EP 64: Colorado Springs Conservatory: A Successful Transition from Paper to Mobile Bidding

This conversation is for informational and educational purposes only and is not professional advice.

Positioning review: No prescriptive adjustments needed. The conversation is a client case study where the Colorado Springs Conservatory team shares their firsthand experience transitioning from paper bid sheets to mobile bidding with Handbid. All content is naturally experiential and observational -- the client describes their own outcomes and reactions.

Lori: 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. In this episode, we are joined by our friends from the Colorado Springs Conservatory as they discuss their successful event and how they implemented some really cool tips and tricks to take their event to the next level.

Lori: Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Elevate Your Event. We have a treat for you today. We have the Colorado Springs Conservatory group joining us. We're going to hear all about the amazing event that they ran in the last month or so. Was it about a month ago? Why don't we give a date just because we don't know when this podcast is going to be released. What date did you guys have your event?

Scott: It was March 3rd.

Lori: March 3rd. So a little over a month ago from when we're recording this podcast. So welcome. My name is Lori, I'm the marketing director with Handbid, and we're joined today with Diana, our sales guru, and Elise, the most amazing service team member we have here, our event expert extraordinaire. So let's take off. Diana, you can start first.

Diana: Thank you, Lori, for that introduction. One of the main reasons that we wanted you to join us today is we have so many listeners out there that are raising money for their organizations, and they want to know how a successful event looks. And it's also important for our listeners to understand the evolution of an event. So will one of you talk to us -- give us, pretend that I live in Indiana and I don't know you, or I'm from Oregon -- let us understand what the Colorado Springs Conservatory is. And then talk to us a little bit about how you fundraise throughout the year. And the third question -- talk to us about this event in particular. What was the inception, where were the ideas, how did it turn into what it is today? Maybe you guys could also introduce yourselves as you're introducing your organization.

Scott: Sure. I am Scott Marble. I am the chief development officer. I've been with the organization for four years and have worn a number of different hats. But in any nonprofit, you're always a fundraiser. That's just how it always works. The conservatory is actually now in its 30th year. Our mission is to be the premier multidisciplinary arts institution here in the Pikes Peak region. So we do everything from music starting for children at six months through graduating through high school -- in music, piano, guitar, theater, and musical theater. We have a series of performances throughout the year, about 15. Some are main stage, some are showcases in house, some are for other events across the city that we perform for other organizations. But it really is all about the exploration of music. And for many people, myself included as a former performing artist, you recognize that in those experiences -- working through the development, the creation, the hurdles of bringing something to life, be that a song, a play, an event. What we're talking about today is our joint venture with the Wine Festival of Colorado Springs, which is about six or seven years older than the conservatory. It was founded to bring the joy of wine and that understanding into our community, but it's always had a supportive element where it gives back to a nonprofit in the city. We have been that recipient for about 10 years.

Diana: Amazing.

Scott: Yeah, it's been going and going. It's pretty amazing. Each year it features a different wine region or country. This year it was the wines of New Zealand. And over the course of four days, there were eight different events. Where Handbid really came in to assist us was with the final gala. In learning more about what Handbid offers and seeing how well and smoothly that helped us with both an online auction as well as a live auction and registration at this fundraising gala, which is the finale of the festival, we're thinking more about what other elements we could use within the platform, particularly ticket sales. We do that on our own right now through a different service. But this was basically us dipping our toe in the water with Handbid for the gala, because that is the most complex one with the live auction and the raise the paddle. Monica and Chantel have been doing that particular registration checkout piece for years. Having the opportunity to alleviate some of that stress of the 20th-century paper and pen -- we're now in the 21st century. But it was interesting to also move the Wine Festival committee because it is a joint venture. We just kind of said, okay, we're doing this and we're going to make the pitch that this is the best thing to do. And I know we were all very happy with the way the process worked out. And having Elise there to be our coach all the way through the day.

Elise: I loved it. It was an honor for me as well.

Diana: Well, thanks, Elise. Thank you so much for sharing all that, Scott. Since you're all here, I want to ask you to share with us and mostly our listeners -- what were the things that you wanted to mitigate by moving your auction from paper bid sheets to a technology solution? Monica, I'd love to start with you. What are your thoughts?

Monica: Okay. Well, just being able to capture the donors that are coming to the event. In the past, it was all paper and we were missing out on that important information of getting who these people were into our database. So having Handbid assist us with that helped combine that together.

Diana: What I'm hearing from you is what I talk about a lot with clients who are considering moving from paper to mobile bidding, and that's accurate data. You want a way to reach out to them for future events.

Monica: Right. Yeah, we were missing out on important information, getting their contact info. And then also following through getting the money from them. That was a big chunk that was missing because they would be checking out and we wouldn't have any way of getting back in contact with them to get that donation.

Diana: I see. Thank you for sharing that. That's a big one. So it was revenue that you were hoping to not have to recover because you were going to have all that saved in the system and cataloged correctly. But also the data behind all of that -- who is Joe Smith, who is John James? We want to keep these people in order so that we can reach out to them in the future to let them know what the Colorado Springs Conservatory is doing. Awesome. Well, Chantel, how about you? What are your thoughts in moving from paper to mobile? What were some of the things you were hoping to mitigate?

Chantel: I think that the biggest thing was what Monica said, but also that the experience for our attendees was elevated. In the past when you have things and you're trying to check people in on paper with programs and paddles, there's just a lot of chaos and the guests feel that as well. Being able to have a process that was easy, clean -- no question about what needed to be done or what they needed to do or how they were going to find their tables. It just really eliminated a lot of questions. And I think it made everybody feel more comfortable and secure in what they were heading into and coming out of. We didn't have long lines at the end, which people that had been there in the past would have experienced while Monica and I are trying to enter things and write things down and double and triple check each other. I think it was a great elevated experience for us, but also and most importantly for our guests.

Diana: I love hearing that because we frequently get feedback around wanting to make it easier on ourselves and being able to collect those bids and get the money through invoicing and receipts. We get that, we are 100% in support of that. But the whole concept around elevating the guest experience -- that's what we're there for. These guests show up and give and donate to your wonderful organization that they already love. One of our objectives is always how can we elevate the guest experience or that first touch for a guest. So I love that it made such a big difference and gave them confidence to move forward giving to you as an organization either through donations or bidding in the silent auction or live auction. That's really neat.

Monica: Monica and I just kept saying, wait, really? That's all we have to do? It was really great in terms of our experience and actually being able to enjoy the event and what was happening and not be worried that we were missing something or someone.

Chantel: Yeah, so it elevated the full experience.

Elise: That's great. We love to hear that. And just to throw in a little bit of relaxation for you guys, being able to enjoy it -- that's not something we hear from a lot of auction managers. That's one of the things I want to help with when I'm there to assist. You should have a little fun. You guys work so hard. And it was a beautiful event. It's nice when everyone involved can enjoy it a little bit.

Diana: Scott, did you have some thoughts you wanted to add to that?

Scott: Just on that same note as Chantel's -- I think people in the past from a guest experience would look at us like, oh, okay, we're doing this on paper. Because we were concerned that we'd made a change to the experience and our donors would push back. But this is the way of events now. You give your credit card, you get checked in, and you're done. And to see that reaction -- of course you're taking this step -- just helped us recognize that it was the right thing to do. Seeing the reaction of our guests who we thought might be like, whoa, don't want to do it this way -- they were like, oh yeah, sure, here it is. I mean, I tap my card now, I don't even carry cash. So of course you don't have paper. And I'll just chime in too, watching Elise interact with both Monica and Chantel as different scenarios came up that we had sort of talked through -- well, this person's with this table, or we don't have a name, or how do we do X or Y -- it was just great to see that coach also being that sense of calm. Okay, we've got an answer, it resides in Elise, so we're going to be fine. There wasn't that moment of panic. I know this is going out to your listeners, so I would highly recommend it as well worth the investment, as well as just an additional great source of positive and fun energy at the table to have that person by your side, particularly the first time you do it. It made it so much more seamless and gave us an air of professional knowledge that I don't think anybody was feeling at that moment. She was a great coach.

Lori: Now everyone's going to want Elise. I get it. We do try to teach you -- and not that I ever want to not come back to your event, but we hope to empower you guys and give you the knowledge that if you choose, you could move forward doing it on your own.

Scott: You live up the street. You've got to come.

Elise: That's right. Well, moving away from some of that stuff. Do you have anything that you think you could share with our listeners -- tips or tricks? And it doesn't have to be Handbid related. It could be event related. Anything at all to make a smoother event, a more enjoyable event for either you guys or your donors.

Scott: I think one thing is that we were able to implement the online auction, which we'd never tried before. And that proved to be something that added value. Without using Handbid, I'm sure we would not have done that. So when you have more bandwidth, you can do more. I think that's what the platform creates.

Elise: Did you guys have a lot of people bidding outside of the event, that were not at the actual gala? Did you find that you had increased your bidder reach by being online?

Scott: We do the gala separately. So it wasn't that you needed to be present to bid on those particular items. But where it expanded for us was in the past, there was a physical silent auction where you had to have tables. We brought that up again to the Wine Festival committee and everybody's eyes just sort of crossed and they were like, no, no, no, no. The physical nature of setting that up, displaying it, having things -- having it online made it very simple. We reached more people. We also were able to produce some donations that were at a lower price point than some of the wine lots that are typically done at the gala. So we could stratify and strategize how we wanted to put things out there. I think we had about 20 to 25 items. Another baby step, just make it simple. And then it was easy because we said, pick everything up at the conservatory. There was no need for tables and tablecloths and additional swag to make it look good. And who took the sheet and who crossed out my name -- all of that stuff that, especially when you're serving wine at a silent auction. I haven't experienced it, but I've heard stories from these other two that I am so glad I missed. And somehow they're still here.

Lori: So that would be a fun podcast in itself -- funny paper bidding stories, because we hear the craziest stuff. Just to clarify, because I wasn't at the event -- you said that you had the silent auction online. So you did not actually set up an entire silent auction area for those items? You really relied on having software and images and everybody had to hop online to bid?

Scott: Correct.

Lori: Wow. I love that because I've actually seen that as a small trend after COVID. People were like, oh, do I really have to set up this whole silent auction with all this stuff? And to be honest, it's nice to have them at your event, but you don't have to.

Scott: You don't have to do that. And a lot of it depends on the venue. We knew the room we were going to be in for the gala, so it's more intimate and there really wasn't the space.

Chantel: There was not space.

Scott: And then the other evening where the silent auction traditionally happened, this year our attendance was 800. So that would have just been nuts. It was a great compromise to be able to raise an additional $5,000 or $6,000 that was pure profit because those were all donations that came in either from distillers or other distributors. We had a few spa packages. And we could then control it -- we weren't just kitchen-sinking the silent auction. It was, let's be very specific -- we wanted wine or a higher-end spirit or lifestyle piece. And doing it online -- I'm speaking as if I did it, Monica did all the work, so I thought it was really easy. But checking in with her and working with our marketing person Victoria, because she was taking photos and sending things in -- that seemed to go relatively smooth. It's a bit of a process, but Monica's a smart person. Once she had it down, she's like, no, this goes here, that goes there, I can change this. She put it all together once we got it branded along the conservatory way.

Elise: That's awesome. Well, one more thing that I noticed about you guys that I think would be a great tip for other organizations is that you work so well as a team. You can tell you genuinely enjoy each other, but you also respect each other and you're like, this is your area, this is my area. I saw that through the whole process. Trying not to do it alone is very helpful. And not everyone has that choice to have a team, but branching off and picking your roles could help a lot of organizations.

Diana: Help people stay in their lane. Maybe take a little stress off too.

Lori: One more. Last question. So you said your guests weren't surprised when you were swiping credit cards or using technology. But any other guest feedback? Did you find anyone who was really pushing back that you think kind of turned around, or any positive feedback overall?

Scott: I think no feedback was the positive.

Lori: Well, there we go. Isn't that sad but true?

Chantel: It's so true. People call when they're upset or frustrated. I think that in and of itself was the answer. People weren't frustrated or upset. Everybody kind of was like, great, okay, this is what we're doing now. I don't think we had any complaints.

Scott: You would have heard about it, during or after.

Chantel: Right, yeah, I didn't hear any that night.

Scott: And I think the overall piece too, because as I mentioned it's a joint venture, we don't run the entire Wine Festival piece -- a local committee does the seminars and things. There were a few things we brought up. For instance, the whole seating chart and making of programs and labeling of programs -- that's a bit of a social piece for some of those committee members. And so I just picked the moment and said, well, we're going to save you some time. You can still get together and arrange the tables. All we need is a piece of paper with who's with whom. Because they would spend hours. And logistically it was better because I would have that part of the committee going, okay, we need the names and it's Tuesday and the event's on Saturday. That's four days to sell tickets. But they needed to print labels and that sort of thing they were putting on programs. So to see the reaction of the Wine Festival committee members who had been doing this for 30 years -- sometimes we have to pull them a little bit into the future -- was a success. Because they came away with, wow, that was great at registration, and the silent auction was not chaos and a mess. We gained some support and acknowledgment from them. I think they were a little trepidatious to begin with, but then saw it all come together and were like, that was a smart move.

Lori: I love that. That's amazing. Great feedback, guys. Well, what are your final thoughts that you might want to share with our listeners out there who might still be on paper bid sheets or maybe who are thinking of making any sort of change within the organization? We know how much effort goes into events in and of themselves. We'd love to hear your final thoughts.

Chantel: I would say it will change your life. Move from the paper to this. And having the personal coach is the way to go.

Scott: And I think from a package perspective, I liked the fact that we could break things out. We didn't have to do everything at once -- ticket sales, all this, all that. We could sort of go, okay, we want to start here. Our main goal is this portion. And then because of the success and the understanding of the integration with Bloomerang, I would say to any of your listeners, make sure that your CRM will interface with Handbid because that was another piece that we were really excited about. And now our marketer was like, oh my gosh, if we had done tickets through -- so that would be our next thing where we're going, oh, maybe we'll ticket all the events this way. To be able to do it gradually made it seem much more manageable, where in some cases you've got to take the whole suite. You have it designed in such a way that if you just want this module, let's do that and here's how we work through it. Just in terms of how the system is set up, that's very helpful.

Lori: Right. And Monica, how about you? Any last final thoughts to leave us with?

Monica: Yeah, I just think this is an awesome tool, and I'm so glad that we decided to give it a go. It was a little scary at first, because you're like, what's going to happen. But learning the whole process of what this can do and how much better it made us -- it just made things so much easier. Handbid itself was easy to navigate, and we were able to go back and look at the receipts and then send emails out to some of the people that didn't pay their invoice. That was nice to see and keep track of. Overall, it was just an amazing experience. I'm glad that we were able to do this because it did make our lives a little easier.

Chantel: And like also what Chantel said with the guests -- I think they were happy that we were moving forward too.

Lori: Oh, love that. Awesome.

Diana: Well, Elise and Lori and I want to thank you all so much for your time. You've taken time out of your day to hopefully share this experience with our listeners who might be on the fence about whether they should move from paper bid sheets to mobile, or just make a change in general to Handbid, or to any mobile bidding solution for that matter. So thank you for your time and insight.

Scott: Thanks for having us, and thanks again for all the help.

Lori: A special thank you to our friends from the Colorado Springs Conservatory. We loved hearing their story. We hope that you learned a few things that you can implement in your next event. 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.