Paper wins again

As much as we love our fancy streamlined CRM systems, I've yet to see anything that beats good ol’ pen and paper for speed and flexibility.

I was on staff during the Starfish Benefit for the Child & Family Guidance Center of Texoma this past Saturday.

Besides the live auction that gets most of the attention, a fun part of the event is the “Heads or Tails” game. I won't bore you with the details, but the gist is that you must donate to play, and you must play to win, and winning is fun.

Thing is, many people weren't able to sign up for the game because of some issues with the mobile app for the event.

No problem, says the emcee. Before we start, I'll ask everyone who wants to play to raise their bid paddles, we'll note their bidder numbers, and then we'll just add that game donation to their auction totals.

Sure, fine idea.

But. Imagine you're trying to record a series of specific three-digit numbers as the emcee reads them from the crowd as quickly as he can. You know, 30 or 40 of them in a 60-second burst.

Are you going to type that into your notes app on your phone? Are you going to look them up one by one in the auction software?

The board member in charge of the Heads or Tails game tried that. It doesn't work so well.

Fortunately, somebody was ready with the right tools: one ballpoint pen, and one sheet of paper.

Problem solved.

Here's the thing:

It's really wonderful when you can do live data entry on the spot. The data goes right into your system, and your staff can see it right away. And once your live event is done, your data is there.

But someone needs to be ready with a fallback that is bone-simple and absolutely reliable. Just in case a surprise comes up.

Because in a live event, surprises will come up. Count on it.

All the best,
A.