weekend show wrap up

Thank you for all of the well wishes about my Sunday show!  This was a brand new show for me that I found out about through the Wisconsin Arts and Crafts Fair Directory.  The directory shows have a good reputation, and this was a small juried show, so I was optimistic.  But you never know how these things will go.  Thankfully it did not disappoint.  We had steady traffic all day, and I had steady sales as well.

For my 2011 shows, I used three card tables, which is about 8 feet across.  For 2012, I decided to add two smaller tables in the front, making an open square.  For anyone who may be considering this type of set up, the booth sizes for this show were 8"x8" and it JUST fit.  I had enough room to sit behind the display, but that was about it.  Many shows have 10"x10" booths so it will work for most shows.

I know that my sign was drooping a little bit.  I did fix it early in the show.  It's just a tiny bit taller than my tables so I really have to secure it well from above to get it at the right height.

I didn't feel like doing a mock set up at home with the new tables, but I didn't want to invent it all on the spot either, so I drew up a plan ahead of time.  This worked really well.  I didn't have to think about how to arrange inventory on the new tables at all when I got there.  I put my new flowers, pins, rings, hair pins, and magnets on this left side.

Remember how I wanted to base my card displays?  I did, and it was so much better.  I did not tape down these displays or my easels, which I normally do even for indoor shows, but I will next time.  There was only one minor incident with a tip over, but it's better to be safe then sorry.  Also, remember how I talked about building up my card tabs so you could see them over the card sleeves in the display box?  I did, which was a tedious task, but it was worth it and will be even more so for future shows as I create more cards to fill all of those tabs (I only have about 8 filled categories right now).

I did sell the 2012 card.  I would like to make more with this design in the future.

Overall, I was really happy with this set up.  I loved the extra room with the new tables.  It wasn't too crowded, which was good because I'm planning to add boxed card sets and possibly some small canvas button art for my holiday shows.  All of the vertical displays really helped draw people into my entire display.  I have talked about vertical displays before, but I really can't stress this enough.  The more of them I add to my booth, the more people look.

I'm sure that I'll get questions about this so I'll put it out there now: the music note boxes are just overturned Dollar Store plastic crates covered with fabric.  I didn't glue the fabric down or anything, just tucked it into the crate.  It worked really well.

I got a lot of compliments on the new flowers.  I didn't sell too many of them, but it added a lot to my display, so I think that I'll keep it.

It feels good to have a successful open house and one successful show done already for 2012.  Here's hoping for more successful shows this year!

Has anyone else done a show recently?  Share your experiences and tips!

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I included this post in Erika's It's a Wrap Link Party - 5/14/2012.

final 2011 show wrap up

I made my final show for 2011 over the weekend.  This was by far the biggest show of the three I did this year and was definitely required the most prep work.  It didn't help that I only had a month to prepare for it.  Next year I will be ready well in advance with my show only inventory (magnets, etc.).  That was not the case this year.  I was busy from my November show right up until the night before this show.

My set up was pretty similar to the one I used for my other 2011 shows.  I was in the basement of a museum for this, so the lighting wasn't great.  I had booths almost touching mine on both sides with no room to stand behind my tables.

The biggest thing that I changed is that I added a second cork board for earrings and didn't use my magnet board.  Since everything had to be tagged, I boxed tacks and magnets in sets of 8-10 pieces.  The tacks worked well in the jewelry boxes.  The magnets didn't so much.  They still got plenty of attention, though, and almost all of my sets for both sold.  For future shows without central check outs, I'll go back to putting the tacks around the earrings and putting the magnets on a separate board.  Then I'll have boxes with cork boards OR little metal magnetic sheets so people can box their purchases as they like.

You can get a better idea how much work this tagging process involved from this picture.  I know that this looks a little messy.  I tucked a lot of the tags under the items and organized pieces into better rows as the show got started.  My inventory has reached the point that I really don't need to put out everything that I brought to have a full table.

This was the first show I'd ever done with a central check out.  I'm not sure that the % they took out from the sales was worth the trade off of not having to worry about handling money all weekend.  However, I do think that people buy more with this method, and the money may even out with the reduced number of individual credit card transactions.  So it's a tough call.

The basement of the museum is split into two large rooms.  Here are a couple shots of my room.

I don't usually shop a lot at my own fairs because I like to hold onto the money that I just made for more than 10 minutes.  However, I did buy some chai tea mix from one of my neighbor vendors (who were some of the nicest people I've ever met at a show).  I got to sample it several times throughout the weekend and am excited to have it at home now.  Unfortunately they don't have a web site so a picture will have to suffice.

Pros of this show: 

• Although I did not make nearly enough as I was hoping I would, I made plenty to make this show worthwhile.  Among other things, I nearly sold out of magnet and tack sets, and a lot of my Christmas items did well.
• I was able to network with a lot of other Wisconsin vendors, including several who are interested in keeping in touch about future shows (to pass on information about them and whatnot).
• The museum decided that they wanted to start carrying my inventory.  They bought a fair amount of items before the show was over.  Instead of going through a consignment contract, they paid what I normally charge and can mark up the items however they like, which is fine with me.  I made sure that they have my contact information so they can contact me about for future orders (hopefully!).

The downsides of this show
I don't feel that I need to divulge a lot about this online.  My family and BBA teammates have already heard the complete story.  Suffice it to say, I have never been at a show before where: 1) a vendor pulled out completely on the first day of the show (for pretty legit reasons) and 2) there were so many upset vendors.  I was hoping to make this a regular holiday show for my fall/winter show rotation and just don't feel that I can because of the many issues that arose throughout the weekend.

Some tips for long shows:
This was a very long show.  It was 10 hours the first day, 6 hours the second day, and 5 hours the third day.   If you are ever doing a two or three day show, keep the following in mind:

• Take regular breaks.  We were allowed time to eat lunch and dinner the first day and lunch the second and third days.  We were also allowed to take other short breaks as we needed to use the restroom, make phone calls, or just get away from the crowds.  It's important to take advantage of this.  As our booths were so close together and many booths had multiple people, it was easy to find someone to watch your items for a while.
• Stay hydrated.  I did not drink enough water on the first day and could fill myself losing my voice by the time I left.  I made a conscious effort to drink more water for the second and third days.
• Sit down.  Technically we weren't allowed to sit at our booths, but I sat on or leaned against my booth tables during dead periods.  I also sat down during all of my food breaks.  Whether or not you're allowed to sit, make time to do this and stretch your legs regularly.
• Get to know your neighbors.  You will be spending a lot of time with the people around you so it's good to get acquainted.  I was lucky to have some very nice neighbors, which kept this show fun.

I am very glad to be done with this final 2011 show.  Honestly I'm ready to move on to 2012 and focus on my new goals, but I have a few things to finish before then, including the final holiday promotion period on Etsy, listing new items that didn't sell at the show, writing Christmas cards, finishing gift making and buying, and wrapping presents.  Christmas will be here before we know it, and there's still a lot to do before then.

I used this post for Erika's It's a Wrap Link Party 12/12/2011.