Chris Longly from the National Auctioneers Association talks about his role as Deputy Executive Directory and promotes the 60th International Auctioneers Conference and show.

You’re listening to the Auction Podcast. Today is Wednesday, 27th May, 2009. auctioneertech.com – technology, auction and auctioneers, auction tech for the auction industry.

Hello and welcome to the 18th episode of the Auction Podcast from AuctioneerTech. My name is Aaron Traffas and joining me today for the first NAA staff interview is Chris Longly, Deputy Executive Director for the National Auctioneers Association based in Overland Park, Kansas. Chris is on the show tonight for two reasons, the first to talk about his role in the association and the second to tell us about the 60th International Auctioneers Conference and Show coming this July to the Kansas City area.

AuctioneerTech: Good evening Chris and thank you for joining me.

Chris Longly: Thank you Aaron, I’m honored to be the first NAA staff member to join you on your show.

AT: I realize the auctioneers and vendors I’ve had on in previous episodes do a great job of promoting the association but you are the first official and a representative, give me the ninety second elevator speech about what the NAA is, who it benefits and what its goals are.

CL: Well you know I can even beat ninety seconds. To sum up the NAA, there is no better way to describe it that the NAA was built 60 years ago by auctioneers for auctioneers. Simply put, we are here to serve the auction profession and the auction industry, we are the biggest advocate of the auction industry and the auction profession, our role here is to provide auctioneers and auction companies with the tools, training, education and resources that they need to succeed in the ever changing market place. Auctions are different today than they were sixty years ago when the NAA was founded, it’s continued to grow and change every day. So we are here to help provide those tools and resources, so we can move forward. Actions have been around two thousand years and they’re going to be here in the future, but each day they change a little bit and we are here to kind of grow and change with that industry. And so that is our role, is that we are here to provide that, the training, the resources and that networking environment that so many people come to the NAA for, just to network and to communicate and kind of to connect with auctioneers from all over in the United States or even across the world.

Sounds like that snot the first time you’ve had the answer that question.

I am their PR guy so I’m sorry.

So, talk a little bit about that, what are the official job responsibilities for your position which is listed on the website as deputy executive director and what does an average day consist of for you?

You know, when I first joined the NAA, it was two years ago, I came to the NAA as its public affairs manager and as over time my roles and responsibilities have grown. My primary responsibility as the deputy executive director is kind of an extension of those responsibilities which were public relations, government relations and charitable relations. First and foremost, my job for the NAA is to be its advocate for the association and advocate and promoter of our members, and advocate and promoter of the industry. And I do that through the media, my job is to act as a spokesperson, so I will work with everyone from CNN to for instance this week we had a great story on national public radio about auctions and talking about that growth, so I work with the media to promote and push the industry and promote and push NAA auctioneers. On the government relations side, my job is to, one act as an advocate, whether it be in Washington DC, on behalf of the auction industry or as an advisor, kind of a consultant to state associations when they run into issues, since my time we’ve been here I’ve had the fortune of working on behalf of the association to fight some rules in the general services administration that were going to be prohibitive to auctioneers and really box auctioneers out of selling for the Federal government. And so it’s my honor to work with auctioneers and going to Washington DC and stopping that from taking place. And so that’s just an example of the things we work on, working in the state legislatures to educate them about the auction profession and protecting the auctioneers. That’s what we do on the government relations side.

And then on the charitable side, as many people know who follow the National Auctioneers Association, we are proud sponsors of St. Jude Children Research Hospital in Memphis Tennessee and so my job is to act as a liaison between the auctioneers in the NAA and the hospital. We have raised roughly about four million dollars for St. Jude’s since we our partnership began in 1995 and it’s something we continue to hopefully grow and build upon and get more members involved in raising money for that cause. But then also with the association of our size, most people will think the National Auctioneers Association is a very large organization, staff size, we are actually quite small. So we get to dabble in everything. So today I worked with the landscaping through our front, I am the office barbequer, so I do a little bit of everything here at the NAA.

Nice. How did you become involved with the National Auctioneers Association, what’s your background, where are you from and what drew you to the NAA.

Alright…well I’m a proud Nebraskan, so I hail from the good life state, I grew up around auctions my entire life, my family, grandfather was a farmer and rancher, so I remember spending time with him at the livestock sales, but as I grew older I kind of moved away from that. And my background is politics, I studied politics and media relations at University of Nebraska, so I’m a big Cornhusker Fan. I’ve done politics and managed Congressional campaigns and U.S. Senate races when I left college, and then I moved to the corporate side and I did PR and government relations, we call it public affairs in the industry. Public affairs is the combination of government relations and media relations and I did that for The Venetian of Las Vegas, if people are familiar with Las Vegas, I did a little work for them and then I also did work for State Farm Insurance. So I could insure your gambling assets in a sense. But then I came across an opportunity in the Kansas City area that I saw there was an association in need of a public affairs professional and knowing auctions and growing up around them, I thought wow, I found somebody who could talk more than me and faster than me, so this is going to work for me. So that’s why I came down here and joined the NAA staff and I handled the public affairs.

Great. Speaking of public affairs, one of the biggest, in my mind, one of the biggest presences that NAA has for the average auctioneer is at Conference and Show. So how would you describe Conference and Show to someone who is unfamiliar with it, either someone who is unfamiliar with the industry and the association or an auctioneer who is just now beginning to be involved in the association?

You know, the best way for me to sum up Conference and Show is just that one spot that every auctioneer should be in July and should make every attempt to be there because this is the one spot where you could go to network, ask those questions that you are needing input on, getting that education to help you remain competitive in the marketplace, its all those things in one week, in Kansas City this Summer, next year it will be in Greensboro North Carolina and so on and so forth, its that one week where we get together and have fun, we celebrate our industry, we compete with competitions, we have education sessions, but most importantly its just that shaking hands in the hallway, asking if you are a new person in the industry, asking that thirty year veteran, how have you stayed in this business for thirty years. What would be the one tip you could offer me as an auction school graduate so I can be in your same shoes thirty years down the road. That’s what’s Conference and Show; it’s that one week where you get everything you need. But at the same time it’s that family reunion and that’s one thing we are going to have this year, is that family reunion thing because if you ask many NAA members, Conference and Show is far more than just business and professional development. It is catching up with old friends, what has happened in the last year since I last saw you at Conference and Show last year. So that’s how I describe Conference and Show.

You mentioned it is going to be in Kansas City this year. Why is it coming home to Kansas City?

Kansas City, its coming home because home is where we are here and it is our sixtieth anniversary. 1949, eleven auctioneers got together and created the National Auctioneers Association, sixty years have passed, its time to bring in the family, come to Kansas City to Overland Park and we are going to get together and celebrate sixty years. I mean, that’s something to hang your head on and be proud, so it’s going to be a family reunion in a sense. And we are going to celebrate sixty years because here in Kansas City this is where we are headquartered, so it makes sense to bring everyone home to the family.

Being based in Kansas City and I assume living there somewhere in the area, you should be relatively familiar with Kansas City and the Kansas City area. What are some things to do, what are some night life attractions and what can we expect for some of the extr