The 2015 KAA Winter Convention featured excellent networking opportunities and auctioneer education in addition to the 2015 KAA Auctioneer Championship preliminary round.
It all started off on Thursday evening with the President’s Reception in a suite, KAA board meeting an the past president’s meeting with incoming president, Bill Eberhardt. Real estate continuing education courses were held Friday during the day with a required broker core course on office management by the Wichita Area Association of REALTORS® and an elective course called Auction Verdicts taught by Mike Brandly. The Auxiliary had their fun, touring and sampling the Nifty Nut House and doing some shopping.
We were excited to have 18 contestants in the 25th Annual Kansas Auctioneer Championship preliminaries. 10 finalists will be advancing to compete at the Kansas State Fair this fall.
The Rookie Competition and Fun Auction were held after dinner where funds were also raised for St. Jude Hospital. Please be proud as twice the amount was raised for them this year compared to 2014. Our Rookie Champion for 2015 is Cody Miller and our Early Bird winner is Mark Sudduth. Both won free registration to next year’s convention.
Saturday was power-packed with lots of educational sessions by Mike Brandly, Paul Behr and Christie King. The sessions included information on benefit auctions, UCCs, auctioneering, bid calling and the history of auctioneering, as well as a panel of champions session. The Auxiliary held their luncheon, conducted their scholarship fund auction and inducted Jean Oswalt into the KAA Auxiliary Hall of Fame.
Auctioneer education
Mike Brandley’s auction verdicts class
Mike Brandley’s auction verdicts class
Panel discussion with champions
Christie King
Lessons from the panel of champions
Paul C. Behr
Christie King
At dinner, three scholarships were awarded – Brooke Eberhardt (Bill Eberhardt), Chelsea Fullerton (Lance Fullerton) and Afton Moore (granddaughter of Richard Schoen and LaDonna Schoen-Gehring). Two KAA New Auctioneer Scholarships were given out to Shaun Elmore and Marlon Hoeffner. Lance Fullerton received his 2014 Kansas Auctioneer Champion plaque and prize money and Russele Sleep, who was unable to attend, was recognized as the 2015 KAA Livestock Auctioneer Champion. The KAA Hall of Fame awards were presented to two recipients this year, Lester Edgecomb and Jack Newcom. After the director services auction to raise money for the association’s speaker fund, a dual reception was held for both of our new Hall of Fame inductees.
Saturday night president’s gala
Sunday, after the inspirational worship service, Christie King filled in for Hannes Combest, who ended up not being able to make it this year, and presented Using Effective Communication to Increase Your Business. The installation luncheon was held where Richard Garvin received a belt buckle to commemorate his presidency in 2013. A plaque was given to Megan McCurdy Niedens in honor of her 2014 presidency. It was announced that Lenny Mullin and Yve Rojas are the newest members of the KAA’s board of directors. Both the KAA and KAA Auxiliary 2015 boards of directors were installed. Afterwards, both boards meet to already get started on their work for this year.
Sunday luncheon
