This past week the Columbus Indiana Holiday Inn was host to the 2010 Indiana Auctioneers Convention. Being the largest single state auctioneers association at around 500 members this convention was a veritable who’s who of fast talkers.
The convention kicked off Thursday with sessions on a range of topics: Auction technology, rules regarding firearms auctions, as well as a session to go along with the theme of the convention, promote and brand by Jennifer Hope of Auction Ink. Opening day was also host to a ribbon cutting ceremony signalling the tradeshow area officially open for business. Bring an exhibitor at the great event it was the ideal opportunity to meet and greet well over 200 attendees at the convention. Myself at the Global Auction Guide booth and the other 30 vendors were very pleased opening day turn out. Opening day closed with a casino games kickoff party. Although lady luck wasn’t on my side at the poker and roulette tables it was good to see some people were striking it rich. The night ended with everyone converting their winnings into raffle tickets and hoping one of their tickets would be chosen for the 5 big drawings.
Standing in front of the booth. Faking a conversation until we figure out how to get the camera to work.
Day two kicked off with an even bigger crowd settling in to attend the day’s session. The awards luncheon yielded winners in a variety of advertising competitions, as well as gave time for the association to recognise past presidents and recognize a few of its members. The awards luncheon drew to a close and attendees went off to their afternoon sessions as the competitors for the bid calling championship started warming up for the preliminaries. After the hall of fame inductions and parade of champions the stage was set for the Indiana Championship Auctioneer Contestant Finals. Judges proclaimed the event to be incredibly tough to judge and choosing a winner to be one of the hardest jobs they’d had in a while, but when all the dust had settled Jonathan Kraft of Kraft Auction Services was named 2010 champion.
Saturday, Day 3, started with breakfast as usual then on to the IAA annual meeting running in parallel with the auxiliary social. The main ballroom filled up for the luncheon with keynote speaker Wayne DeVeydt CFO of WellPoint. The crowd seemed to hang upon his every word as he won us over with talks on the current state of the economy and an afternoon talk on leadership. Both speeches were fuelled by a strong sense of accountability, entrepreneurialism and capitalistic optimism all of which seemed to go over well with the crowd. The day ended with a diamond and denim president’s gala, a benefit auction and a entertaining speech from incoming president Sara J. Minor.
The convention drew to a close on Sunday as everyone did a flurry of handshaking and exchanging of business cards. With this being my first convention I was overwhelmed by the hospitality and size of the event. With that I took a moment to catch my breath and before I knew it my dog and pony show was on the next flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for my next assignment, the Florida Auctioneers Association convention.
Global Auction Guide
Luncheon with keynote speaker Wayne DeVeydt CFO of WellPoint.
Lee talking with President of the IAA Mike Mensendiek
Lee and IAA Board Member David Bennett
Just hanging out between talks. Giving my iPad a rest as people seemed to be fascinated with it most of the day
