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April 24
What an amazing evening!
Last night was an amazing night! The Diana Krall and Friends event was more successful than anyone who was involved could have imagined. We raised approximately 2.5 million dollars for the Haematology Clinical Trials at VGH. They were hoping for $1 mil in proceeds, but that number was quickly shattered during the live and silent auction. The past 6 Diana Krall events pulled together about 1.3 million dollars, so this year's event was unprecedented.
Yesterday, my day started at 9am at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. During the morning, we set up the Auction and cocktail room, as the ballroom was set up the previous night. Both rooms looked stunning.
After lunch, finishing touches were applied all around as anticipation of the evening grew amongst the hard working events team.
My volunteer role for the night was being a Silent Auction Host. We had 84 items up for auction. At first, I was getting quite worried, as many of the items were not pulling in any bids. I think that proved to be a strategy for many. As the attendees mingled with their cocktails in hand and scoped out the various auction items and displays, they seemed to quickly be apart of a bidding frenzy on several items as the auction close time drew near. Within the last hour or so of the silent auction, the bids started to come in, many surpassing the item(s) actual retail value. Normally at an auction, an item will get about 40-60% of its retail value, but the rarity and exclusivity of certain items quickly saw the bid amount greatly exceed the retail value.
There was one family at the auction that were amazing. Their initial bids were far beyond the value of the item. For example, an item valued at about $1500 drew in a bid from them for $4000! And....there were no previous bids before them. The starting bid was $200. I was blown away. Another item they bid on was called "Breakfast at Tiffany's". This package was unique and rare, and garnered $75,000!!!! WOW is all I can say.
The Live auction was even more amazing. The Auctioneer was outstanding to say the least, and Elton John was so generous. For one of the auction items, Elton donated a Versace suit of his. Right before they started to auction this item off, Elton took the mic and made an annoucement. Him and his partner, David Furnish, were making an addendum to the auction package. They were going to add 7 days stay at his home in London, complete with use of his Chauffer, his chef, his complete staff, tickets to Billy Elliott, use of his whole home, including apparently the most beautiful pool you have ever seen. The bidding quickly started and ended in a war between these two people at $185,000. Elton then took the mic again and said, I have an offer for you. If you each bid $200,000, you can each have 7 days at my home etc etc etc, and they will throw in another suit. One of the people in the bidding frenzy jumped at the opportunity and the Auctioneer declared "SOLD!". The other fellow dropped out, and Elton said, well we need two people to bid $200,000 or no deal. Another attendee quickly jumped at this once in a lifetime opportunity, and $400,000 was made for the Foundation within those 10 minutes. Absolutely amazing.
After all the live auctions, the performances started.
Elvis went first, then Diana, then some duets with Elton. Tony Bennett performed, followed by another duet. Then Elton sang several songs, then the whole group jived a little. It was once again, amazing. Also, Sarah McLaughlin sang "In the Arms of the Angel", which was my favourite performance of the night. I love that song, and hearing in the passion in her voice and seeing the emotion in her face brought a tear or two to my eyes.
Oh, Former President Bill Clinton spoke about philanthropy and the importance of it. It was an excellent speech, and his presence was the icing on the cake for a lot of people. But those Secret Service people are quite "hot" I must say. *Whistle*. Oh, Clinton also bid on a few auction items. He browsed the auction room with his entourage when it quieted down a bit.
Anyway, that is the jist of the night. It was amazing and the talk of the office today.