AuctionsPlus CEO Anna Speer addresses the 30th anniversary gathering in Sydney.

GLIMPSES of the past, the present and the future were all evident at a celebratory dinner in Sydney on Thursday evening, when AuctionsPlus marked 30 years of operations as Australia’s national online livestock marketing platform.

The event was attended by about 300 industry stakeholders – producers, agents, industry administrators and others connected with the red meat supply chain – from the current day to decades past.

As outlined in this earlier Beef Central article, AuctionsPlus was spawned in June 1986, commencing full-time weekly sales a year later. Today the program trades about $460 million worth of cattle and sheep livestock each year, drawing vendors and buyers from all parts of the continent.

As the photo gallery at the base of this page shows, Thursday’s event provided a gathering-point for many of those responsible for the original formation and development of Computer Aided Livestock Marketing (CALM), the predecessor of today’s AuctionsPlus.

The night was also chosen to unveil AuctionsPlus’s new logo (see image – inverted A+ in the shape of a cow’s head), and a new business website, starting soon.

It also provided a worthy launchpad for new AuctionsPlus innovations, including a unique ‘star rating’ system designed to reinforce online trust between buyer, seller and the assessor involved.  Anybody familiar with the Uber public transport system will know about a similar mechanism, whereby drivers and their passengers constantly rate each other on their experiences.

Rachel Botsman

This ability to create better relationships through real-time feedback was a central theme in a dinner presentation on the emergence of the ‘collaborative economy’ by guest speaker and social media expert, Rachel Botsman.

The rules of trust are changing in the digital age, Ms Botsman told the audience. “There is a shift from trust in institutions to ‘peer trust’,” she said.

“This emerging type of trust greases the wheels of business, facilitates person-to-person relationships and changes the ‘real world’ behaviour of people. And its power is being harnessed by both disruptive start-ups and massive brands.”

Dinner raises $38,000 for RFDS

Two spirited charity auctions were held in conjunction with the anniversary celebrations, raising funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

The first was a live interfaced auction during the Darling Harbour dinner itself, and the second an online-only auction for those who could not attend.

The live interfaced physical auction held during Thursday night’s dinner raised $17,000, while the online remote charity auction raised $8205. A percentage of dinner ticket proceeds also went to RFDS, taking the night’s total raised to $38,000.

Top selling auction items were a signed Lee Kernaghan black Fender guitar ($4500) and an advertising packaging on the Beef Central and/or Sheep Central websites, ($3000, bought by Lucinda and Brian Corrigan, Rennylea Angus stud near Albury).

Other items to sell well were an Ultimate Grand Final Experience (NRL or AFL) donated by Landmark ($2500); Adelaide Sporting Experience donated by Elders ($2000), and a carton of Rangers Valley Black Market Angus striploins ($1400). Click here to view results for all live charity auction items.

The separate online remote charity auction featured popular items including Sydney Spring Racing Carnival members’ tickets ($415), service voucher for Clear Vision Imaging ($1050); Hunter Valley Gardens Experience ($630); Steel Chief Sheds voucher ($950) and Hazeldean semen package ($825). Click here to view full online charity auction results.

More on a panel session discussion from the AuctionsPlus dinner later this week.