Valentines Fundraiser

Should we make this a 1 or 2 day event?

We were originally thinking to make it a Friday night and Saturday day event, the saturday part being to try to allow people who could not make it on friday to come. This complicates the sale:  can people take their works home on friday when they leave? Do we not reveal until saturday?

After reading Ellen's thoughts, I think we should make this a one day event.
I also wonder if that Valentines friday is in fact a good day?

here are Ellen's thoughts on the matter:

I guess I would let people take the piece if they bought it because it would be a major turn-off to have to come back to pick it up.  I think that unless you're willing to mail everything that's sold on Friday night (which will be most of it because it's an event driven by getting there first), you should just let everyone take them.  

If possible, I would encourage you to hold the event to just one night - the second night will be very picked over and disappointing for anyone that comes - it might leave a sour taste in the mouths of people who attend on Saturday, and possibly leave a negative connotation with SuperTest.  If you're super concerned about people not being able to attend on Friday, then hold the event on Saturday.  It's not like an auction, where you will make more money by extending the bidding time.  These are fixed price items.  On the 2nd day of the sale, the least appealing works will be the only ones left for sale, and we need to be honest with ourselves about whether those will actually sell - buying art is emotional, and if someone enters on the 2nd day having read that works by Mark Dion, etc will be for sale, then they will automatically be disappointed to find that they are no longer available, and a disappointed person is not very likely to dump $50 on some random piece of art that is much less impressive.  I'd say a second day of the sale is a waste of SuperTest's resources.

Also, holding the event on Valentine's weekend is kind of risky because so many people will be on their 'valentine's' date on either Friday or Saturday.  I think the weekend before Valentine's might hold a better chance of bringing in more people.  

To answer your questions - when we held the sale it was just one night, so people were able to walk away with the pieces as soon as they purchased them.  We provided an envelop for them to put it in.
These are just thoughts - hope they're helpful,