Charity Auction for WWF-NZ

The event was aptly held at Auckland’s Maritime Museum with its harbour views adding to the pertinence of WWF’s mission. Edwards were approached by WWF-New Zealand’s Event Manager Kim Walsh,

“I reached out to Ed, Edwards Hire Manager, who I have worked with for over twenty years and who I knew I could trust with such a high-profile and complex event.”

The auction was a hybrid event with a ‘physical’ audience of one hundred and fifty and an online audience from all over the world. The auction featured eighty extraordinary Tail sculptures with funds raised going toward WWF-New Zealand’s vital work protecting New Zealand’s marine environment and its taonga species, including the Bryde’s Whale, of which sadly there are only 135 left in the Hauraki Gulf.

Edwards were tasked with providing AV support for MC, actress Antonia Prebble, speakers, and the Harcourts auctioneers, as well as videoing the proceedings and live streaming the action to the online viewers – and most importantly to the online bidders. It was the first time that Harcourts New Zealand had used the Auctions Live platform for a hybrid charity event, so everyone was on a learning curve.

“Edwards were absolutely incredible from planning, to set up – including two huge screens, to discretely videoing the auction, and to managing the live streaming via Auctions Live. They simply navigated everything, from a body painter who needed music, to speakers who needed different mic set ups.”

For Kim this all came as a huge relief,

“I had three events in four days, with my final brief coming to them on event day, but Edwards had it all in hand. They understood every element, had everything lined up, even the speaker presentations were cued. That’s exactly what you want as an event organiser – an absolutely delightful team to work with.”

The auction was a great success with people interacting from Fiji, Australia, even the UK, raising over $650,000 for WWF-New Zealand.