One of the most important ingredients to a successful benefit event is the choice of auctioneer. Ideally he or she must possess charm, wit, energy, enthusiasm, confidence, timing skills, professional appearance, the ability to connect with the audience and hold their attention.
My experience of 30 years as a professional auctioneer has provided me the opportunity to cultivate the unique skills necessary to ensure that the outcome of your event is a huge success.
I specialize in auctions for Schools, The Arts, Non-profits & Service Clubs.
It was such a pleasure to work with you on the Children's Home event. We have had wonderful feed back from the crowd about the auction and your energy. Everyone loved you! We hope you will consider joining us again next year. Thanks to you this year’s event did much better than last year.
C. Weske
Sacramento Children's Home Guild
Auction Chair
I can't say enough about Mark's talent and cooperation. With his help, we
increased our auction take by almost $4,600. This was $1000 more on our
regular auction, and $3600 on the new "Fund-a-Need" auction we tried.
Our net proceeds were $10,000 -- a 44% increase over last year.
Mark visited our club twice before hand to help us improve and fine-tune our auction to meet our needs. He came prepared that evening. The electricity in the air was palpable! He helped us with our messaging, so that everyone could
appreciate the fine work we do and the great nonprofit organizations we support.
He's entertaining, engaging, and everyone enjoyed him. I can't begin to tell
you how many in the crowed raved about what fun our auction was this year and what a fantastic idea it was for us to engage a professional auctioneer.
Nancy T., president-elect, Newark Rotary Club
Cabaret Night is Children’s Musical Theater San Jose’s annual fundraising gala and the social event of the season for our community. When Mark stepped in this year as our new auctioneer, not only did he set the pace for an enthusiastic live auction, he became an integral part of our steering committee. His unique style made the guests feel comfortable in bidding, and more engaged in the live auction. Mark’s experience, input, and involvement helped raise our auction income to new levels. I look forward to working with Mark for many years to come.
L. Walstrum, Development Director~CMTSJ
I had the pleasure of working with Mark Alman in March 2009 at Hillbrook School’s yearly auction at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA. Mark did a wonderful job of working with us from the beginning in creating some new, fresh ideas for our live auction as well as helping us manage the order in which those items should be presented. Mark brings a confidence and charisma that is needed at a live auction. He demands the audiences’ attention with his energetic and engaging style and the chemistry that he builds with them. Mark moves through the auction gracefully, knowing the perfect time to speed through items or to slow down in order to push the bids higher. He keeps the evening flowing at just the right pace. Mark has consistently raised more money each year with the Live Auction. He is a remarkable auctioneer and I look forward to working with him again in 2010.
H. Steinbock
Hillbrook School Auction Chair 2008, 2009, 2010
My name is Lori Wallace and I am a co-chair for our school’s annual spring auction event. I had the pleasure of working with Mark Alman this last March for our evening auction event in Marin County. Following the event, I was so thrilled by Mark’s performance that I offered to write this letter.
As a co-chair, the stakes are high to ensure a smooth event that yields the high numbers. Putting our event in Mark’s hands meant all the difference in the end. Below is a list of the services provided and the wonderful outcomes:
Pre-auction planning support, creative brainstorming: Mark was enthusiastic and available to me all through the months leading up to our event.
Pre-auction walk through of the site and set-up consultation: Mark worked with our site manager and school administrator to plan the room logistics for maximum flow and effectiveness.
Silent Auction Announcing: Mark arrived before the live auction event and worked the silent auction room for us successively hyping interest in items, and closing tables for maximum participation. This enabled us to allow our guests to enjoy the evening without stress, and then be called to their items just in time. This was very enjoyable and effective.
Live Auction Announcing: Mark suggested that we designate a parent to serve as side kick to Mark. Our parent announced the item and then turned over the rest to Mark. Mark was in expert form as he worked each item. It was obvious that Mark had studied the items in advance as he had interesting or humorous anecdotes to share about each item. He also had studied the guest list in advance as he seemed to know the participants and was able to draw them in, knowing just who to focus on. Mark was fun, energetic, skilled and persistent.
This year’s event was our most successful ever. For weeks following the event, I received compliment after compliment with regards to Mark’s performance. Our school administrator is working to set our next year’s event date around Mark’s schedule – which truly says it all.
I would highly recommend Mark to anyone, especially if you are looking for someone who not only will exceed your expectations, but someone with a good heart and who will care deeply for your cause.
Sincerely,
Lori Wallace
We hired Mark Alman for our school’s auction in February of 2010. We had been having a tough time generating interest in our event and raising enough funds for our school.
We spoke to several auctioneers, and, to be honest, most seemed pretty much like used car salesmen. However, when we spoke with Mark, he was the consummate professional, very personable and knowledgeable. After hiring Mark, we met with him to discuss further details of the event. He asked incisive questions about the auction items and our school and learned some background stories about some of our teachers, which he later used as live-auction fodder. During the meeting he made several excellent suggestions that we incorporated into our event.
At the event, crowds of people followed Mark through the room as he generated interest in specific silent auction tables. Cleverly, he called out people by name. His sense of humor also engaged the crowd. Any bidding war for item was soon presented as an epic battle of wills. We were thrilled that all the silent auction items - items that we spent months procuring, collecting, cataloging, labeling, and packaging - were finally getting their proper due.
As for the live auction, Mark called on people by name and intensified the competition between bidders with direct appeals. Since he had a cordless microphone, he was able to move around the room and interact with the audience. Each time a husband or wife began to intervene in their spouse’s spending spree, Mark was there to defend the spender’s right to buy.
As you probably know, running an event is rather stressful, but we actually had a good time with Mark as the auctioneer. After all our hard work, it was great seeing the crowd responsive, entertained, and, most importantly, freely spending. After the event, the highest praise we received was for Mark.
We were completely satisfied with Mark, and he delivered on his promise of upping our donations and creating an enjoyable evening. We plan to have him as our auctioneer for years to come.
L. Jackson and K. Patel
2010 Auction Chairs
Old Orchard School
Mark is AWESOME!!!
He totaly saved our event that has been slowly dying over the years. He was full of ideas and was great with advice in the planning process. The feedback I got about him after the event was GREAT! He is very friendly, professional and brings in the dollars! He brought in WAY more then we paid him and was worth every last penny and then some. I will definitely be asking him back next year!
S. Loconte~Rebekah Children’s Services
Mark was absolutely amazing!
I work for a small, non-profit organization that is an education fund for children in East Africa and we hired Mark to be our auctioneer for our large fall fundraising event in November 2010.
We could not have reached our fundraising goal and been so successful without Mark's help. He was very passionate and caring about our mission, that we knew we were in good hands to have him help us fundraise money and it shined through on the night of.
Mark also was a great help with assisting the Auction team on collecting items for both the Silent and Live Auction before the event. His knowledge and attitude was great and why we chose Mark.
You won't go wrong with having Mark Alman be your auctioneer!
Price Range: Contact for rates
Languages: English
Testimonials:
I had the pleasure of working with Mark Alman in March 2009 at Hillbrook School’s yearly auction at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA.
Mark did a wonderful job of working with us from the beginning in creating some new, fresh ideas for our live auction as well as helping us manage the order in which those items should be presented.
Mark brings a confidence and charisma that is needed at a live auction. He demands the audiences’ attention with his booming voice and the chemistry that he builds with them.
Mark moves through the auction gracefully, knowing the perfect time to speed through items or to slow down in order to push the bids higher. He keeps the evening flowing at just the right pace.
He is a remarkable auctioneer and I look forward to working with him again in 2010.
Heather Steinbock
Hillbrook School Auction Chair 2008, 2009, 2010
As Auctioneer, Mark Alman has been an important part of Hillbrook’s auctions for many years and we are always pleased with his amazing ability to engage the crowd. He is supportive of our staff and with his experience, professionalism and enthusiasm, he makes for an effective and successful event. We highly recommend him.
Peggy Smith, Development Director, Hillbrook School
As a non-profit fundraiser for a variety of Silicon Valley organizations and agencies, I have worked with numerous outside professionals. My experience includes serving on the Board of Woman’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley - VP Campaign, Chairperson of the Hillbrook School Annual Auction – 2 years, Solicitation Chairperson Hillbrook Auction, Youth Commission Member of Congregation Beth David, Chair of Major Gifts Dinner Congregation Beth David, and Teen March of the Living 2010 Fundraiser & Staff Person, just to name a small sampling of my non-profit work.
Mark Alman proved to be an invaluable resource in my three consecutive years in a leadership role with respect to the Hillbrook. Mark’s expertise was demonstrated early on in the process. His guidance in educated the committee and development staff in seeking and selecting live auction items was key. Mark’s impute with respect to the physical layout of the auction stage, table arrangement, seating, positioning, and item line up prior to the actual event was nothing less than genius. We spent hours together so as Mark would be able to identify key players in the audience down to the last detail. His scientific approach to paving the way for a successful event never ceased to amaze me. The real magic becomes evident once Mark is on stage and the bidding begins. His unbelievable energy and charismatic nature captivates the audience. During the three years that I had the pleasure to work with Mark, he consistently and significantly raised our numbers in the live auction portion of the evening. I must also mention that these years coincided with a falling and often precarious economy in Silicon Valley.
I recommend Mark without reservation for your organizational needs. It would be my pleasure to answer any additional questions you may have.
Sincerely,
Paula Barbarito Levitt
Los Angeles, CA 
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