Recently I was at an event where a local media personality was in charge of announcements during the silent auction. He did his job…and then some. He made a comment or reminder every five to ten minutes. He followed his script but fought the overall crowd noise each time he spoke.

The problem was that no one was listening. The sound wasn't the issue--the crowd simply tuned him out! That’s what happened to these announcements.

The problem, of course, came when he had really important announcements to make like the countdown for the silent auction. When he needed to be heard—the nonprofit needed for him to be heard—the crowd continued to socialize and pay absolutely no attention. And friends, lack of attention is lack of funds into your event’s bottom line.

Best practice? Limit your announcements. Space them out and make them meaningful. Things like raffles and highlighted items should be mentioned just a couple of times. Then do your countdown starting at 30 minutes, then 15 minutes, five minutes, two minutes, etc.

Use your announcements and your coveted guest’s attention wisely! Limit the talking, but have impact when you do.