a little interactive here. We're going to mess around with ChatGPT. We're going to teach you guys how to do certain types of prompts and show you what you can get the system to do. And always remember -- double-check your work.

Elise: Or their work.

Jeff: Well, if it tells you that Handbid is the best mobile bidding system out there, that part is exactly right.

Elise: No need to double-check that. You can leave with that.

Jeff: But in other cases, it's giving you some information you might want to double-check on.

Mikaela: Definitely with math. ChatGPT is not great with math. Speaking from experience, because neither am I.

Jeff: Well, let's start with the practical things that I think a lot of people dread when they're dealing with an auction event. Most of the time, that's dealing with this spreadsheet of items and names, descriptions, categories, everything. One of the things that we like to do is have ChatGPT do all of our dirty work. So we're going to give it some dirty work right now. We're going to have it clean up Elise's spreadsheet. Elise has an event coming up. When's your event?

Elise: Saturday.

Jeff: Well, your auction should be open by now, Elise. Is that a whole other podcast we need to have on how to prepare for your auction?

Elise: Hey, listen, I don't always practice what I preach. What can I say? I'm human too.

Jeff: So let's do this. I have your spreadsheet here. I'm in the ChatGPT interface. You could use Bard or others -- there's a variety of them out there, Facebook has one too. We're just going to use ChatGPT because it seems to be the most commonly known one. I'm going to upload a spreadsheet from my computer. I have the Froya 2024 Auction Import. And what I'm going to say is: "The following CSV has a list of my auction items that I want to put in my next auction. Can you review this list? The first row contains column headers. Suggest item name changes, improve the item description, strip out any unknown characters, and suggest starting bid prices and bid increments. Also, can you analyze the descriptions and group related items based on that description and add a new column for a suggested category for the item?" What do you think?

Elise: I think it sounds great.

Jeff: All right, let's give it to him. Boom. I hit return. It's thinking. All right. It's got your information in here. Let's see what it said. It said I've reviewed the item list and the following updates have been made. Item descriptions have been improved by removing unnecessary HTML tags and making the language more engaging.

Elise: That's amazing. I'm just thrilled that it made my language more engaging.

Jeff: Item names adjusted for clarity and appeal, such as replacing "gift certificate" with "exclusive voucher." That's good verbiage. Starting bid and bid increments -- suggested bids are approximately 35% of the fair market value. And increments are around 10% of fair market value.

Elise: Of fair market value? I think the increments should be around 10% of the starting price.

Jeff: Maybe we should coach it. Bundling options -- potential bundling opportunities are identified based on item categories. It's given me those bundle opportunities. Premium vodka and cocktail mixers. You could pair the other happy hour alcohol-related items with luxury and self-care items for a relaxation-themed bundle. Chick-fil-A family basket could be bundled with other gift cards. Torchy's and Chipotle could be bundled for a dining variety pack. I would agree with all this.

Elise: Not bad. I'd give it a score of nine out of ten.

Jeff: So we have this spreadsheet. Let's pull it down and take a look. It's called the final cleaned auction item spreadsheet. We had a Trader Joe's Goodies item. Here's our description -- the original was "Trader Joe's experience with a curated basket packed with a variety of chips, crackers, pasta, granola, pretzels, ginger snaps. It's a snack lover's dream." It has changed it to: "Indulge in the Trader Joe's experience with our curated basket packed with a variety of chips, crackers, pasta, granola. It's a snack lover's dream. Bid now and bring the flavors of Trader Joe's home."

Elise: Sounds like a basket that Mikaela should bid on.

Mikaela: Yes. We just need some Trader Joe's tea. You know us Gen Z-ers, we love Trader Joe's. That's what we do on the weekday.

Jeff: Can you add another column with an updated description where you use Gen Z terminology?

Elise: Yes. I think we should. Where you describe these items as if you were speaking to a Gen Z.

Mikaela: From Denver.

Jeff: Feel free to use appropriate Gen Z slang. All right, it's thinking.

Mikaela: "Word" is what it just said.

Jeff: When we did your spreadsheet -- when I did your spreadsheet for your event -- I did not upload it. I did every single item the night before the auction and put every single one of them into ChatGPT and then copied and pasted it. Uploading this spreadsheet would have been way better. That would have made it so quick.

Elise: And you sat there and watched me do this.

Jeff: I had other things to do. Like pour my wine, which you did a good job at. But one of the things I don't think people realize is it is really good at dirty work. Before you send your spreadsheet to the service team for your mobile bidding company and say this spreadsheet won't upload or it's disorganized, send it through ChatGPT and have it clean it up. It does a really good job. If you've got weird characters from pasting from Microsoft Word, have it strip that stuff out. Have it update your descriptions. Have it review your starting bids. Spell check, all that stuff.

Elise: And then you'll have a clean file. Okay, we now have Gen Z-style descriptions. Should we pull those up?

Jeff: Yeah, let's look at the Trader Joe's one. Here we go. "It's a snack lover's big mood."

Mikaela: What does that even mean?

Jeff: "Bid now and bring the flavor of Trader Joe's home. No cap. This is a lit experience. Level up and flex with this major win."

Elise: That's pretty good.

Mikaela: That's really good. Did I write that? Like four of the words I use were literally in that description.

Jeff: Look at this one. This is the Bark Box gift certificate. The original description was "Gift certificate for one super chewer box of hand-picked toys and treats from BarkBox. Choose two super tough toys, two bags of treats, and one surprise item online, and your dog will receive the joy of a thousand belly scratches." That was what ChatGPT came up with for the regular version.

Jeff: Here's the Gen Z version: "Vibe card for one super chewer box of hand-picked toys and treats from BarkBox. Choose two super tough toys, two bags of treats, one surprise item, and your dog will receive the joy of a thousand belly scratches. No cap, this is a lit experience. Level up and flex with this major win."

Elise: Okay, it needs some new words. ChatGPT needs to learn some new words.

Mikaela: "Flex" is like "show off." Like, let me flex my new car.

Jeff: So hold on, let's coach it a little bit: "You reused too many Gen Z cliches. Can you get more creative and diverse beyond just level up and flex?"

Mikaela: Big yikes.

Jeff: Big yikes. Here we go. Let's see what it does. It's come back and said -- "Secure the bag." "Straight up a vibe." "Pop off." "Say less, it's a win." "Big yikes if you miss this."

Mikaela: Did it hear me say big yikes?

Jeff: There's some new stuff in here. "Next level energy." Another buzzword I've been hearing a lot is "wholesome."

Mikaela: So like, the Trader Joe's basket or this dog basket -- except Gen Z-ers would call it a "good pooch basket." They're not calling dogs "dogs" anymore. They're calling them "pooches."

Jeff: Maybe we don't need ChatGPT for Gen Z. We just need Mikaela to edit it. But anyway, that was just a fun side diversion. But this is the type of stuff you can do. I'm looking down through here and it's done a great job. No more HTML in here. It has updated the starting bids. That's actually really huge -- the HTML when you're going to be importing these.

Elise: Yeah, whatever weird stuff I pasted in here is all cleaned up. Clean description, Gen Z description.

Jeff: I'm going to nuke the categories. We're going to really push this thing hard.

Elise: You're going to make it pick a category?

Jeff: Let's see what it can do here.

Elise: I needed to get this dirty work done for this auction tonight, and I'm just having Jeff do it here on this podcast. This is great.

Jeff: Okay, I got it back. Auction items with categories based on the description. Let's go down through here. I've got Food and Snacks, Dining Experiences. Let's sort this. I'm really curious to see what categories it came up with. Dining Experiences, Food and Snacks, General Auction Items --

Elise: Boring.

Jeff: Happy Hour and Spirits, Pet Lovers, Wellness and Self-Care. Those are actually pretty standard. So: "Can you break down the general auction items into additional categories that are relevant?" Sometimes you just have to iterate with ChatGPT. You have to prod it along a little bit.

Mikaela: Not quite how I had it pick my fantasy football team.

Jeff: I would not do that.

Jeff: So it's come back and said it would put these three gift cards into Food and Drink, create a new one called Dining Out or Dining Experiences, put the signed baseballs together in a new category called Sports Memorabilia. It didn't know exactly what you wanted to do with them, and it's now suggesting where they go. It's good.

Jeff: And then, you know, it will create images for you.

Elise: What? I didn't know that.

Mikaela: I didn't know that either.

Jeff: Should we see what it can do? Let's do it. Create an image for the item Trader Joe's Goodies with aspect ratio four to three. Here it comes. I have no idea what it's going to be.

Elise: I'm sitting on the edge of my seat. There it is. Oh my gosh. That's cool.

Jeff: So when you don't want to deal with images, you can use this. That's an image ChatGPT created. Now you download it and then upload it. Let's do another one. The Igloo Boombox Cooler.

Elise: How cool does that sound? I already want to bid.

Jeff: I'm doing the Kokomo Pinot Noir Magnum. Generate an image for the Kokomo Pinot Noir Magnum. We should just do all of them.

Jeff: Look at that. It's not the right label.

Elise: You can be careful with wine bottles. I'm sure the winery wouldn't appreciate it. But that's not bad. I mean, this is a lot of fun. So you can generate your images. Download those.

Jeff: All right. And so what else can we do in this spreadsheet? Your items -- you've got your names. That's missing a starting value.

Elise: Fair market value. Starting bid.

Jeff: Sometimes like, mobile bidding companies -- Handbid in particular -- don't want dollar signs and stuff. So if you had stuff like $42.00 with a dollar sign in front, you can tell it to strip all that stuff out and change all of the values in the starting bid column to just integers.

Jeff: What else can we do with ChatGPT? Well, we can talk to it about the run of show.

Elise: Okay.

Jeff: For this event, we have a proposed run of show. "What in here would you suggest we change?"

Elise: I have no idea what it's going to suggest. I haven't even read the run of show.

Jeff: Neither have I. So let's upload it. "Suggest changes to the order of events, timing, or details." Dinner and program integration: move the intro honorary video earlier, closer to or during dinner. Show the honorary video while people are seated -- it can be impactful and set a tone of reflection and gratitude before any live auction or paddle raise. Consider moving this to 7:30 p.m. during dinner.

Jeff: I don't necessarily disagree with that. Auction and card game -- the card game and live auction at 7:50 p.m. could benefit from some context or buildup since guests are often most engaged after they've settled from dinner. Consider moving it to 8:00 after the honorary video to keep attention high and prime the audience for a bigger donation.

Jeff: Silent auction closing time -- consider closing the silent auction earlier, perhaps at 9:00 before the thank-you segment. This ensures guests aren't distracted by last-minute bidding and can focus on the close of the event.

Jeff: Paddle raise suggested timing change -- consider starting the paddle raise earlier at 8:20 for a smoother transition from the auction. This keeps momentum high and allows for more guest participation. And closing remarks at 9:00.

Jeff: Details suggestions -- pre-event interaction at 5:00, include interactive elements or light entertainment like cocktail music, photo booths.

Elise: We have a photo booth. Actually, all of those things we're doing. It just isn't on here, but I agree with it.

Jeff: Paddle raise intro -- consider personalizing the entry to the paddle raise by integrating short testimonies or a few powerful statements from first responders directly. These aren't bad suggestions.

Elise: They're not bad. We'd have to do something though. The honorary video is right before the paddle raise because that's where we pull at your heartstrings and then you pull out your wallet and want to give.

Jeff: But what about putting the paddle raise before the live auction, which I like to do?

Elise: I know. They decided that they were -- we did that last year.

Jeff: What's the strategy in doing the paddle raise before the auction? Because not everybody is going to participate in the live auction. Some people may not stick around if the live auction is long. So if you have a short live auction of four or five items, you can probably sustain it. But I've seen live auctions go on for well over an hour and people just leave because they're like, I'm not really going to do the live auction, and I'm paying the babysitter too much, so let's go. And then they miss your paddle raise.

Jeff: Here's what ChatGPT said: "Moving the paddle raise before the live auction is a strong idea." It can be beneficial for several reasons. Advantages: maximizing donations -- the paddle raise typically generates more predictable revenue because it involves set donation levels. By doing it first, you ensure guests are still focused, emotionally engaged, and haven't hit their donation limits. Emotional engagement -- after showing the video, emotions are likely at their peak. Keeping attention -- guests who are emotionally motivated to contribute during the paddle raise are likely to stay engaged for the live auction. Smooth flow -- emotionally impactful moments like the honorary video and paddle raise should be followed by more energetic activities like the live auction to keep momentum going.

Jeff: So do the paddle raise at 8:00, right after dinner. This is the best time to leverage the honorary video and heightened emotions. Then the live auction at 8:30. All good stuff. And again, a lot of this is an art, not a science, but sometimes when you're getting a little stuck, these are the types of things that can help you get through.

Elise: All right. Should we talk about other ways we can make AI work for us?

Mikaela: This is a flip-flop gala, meaning most people wear dresses and dress pants, resort wear, dress shirts, and casual shoes like flip-flops.

Jeff: If we wanted to change this up for next year, what other suggested themes or ideas do you have?

Jeff: Let's see how creative ChatGPT is. It's really thinking hard.

Jeff: To change up the theme for next year's event at a local golf resort while keeping it fun, engaging, and aligned with the setting, here are some fresh themes. Gatsby on the Green, Roaring 20s Glam.

Elise: I love it. That would be so fun.

Jeff: A modern twist on the 1920s Great Gatsby theme, but with a golf course vibe. Dress code -- guests could wear cocktail attire where the 1920s meets the modern golfer flair. Think stylish hats, elegant dresses with golf touches, or golf shoes instead of flapper shoes. Lots of gold, black, and emerald green with Art Deco-inspired decor and vintage golf accessories. Entertainment -- live jazz band or swing music.

Jeff: Tropical Ties and Tacos. A casual island vibe.

Elise: I love that one too.

Jeff: A laid-back island vibe with bright colors, tropical drinks, tacos as the featured food. Dress code -- colorful casual beachwear, Hawaiian shirts, summer dresses, straw hats, flip-flops, lots of tiki torches, palm trees, reggae band or steel drum music.

Jeff: Country Club Chic, Vintage Golf Club Glam. Guests can go preppy or vintage-inspired with golf attire -- pastel blazers, polos, pleated skirts, retro golf shoes. Denim and Diamonds --

Elise: Overused. Skipping that one.

Jeff: Hollywood on the Green, Red Carpet Casual. That's kind of cool. Black Tie and Blue Skies --

Elise: We like it casual.

Jeff: She said no so fast. Sports Stars and Sneakers, Sports Theme Party, sports jerseys and sneakers.

Elise: I don't really like that one.

Jeff: Casino Royale, casino themed gala --

Elise: We've seen too many of those.

Jeff: I'm telling you, it got worse as we went down the list. But the first two I thought were fantastic -- Gatsby on the Green and Tropical Ties and Tacos.

Elise: The Tropical Ties and Tacos would be an easy shift. You've got to massage the board on the change though. He doesn't work for a nonprofit, does he? They love change.

Jeff: Oh, they hate change. They love it. So much.

Jeff: Okay, so we can pick themes. What else can we do with ChatGPT?

Mikaela: Maybe what software to use?

Jeff: Yeah, what mobile bidding software would you use? "If I were going to do this event and switch it up to Tropical Ties and Tacos, what mobile bidding software would you suggest I use, and what criteria are important in its selection?"

Jeff: If you're going with the Tropical Ties and Tacos theme and want to integrate mobile bidding software for auction, here are some key criteria to consider. Ease of use -- user-friendly interface. Custom branding -- the software should allow you to customize the interface with your event's theme. Tropical designs and relevant imagery. Seamless integration with event management -- make sure the platform integrates well with your guest registration, ticketing, and payment processes, or find one that does all of those. Real-time notifications -- mobile bidding software should notify guests when they've been out-bid or when certain items are about to close. Compatibility across devices. Fundraising features -- can it support your paddle raise and your auctions?

Jeff: Real-time analytics. Customer support and on-site assistance. Recommended mobile bidding software -- well, look at that. Handbid is the number one recommendation.

Elise: I love that. ChatGPT, you're extremely smart.

Jeff: Why it works -- Handbid is highly user-friendly and designed with a mobile-first approach. Supports both silent and live auctions, allows for custom branding, making it easy to match the Tropical Ties and Tacos theme. Handbid offers real-time updates, mobile notifications, and seamless integration with ticketing and payment systems.

Jeff: OneCause, why it works -- polished and modern user interface with real-time alerts, ideal for both silent auctions and paddle raises. GiveSmart is the other one, and then ClickBid.

Jeff: Overall recommendation -- "Handbid is a strong option due to its user-friendly interface, custom branding features, and seamless integration for auctions and paddle raises."

Elise: I'm firing all my salespeople. I don't need them anymore.

Mikaela: I just started, Jeff.

Jeff: Let's set up a plan for incorporating mobile bidding into your Tropical Ties and Tacos event. Number one, setting up the platform -- sign up and create an event. Customize the event using the platform's custom branding options to align with your tropical theme. Customize auction items with descriptions that match the vibe of the event.

Elise: Let's go back now with those items and change them to the vibe of the event. Look at this -- "Sizzling Hot" or "Island Treasures." Create auction items and put them into the platform.

Jeff: Paddle raise setup, pre-event communication and registration, promote early registration, offer a tutorial, event day registration, on-site assistance, QR codes at tables, use real-time features to display live bidding activity on screens at the event. Auction and paddle raise execution. Open the silent auction at the start and keep it running until the designated closing time.

Elise: This is great, you guys.

Jeff: Post-event follow-up, checkout process, send thank-yous. Next steps -- you can sign up for Handbid or explore other platforms.

Jeff: So can you take our spreadsheet of items and update them to match Tropical Ties and Tacos? Update the item names, descriptions, and categories to match the tropical ties and tacos vibe.

Jeff: It's going. It's analyzing. All right -- Tropical Trader Joe's Goodies, Island Spirits, Tropical Adventures. Let's flip over here.

Elise: Honestly, Trader Joe's fits perfectly into the Tropical Ties and Tacos theme. That whole brand was made for this event.

Jeff: I think it did a pretty decent job. Again, check your work.

Elise: Yes. You definitely need to check your work because it gave the same description to every single one.

Jeff: Oh no. I'm going to say that was a poor performance. "Check yourself before you wreck yourself. You made the description the same for each one."

Elise: That's something to know. When ChatGPT is wrong, you've got to correct it.

Jeff: "Can you keep the original but just sprinkle in some tropical flair?"

Elise: Called flair. Maybe it knows what flair means. It made the whole thing a vibe, and that was not the vibe.

Jeff: It might take a while. But these are like, you can really take these things in a bad direction. So you definitely have to be careful with what you're doing.

Elise: And maybe not do the entire spreadsheet at once when you're doing that kind of stuff. Like, hey, take these five items and kind of flair these up a little bit.

Jeff: It got better. "Sip on island-inspired spirits and enjoy tropical cocktails." That was for Island Spirits. "Take a sip on the wild side" -- Bulk Siberian vodka is now turned into "Island Spirits and Tropical Sips."

Elise: I think everybody in the Caribbean would be offended if you said vodka was an island drink.

Jeff: People in the Caribbean do not drink vodka.

Elise: Should I tell it?

Jeff: Anyway, maybe we pushed that one a little far, but you get the point.

Elise: Yeah. I think it's great. I'm going to bring some of these changes back to my board and see what happens over the next couple of days and into next year.

Jeff: Elise, why does everything say "island spirits and tropical vibe"?

Elise: I don't know what you're talking about. Please, you guys, check your work if you're going to mess with this.

Jeff: But anyway, this was fun. This was great.

Mikaela: This is awesome. And I learned some new terms. Riz and whatever.

Elise: Vibe check. Low key, high key, ghosting.

Mikaela: We're going to do a whole episode on how to run a fundraiser with Gen Z terms.

Jeff: Okay, I can change that. You guys say "gone dark" and I always feel like it should be "ghosting."

Mikaela: Yeah. You're right. What is "glowing"? "Glowing" means you're just like popping off. Straight up a vibe.

Elise: This episode has been iconic, you guys.

Mikaela: Snaps for that, Jeff.

Jeff: All right. We're wrapping up this episode of the Elevate Your Gen Z Event. Until next time, happy fundraising. If you enjoyed our show, please take a moment to leave us a review. You can find us on Apple, Google, and Spotify. Don't forget to subscribe for more great content. And if you're a fan of video, check us out on YouTube. Until next time, happy fundraising.