Every year, as part of the general festivities and merrymaking, VCON hosts a silent auction in support of a charity that is chosen each year by the members of the ConCom.
One reason we host this annual auction is for the fun factor of giving some members the chance to donate stuff, and then giving other members the chance to bid and win other people’s stuff! Items up for auction can include just about anything you can think of - it all depends on who makes donations and what they donate. In the interests of starting those salivary glands going early, a list of items available for this year's event will be posted here as soon as we know what we've got.
The other reason we do this (not to discount the importance of fun, of course!) is to give back to the community and share the love outside our community of science fiction and fantasy lovers.
Sections:
Silent Auction | Our Charity | Share Your Stuff
Silent Auction
A silent auction is a quieter, more flexible cousin of the traditional gavel-and-bang auction. Instead of having items held up in front of people who make bids on them right then and there, each item (or an image of the item) are put on display along with a description and a "bid sheet" where members who are interested in a particular item can put down their name, member number and the amount they wish to bid.
The auction runs throughout the weekend, allowing members to wander through at their leisure and gaze with rapture upon the faces of whichever beauteous objects are being proffered. If there is something they desperately want to take home, they can make a bid by putting down a value that is higher than that of the last person to make a bid. Later, they can return to check on the status of the coveted item and update their bid if some other rapacious member has jumped in an outbid them. At the close of the auction, the member with the highest bid on the page will be awarded the item.
The items and bid sheets for our auction will be placed in a specific area of the venue (still to be determined), and will run from noon Friday to noon Sunday.
Bidders will have until 2 hours past the close of the auction (i.e, between noon and 2pm Sunday) to pick up items, or they will be forfeited.
Our Charity
All of the proceeds from the silent auction are split equally between VCON and our charity!
This year, the charity that will be the benefactor of half the auction proceeds, is Aunt Leah’s Independent Lifeskills Society.
Aunt Leah’s is a non-profit organization whose goal is help people on the road to self-sufficiency. This includes helping to prevent kids in foster care from becoming homeless, and helping to prevent mothers in need from losing custody of their children. To do so, they provide supported housing, job training, and coaching in essential life skills. To find out more about Aunt Leahs, visit their website.
The other half of the proceeds go towards VCON and help to cover expenses for this event and the next one.
Share Your Stuff
This part of VCON, just like all the other parts, is totally donation and volunteer-driven and you can help us out a great deal by donating items that can be used in the silent auction. In addition to items for the silent auction, VCON also needs prizes and swag for the rest of the event. Visit the Donations page for more details!
