Benefit Bidding will be providing the McKinney Morning Pride Lions club with Qtego Text bidding for their 6th annual “Fore Sight Benefit Golf Tournament”. We are very excited that the McKinney Morning Pride has selected this AWESOME technology.
Event Date: Monday May 7th, 2012
Location: Eldorado Country Club
2604 Country Club Drive
McKinney, Texas 75070
$100 per player includes dinner, silent and live auction
If you are unable to participate in the tournament join for the Dinner & Auction!
6PM Dinner & Auction
Dinner only tickets $20
To register for the event Click Here!
To visit the auction site Click Here!
Benefit Bidding is honored to be providing Qtego text bidding technology for the 18th Annual Camp Summit Golf Tournament. The event will also include a “LIVE” auction during the awards ceremony. Lloyd Cooper Benefit Biddings founder and lead auctioneer will be conducting the live auction.
Event Date: Monday April 23, 2012
Location: Bear Creek Golf Club Dallas Texas
Play begins at 1:30 PM
The golf tournament is a scramble format and each player enjoys lunch, golfer gifts, contests on the course with contest prizes, a silent auction and a great day of golf! All of the proceeds made from this event directly benefit the camping program and the remarkable campers of Camp Summit.
To view a catalog of the items that will be availabe for text bidding click here!
Benefit Bidding is honored to host the online auction portion of the The Kansas Cosmosphere 50th Anniversary Celebration
The online auction will run from April 22nd to April 28th.
To bid on auction items Click Here!
The live event wil be help on
Saturday, April 28, 2012
6:30 – 10:00 pm
Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center
Join us in a tribute to our founder, Patty Carey, and to many who have made space exploration happen. Silent auction of signed space memorabilia, jewelry and Omega watches (including SP 96 Moon Watch) begins at 6 pm.
Guests include Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 16 Astronaut Charlie Duke and Kansas Shuttle Astronauts Joe Engle and Steve Hawley.
Joining us in the tribute will be founder Patty Carey’s sons, Brooks, Chris and Mike and their families. Master of Ceremonies Ken Baker, Radio Kansas
For ticket details call 620.665.9310 or Email pattif@cosmo.org
Sorry, I can’t attend but would like to contribute to the Cosmosphere’s Lift-Off campaign to promote the future of space science education. Click here to donate.
This weekend we conducted an auction for the Quilter’s Guild of Dallas at Market Hall. During the event, my wife thought she lost her purse. As you might guess, she was in a bit of a panic. I was calm until I realized my iPad was in her purse!! (Yes – her purse is pretty big!) OK – now mass panic arose. The good news is she found her purse and all was ok. But, it got me to thinking – what if she had lost her purse and my beloved iPad??
iPads are AWESOME devices and many of us, including those of us who are auctioneers, use them for both personal and business purposes. You may not realize just how much information they hold. Like a smartphone, an iPad can store email, contacts, calendar, personal photos, videos, books, magazines, and more. It can also be used to store client information, reports for clients, proposals, documents, presentations, annotate PDF files, grab data from the Web to read later − the list goes on.
Many applications do not require you to log in often or even more than once – anyone who has your iPad could access all of the data above – plus your Facebook account and your Netflix queue.
We’ve become accustomed to PC-based security – we know we have to log in and log out, that we must use an eight-character password, and that our screen will lock itself after a while.
We recognize the warning signs from our browsers and various security programs. iPad is something a little less-familiar − you may not be aware of the iPad’s built-in security features and how you can take advantage of them to help protect your data.
After doing some research I am now better prepared. Listed below are 10 easy things you can do to greatly improve the security of your iPad without sacrificing its unique performance and utility.
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If your iPad isn’t running iOS 4 or later, upgrade it. iOS versions before 4.x do not support hardware-based encryption. All iPad2 devices are shipped with iOS 4/5, so if you have an iPad2, you are covered. If you have an original iPad running iOS 3, you must back up the iPad, upgrade the device, and then restore your files from backup. An “in-place” upgrade will not enable the hardware protection features. Instructions for upgrading to iOS5 |
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Set a passcode to enable data protection. The combination of a passcode and the iOS4 features provides strong encryption for your stored data – a thief would have to know your passcode to access your information. I recommend using the “complex” passcode features enabled in iOS rather than a simple four-digit passcode. The iPad’s on-screen keyboard makes entering longer passcodes easy. Here’s how. |
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Set your iPad to automatically erase your data after 10 failed login attempts. If someone tries to guess your passcode, your data will “self-destruct” after 10 guesses. Go to Settings → General → Passcode Lock and set the Erase Data switch to ON. Here’s more information on failed passcodes. |
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Set the screen auto-lock to activate after a period of inactivity, preferably less than 15 minutes, and set Require Passcode to a short interval, preferably “Immediately.” This will reduce battery usage by shutting off the screen when idle, and will protect your data by activating the passcode lock immediately when the screen shuts off. You can tune these settings to meet your typical work needs, but keep in mind that a shorter interval is more secure. Go to Settings → General → Auto-Lock and Settings → General → Passcode Lock to modify these settings. |
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If you don’t plan to use Bluetooth devices, disable Bluetooth. Go to Settings → General → Bluetooth, and slide the Bluetooth switch to OFF. |
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Turn off “Ask to Join Networks” – you should limit WiFi usage to a small number of trusted networks and prevent your iPad from asking whether you want to join others. If you need WiFi in a restaurant or airport, you can always go to the settings page to see the available networks, even with this feature disabled. Go to Settings → Wi-Fi and set the Ask to Join Networks switch to OFF. |
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Set up “Find My iPad” through the iCloud service. It’s free for iPad owners – you can learn more at http://www.apple.com/ipad/built-in-apps/find-my-ipad.html. There’s even an app that will let you use another iOS device to help find a lost device. |
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Protect your Web-browsing experience by enabling Fraud Detection and Pop-Up Blocker in Safari. Note that these can disrupt your browsing of certain sites – if you encounter trouble with these features, revert to the default Safari settings. Under SettingsàSafari, set the Fraud Warning and Block Pop-ups switches to ON. |
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Install updates regularly. Apple periodically releases operating system and core application updates, while third-party developers are frequently updating applications. You can find application updates via the App Store app. With iOS5, you don’t need to connect your device to iTunes to update it – you can go to Settings → General → Software Update to see whether an update is available. |
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Back up your iPad. iCloud will back up a subset of your iPad’s data, and you can back up the full device with iTunes. For best protection, make sure your iTunes backup is encrypted. ICloud backup information, iTunes backup information. |
Join us on August 27th for the 1st annual Red Hot Road Rally benefiting the Childrean and Community Health Center (CCHC) of McKinney, Texas. CCHC provides healthcare to the underserved children and adults of McKinney and the surrounding areas. All services are provided free of charge to individuals without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, or nationality. The only requirement is that the patient must be unable to access healthcare services through the traditional fee-for-service delivery system.
CCHC was founded on August 2nd, 2004 by Mary Nelle Cummins, along with a small group of benefactors. We are affiliated with Volunteers in Medicine founded by Jack B. McConnell, M.D. on Hilton’s Head Island, South Carolina.
The clinic plays a valuable role in the community providing basic and routine healthcare for uninsured or under insured families in McKinney and surrounding areas.
Live & Silent Auctions
One of the highlights of the Red Hot Road Rally will be the live and silent auctions at Myers Park.
If you are unable to attend the end of ride event, but would still like to bid on the live and silent auction items displayed on this site, you can place an online absentee bid. Online absentee bidding bidding for the live and silent auction items will cease on Friday August 26th at 8 pm CDT. Absentee bids will be assigned to a proxy bidder at the event. The proxy bidder will place bids up to, and including, the maximum bid offered by the online absentee bidder. So, if you won’t be present at the event and you see an auction item you can’t live without, bid high! If your online absentee bid is the high winning bid, you will be contacted on Monday, August 29th, 2011.
Online Auctions
Be sure to tell all your friends about our online auction!! The Red Hot Road Rally Online auction will remain open until 8:00 PM Tuesday, September 6, 2011.
If you’re having a fundraising event for your school, consider adding a teacher’s wish list.
Ask each teacher to create a list of items, typically ranging in price from $25 to $50, that they would like for their classroom. If ”big ticket” items such as computers, printers, etc. are needed, split them into multiple requests of $50 to $100 towards the purchase of the item.
Next, create an attractive list for each classroom. The teacher’s name and classroom should be easily visible. Each list should have an area for bidders to place their bid number next to the item they want to make a donation for.
Display all the wish lists in an area which is easily accessible to everyone attending your event.
At the end of the evening, the donations from the teacher’s wish list are added to the bidder’s auction purchases. The money raised is placed in a fund for the purchase of those items “purchased.”
Bidumup,
Lloyd
• Solicitation – Instead of just asking for an item donation, be specific! Ask for exactly what you want from each donor. Shoot for the stars! They can only say no, and just might say yes. Also, when asking always use consider. Would you consider donating the beautiful Grandfather clock for our annual auction? If the answer is no they only said no to consider donating the clock. You can then counter offer by asking for a donation of a lesser item.
• Item Grouping – How much money can you raise with a $25 dining gift certificate? If your lucky $20 to $25. How much excitement can you generate from the certificate? Not much. But, if you package it with 12 other gift certificates worth $25 to $50 each- you have “Dinning Out For A Year”. Throw in a couple of movie tickets and you have a “Date Night” Package. By doing this you now have an item that should bring between $400 to $600. You also have an item that people will get excited about and hopefully help in creating a “Buzz” about your event.
• Building your catalog – Having a variety of Merchandising is key! If possible try to gather images of the donations from the donors such as logos, property photos this will help make your items stand-out. A picture is a must if you’re listing your item Online.
• Email announcements - Keep your potential bidders informed by sending emails that list frequently added items. Be sure to mix up the range of pricing and types of items that are new to the catalog. Also be sure to invite them to forward the email to family & friends who might be interested in bidding on any of the items.
Bidumup,
Lloyd
During a commercial auction, presentation or public event the audience is for the most part quiet and giving their full attention to the auctioneer or presenter this is not the case at a Benefit Auction! A benefit auction is different from other events because at a benefit auction the attendees will all be schmoozing and socializing (remember they have come to party!). The success of your event depends on the audience being able to clearly hear and understand what is being said while still socializing with other guests. For this you need a benefit auction quality surround sound system!
When planning your event don’t overlook the sound system! One of the biggest mistakes organizations make is not securing a proper sound system. The problem with using the bands (or DJ’s) system is that it is single sided sound (setup along one side of the room usually the front of the room). For the people in the back to hear, you have to turn up the volume so much that the people in the front are blown away (not a good idea especially if your VIP guests are seated in the front of the room!). If you turn the volume down enough to satisfy the people in the front then the people in the back cannot hear. As for using the hotels system, think again most hotel sound systems use small speakers built into the ceiling. These small speakers are usually of poor quality and often distort when the volume is raised high enough to be heard in a packed room full of people socializing.
Most organizations work an entire year to create one magical evening. Don’t let all your hard work be wasted because your audience cannot clearly hear and understand the auctioneer. Be sure to ask your auctioneer if they provide a benefit auction quality sound system.
Bidumup,
Lloyd
Join us on June 13th At the Eldorado Country ClubFor the McKinney Lions Morning Pride 5th annual Fore Sight Golf Scramble & Benefit Auction. To register for this event or to preview the auction items please visit our site: FORE SIGHT GOLF SCRAMBLE
The online portion of the auction will open June 1, 2011 and close June 12, 2011 at 8 pm CST. Upon the close of the online portion of the auction, all bidding will cease until the live auction on Monday, June 13th, at 6:00 pm CDT at Eldorado Country Club. During the online auction, registered online bidders can choose to place a maximum “proxybid” for the live portion of the auction. Each online bidder who places a “proxybid” will be assigned a “proxy” bidder to place bids at the live auction – up to the maximum amount specified by the online bidder.
