Hey friends!! I hope everyone had a great start to November! I know I sure did :) I attended my first Craft Show over the weekend! I know a lot of you crafty ladies will be attending one, if not two this holiday season, of your own shows, but for those of you newbies {like me}, I definitely learned a thing or two these past few months while I was preparing and at the event itself! Now, I know that just because I went to one teeny tiny event, that I'm not an expert on the whole thing, but I do have a few tips for you, in case your attending a similar type of function or thinking of it in the future...
First things first...BRING YOUR CAMERA! One of my biggest goof ups this weekend! I had thought of it the day before, but then totally forgot until on the drive there, and turning back was out of the question, so I had to live with the guilt all day :( Boo!} Luckily I had my iPod!
1. Give yourself tons, I mean tons of time to make things! I literally crammed most of my stuff into a two week period...Urgh, for some reason I work better under the deadline of things. But I think next time, I will start a bit earlier. It's not fun being up late the night before!
2. Get a good nights sleep. I didn't. I was nervous. I was thinking about Zombies{damn you, Walking Dead}, Westyn was up 3 -4 times through the night too. I didn't get much sleep. It sucked. I guess there is not really anything you can do to prepare for a good nights sleep, though..lol...
3. Plan your display/arrangement. This is hard to do if you've never been part of a show before...For me, I knew the size of the table that was provided and I had requested space for a rolling rack and a wall table, but I didn't know the exact location until the night before. I did a mock up on my computer table a few days beforehand with some ideas and kind of had an image in my mind of the end result. But really, we kind of winged the placement of everything when we got there, and changed it around a few times before it was perfect.
I did put careful consideration into how everything flowed together though...colors, branding, heights of things. I stuck with a pretty safe type of display-height in the middle flowing out to the sides. I kept everything balanced and I played off the colors of my product with the colors of my props. To get some height in the middle, I used the tub that I packed everything in to elevate the middle and then covered it with some material. I painted some cheap little wood blocks with Chalkboard paint for easy pricing signs{I also individually priced everything too, making it easy for the customer}, gathered like things into bowls and baskets, and kept it all neat and tidy. Some other peoples displays that I browsed through that day didn't really grab me, and it was because they just piled their stuff on tables. I don't know about you, but a pretty display will grab my attention any day as opposed to a pile of stuff! Oh, and don't forget to put your business cards in a pretty little bowl too :)
4. Talk to people!! Why would someone want to check out your stuff if your not even going to make the effort to at least smile? I'm not an in your face kind of person, but I like to chat and smile and I will for sure tell you a little bit about my product! True story, the lady beside me sat behind her table all morning and barely made contact with anyone!! Really!!! Did she think her makeup was going to walk away and jump into someones bag by itself?! No!!! She switched off with someone else half way through the day, and her replacement lady knew what she was doing! She was in front of her table {not sitting down}chatting with everyone that walked by. She even suckered me into filling out ballots and showing me stuff...So moral of the story...SMILE & TALK!
5.Get some help! I am sooo glad that my mom helped me out at the show. Not only was it just nice to have someone to talk to during the lulls in traffic, but when it was busy it was nice to know that someone else had my back :) Even if you had someone to bring you coffee or food or even to give you a bathroom break mid day...
What about you? Are you a seasoned craft sale goer...do you have any other tips for us?
