open house/trunk show and my weekend in Chicago wrap up

Thank you for all of the well wishes about my open house/trunk show!  The two custom orders that I got before the show were a great sign of things to come and were enough to cover all of my travel expenses.  However, I'd still put a lot of work into the prep for this show and was hoping for lots of sales there as well.  It didn't disappoint.

The Pros:

-It was a very relaxed atmosphere.  People were happy to just hang out and eat.  I highly recommend providing food and wine and playing music.
-It was a small enough group (20 or so people total over 3 hours) that I was able to talk to everyone.  It was nice to socialize and not have all of the talk revolve around the business aspect of the event.
-While I knew most of the people there, my mom and our friend who hosted had invited some friends I didn't know so I was able to network with new people.
-All but about 2 or 3 people bought at least one item.  Almost everyone spent over $10.
-Lots of people picked up business cards and/or free shipping cards without any prompting.  I am always surprised at shows how many people make purchases and don't pick up at least one business card.
-As for the new items, the glass magnets and metal charms were a big hit.  I got a lot of positive feedback about my cards and sold a few.
-As for the freebie items, they were very well received.  I had a mix of button post earrings, glass magnets, button magnets, button rings, and button hair pins.  People took just about everything except the hair pins, which just weren't a big hit at this show.  That's okay.  If I do another small event like this, I will offer freebies again.
-Linda was able to come!  It was awesome to meet her and see some of her work in person.

Personal Notes About My Display, the Logistics, Etc.:

-I like to allow at least 2 hours to set up for any show.  I only had about an hour and 15 minutes to set up for this.  While I did have some set up help, this was not nearly enough time, especially considering all of the new displays and items that I had.  I can rethink some of my new item set up to minimize the time it requires in the future, but I still need at least 2 hours.
-I knew that going super cheap on my card display easels was going to bite me in the butt, and it did.  I think I'm going to base them on card stock and then secure the card stock to my tables in the future.
-My new banner did not have enough support in the middle.  You can see that in the photos.  I will need to create some loops like the sides have to secure the top to the table next time.  Tape just doesn't cut it with the fabric table covers.  Otherwise it worked well.
-I've been thinking about adding at least one skinny table to my display for 2012 shows so I can create an L shape of sorts.  Adding all of my new displays out for event made it very apparent how necessary that is.  I don't want to crowd my jewelry or compromise the new item space.  Eventually I'd like to add two skinny tables and make an open square but for now, one should suffice.
-A 3 hour show is not a long time to sell when you consider the 3-4 hour set up/tear down time around it and the travel time.  I have a lot of family and friends in the Chicago area so I don't mind making a trip there for the social aspect of the weekend as a whole, but a local open house does make more sense logistically.

Would I do this again?

Definitely.  I would adjust a few of the logistical things I mentioned above.  I would also give potential guests/customers more notice.  We put this together in a few weeks, which worked out okay, but a few more weeks would be preferable I think.  Additionally, I'd be interested in doing a local show at some point, too.  We'll see if that idea can pan out next year.

What else did I do in Chicago?

While I was in Chicago, I had the opportunity to do a few other fun things as well.

Have you done an open house before?  How did it go?  Share your stories, tips, etc.

I included this post in Erika's It's a Wrap Link Party - 2/13/2012.