I have made the hard decision that, for the foreseeable future, I do not want to be the main person in charge of the week-to-week planning and day-to-day maintenance of the auction. I have a number of reasons for wanting to step down, but the deciding factor is an early 2013 deadline for a project that I will need to work on intently during the time the auction planning, running, and closing is traditionally held (at least November-January). The time commitment to the auction is substantial, and I don't want it to suffer as a result.
I would very much like to see one or a select few individuals take over for me. I've certainly had help and offers of help from many of you in the past, so here's your chance to step up and take on an even larger role. I would want to stay connected to the auction in an advisory role and will be happy to dispense advice and provide guidance as needed, but whoever runs with it should be willing to innovate, adapt, or otherwise make the auction their own project. There are certainly things worth keeping and tossing from past years, and those final decisions should be made by someone who can make a full time commitment to the auction.
The basic structure in past years was:
1) Me - instigator of planning threads, collecting of item descriptions and pictures from donors, posting of items, updating bids and/or answering questions during the auction, advertising, communication with charities, collecting and distributing payments, dealing with any headaches from shipping or money problems, etc., etc.
2) Group of Helpers - some help with advertising and/or tracking bids, offering advice when it was requested, moral support
3) Forum members - suggesting charities, voting, suggesting format ideas, contributing and purchasing items
My chief suggestion for whoever steps into to my role (#1) this year would be to find ways to shift some of your responsibilities to groups #2 and #3.
The next steps are:
1) PM me if you want to be the person in charge this year, explaining why you think you'd be a good fit and/or asking any questions you'd like. If I am going to pass this on, I'd like to know it will be in good hands.
2) PM me if you want to have your name added to a list of potential "helpers" indicating what, exactly, you think you'd like to help with.
...and please, let's not use this thread to talk about specifics of this year's auction (format, charity, etc.) - but rather the future of the auction as an annual event. Hopefully I'll get some replies and sometime in November we'll have some threads announcing preliminary details of the 2012 auction
