November 5, 2021
Updated - November, 2023
It's exciting when I get a chance to show off one of our great ClickBidders. More than technology, our team is the greatest value at ClickBid.
In this article I got to interview Jen Ruprich. Jen came to our team back in 2013. She started in our young customer service department and has been instrumental in building the team we have today. What’s more, Jen has visited more events in-person than anyone here at ClickBid. Her experiences have given her a great insight into future events that we hear about. So let’s get into it and learn more about Jen!
“So how did you get involved with ClickBid?”
I started working at ClickBid in 2013. I spent my time training new and repeat clients on how to use our software, answering their questions and preparing them for their events and online auctions. This position also included monitoring our chat/support feature as well as providing remote phone support for organizations.
I have attended over one hundred events as on-site support for ClickBid. My support included volunteer training, providing guidance and advice from personal experiences, running the live portion of the evening and troubleshooting.
“With all your experiences with charities, is there a story where you felt like you helped a nervous charity from the edge of disaster?”
Recently, I went to my first event in a year since the pandemic had begun. It was a very large hybrid event. I had successfully worked with this school for years but this was both mine and their first hybrid event. They had hundreds of people at the Detroit Athletic Club and many more at home. This was also the first time their auctioneer had done anything like this (in room and at home bidding in real-time). Everyone was so nervous and I assured them I would handle it.
Then, the very first item did not work! I did some quick investigating to figure out why and adjusted the settings on their live items just in time. It’s the little things!
The event did very very well, there was lots of virtual participation and everyone was more than pleased.
“What is it like to travel to a Saturday event?”
I always enjoyed going to events and representing ClickBid on-site support. I enjoy traveling and it was fun to see many different parts of our country and Canada and nice to have a change to my usual routine. I truly wanted everything to go perfectly for the charity, wanted them to be happy with our product and my assistance and I honestly wanted the event to be super successful.
It was nice meet the auction chairs and event planners, in person, that I had spent time with, preparing them and getting to know them. The very best part of going to the events was watching people enjoy themselves, supporting so many amazing causes and I am continuously amazed at how incredibly generous people can be.
“Is there anything that stands out where most charities are similar?”
In 2022 I see many organizations wanting to return back to in person events. People naturally want to congregate; we are social creatures. It is fantastic that ClickBid has industry leading options to allow charities to pivot at any time if there is a need to switch to a hybrid event or all virtual. I also see organizations utilizing our text to give feature more than ever.
“What is the experience you’ve seen when a charity went from paper to electronic?”
I will say I have volunteered recently at local community events having a paper auction and it is painful. It is so much extra work and participation is limited to only those present at the event. Over the years the user experience and response has a pretty common theme. Groups are typically hesitant to make the switch from paper and express how nervous they are about technology. ClickBid holds their hands and provides great training and resources and the end result is pure joy. They smash their paper totals and far exceed their goals and have all of the reports and receipts at their fingertips in an instant.
