Auction
By Peter Parisi
The Washington Times
When you come to Philadelphia for ACES 2010 in mid-April, you won't need to overpay for cheesy souvenirs in the hotel gift shop. That's because the annual ACES Silent Auction has you covered.
The Silent Auction, one of ACES' primary fundraisers and a staple of Friday night at the annual conference, raised more than $3,000 last year in Minneapolis, and we're out to top that this year.
Here's a just sampling of the merchandise that will be up for grabs by the high bidders:
- Company logo-branded merchandise of many of ACES participating sponsor newspapers (coffee mugs, clothing and the like)
- Books, including Bob Schieffer's "Face The Nation" (which includes a DVD); Jan Crawford Greenburg's book about the Supreme Court "Supreme Conflict," Will Shortz's "Greatest Hits" crosswords; books in the "Eat This, Not That" series from Rodale Press; and many more.
- A two-CD set of bluegrass covers of Beatles songs, "Picking on the Beatles."
- Several collectible T-shirts, including "Believe in Cleveland" from ACES' Cleveland conference and for the kids "Sesame Street."
- For coffee lovers, a metal thermal travel mug with a built-in clock from Boca Java; a 24-ounce ceramic mug from Caribou Coffee; and a plug-in coffee-cup warmer for your cubicle/desk.
- Four 7-ounce bags of customized red, white and blue ACES M&Ms with the individual M&Ms inscribed with four different inscriptions (rather than the standard "M&M") --- ACES 2010, ACES '10 PHILLY, AP STYLEBOOK, and COPYEDIT THIS! --- donated by ACES board member Peter Parisi.
- For beer lovers, a gallon beer growler.
- Unused ACES conference swag bags and programs from prior conferences.
- Original artwork from ACES board member Bill Connolly.
- Digital camera printer-paper packs from Staples (to preserve your ACES conference memories for posterity).
All these items and lots more will be available for bidding Friday night at the conference. And of course, we welcome your donations of merchandise to the cause, whether you're coming to the conference or not. If you are, you can bring them with you; Alternate arrangements can be made to have them sent ahead of time to the conference hotel if they are too big or bulky.
For more information on the silent auction, call ACES board member Peter Parisi at 571-277-1958 or e-mail him at pparisi@washingtontimes.com.
