Craft Show Tidbits

Last year I did a whole series of posts about craft shows as I was getting ready for the Fall season. This year not so much. I was rereading them this morning to reassure myself that I was ready for the Strange Folk Festival this weekend and thought I would share some of the highlights.

From the post Craft Show Ideas:

Another thing to consider when choosing a show is whether it is juried or not. Personally I prefer juried shows since it keeps the resellers out but there is the stress factor of waiting to see if you got in. I am not in the league to consider the high end art shows but if you are than you need to plan pretty far in advance and be willing to put out some bucks in fees. The most I've ever paid for a booth fee is $90 but I have heard of shows that cost in the hundreds of dollars that attract a high end clientele. Shows that have been around along time and have a built in clientele are worth the investment in most cases. You should consider how long they have been doing the event and if possible find out how many attended the year before. I've never done an event that charged attendees to enter but I've been told they bring out people really ready to shop.

Missouri has a site called MissouriArtsAndCrafts with a list of events and I'm sure your state probably has something similar.... Another comprehensive site is Festival Network Online. You can search events for free here but to get full details and other services it costs $49 a year. This is more than I can justify paying but I do use it to search and then I google events that sound interesting to see if I can find more details.

From the post Fall Craft Show To Do list:

Figure out how you are going to accept credit cards. I think that it's vital to have a method of accepting plastic. You are missing out on so many sales if you just take cash and checks. I use Propay and it's super easy and very reasonable. I just renewed my membership and it was around $30 for a year which is so worth it.

Stock up on business cards. I recently bought 1000 cards from Vista Print with one of their many coupons for around $15. I have heard that some people had bad experiences with them but I've put in 3 different orders and never had a problem. You have to be careful to opt out of all of their silly promotions and you will get spam e-mails from them but I'm okay with that for such a good price on a business necessity. I've also been thinking about ordering some postcards to use as follow up with some of my return customers.

From the post My Craft Show Checklist:

1. Vendor information. The organizer will usually e-mail you info like your booth number and parking directions that you will want to have that day.
   
2. notebook. I like to keep a running tally of how much I've made. Be sure to keep track somehow of how much you make so that you can pay sales tax.
   
3. calculator
   
4. receipt book
5. credit card receipts
6. 
   
7. cash, I usually bring $100 in cash.
8. cash apron, I prefer to keep my cash on me rather in a cash box that could walk away when I turn around.
9. Mirror, I'm always amazed at how many vendors forget this one and ask to borrow mine.
10. Shopping bags of some sort. Paper lunch bags can work for small purchases.
    
11. Tools to "fix things", if you make jewelry bring some extra findings just in case.
12. camera, so you can take lots of pictures of your booth for your blog!

From the post First Craft Show Anxiety:

The best way to elevate your anxiety is to be as prepared as possible. Set your booth display up at home and get everything just the way you like and then take a picture. Save it to your phone or make a copy of it so that you have something to work from on the big day.

Don't be disappointed if you don't sell a ton of stuff at this first show, just look at is as a dry run to get over those first show jitters. Keep telling yourself that this is your hobby and it's supposed to be fun. That helps me for some reason. I will also tell myself that this is not my job and my mortgage doesn't depend on it. If it did I can't imagine how nervous I would be. I'm usually a mess until I have my first sale and then I will calm down a bit. Once I make my booth fee I breathe a sigh of relief and am much calmer for the rest of the day.

Definitely get a good night's sleep the night before. Don't, I repeat Don't, stay up all night making new items to sell. If it relaxes you to work on your craft do so but having a few extra things will not be worth the all nighter if you are tired and cranky the next day.

Try not to have a thin skin and don't take it personal if someone turns their nose up at your booth or doesn't get the inherent wonderfulness of you and your product.... As creative types we tend to have a more sensitive disposition. Don't let this stop you from trying something new and putting yourself out there. Most people will be complimentary and you will get more feedback in one day about your work than in a year on line. I have had some wonderful interactions with customers that gave me warm and fuzzy feelings for weeks afterwards. When someone really gets you and wants to actually buy something you made with your own hands it's one of the best feeling in the world.

From the post What I learned about craft shows:

Too much is not necessarily a good thing. I always brought all of my merchandise to the shows but I found that over filling my quilt racks and table actually overwhelmed shoppers. If someone was interested in a different color I could always get out the plastic tubs with the rest of my inventory and let them look through them. I sold a bunch of scarves right out of the tub.

Make friends with the organizers and keep a smile on your face even if it's painful. The last thing you want to do is to be seen as a trouble maker by the organizer, especially if it is a juried show.

If you can't set up the night before than at least pack up the car and be ready to go. Have the mapquest directions printed out and read through carefully. Try to get a good night's sleep.



I know this is not my first time at the rodeo but I still get those pre-show jitters. Hopefully I will be able to take my own advice and enjoy the weekend!

A few More Pieces of the Craft Show Puzzle.

I didn't get nearly as much done this weekend as I had hoped. I was feeling very lethargic for some reason. Thank goodness I have 3 days off this week so that I can get everything ready for Strange Folk this weekend. I can't believe that it's almost here. I went ahead and booked a hotel room for Saturday night. It's less than an hour away and last year I just came home but I decided it would be much more enjoyable if I had a place to crash Saturday night. I will have to be there by 8:00 a.m. Saturday, work all day, and then get up Sunday to do it all again. Mike and Kai are going to come down later on Saturday & spend the night too, so it will be nice to have someone to help me this year.

My sister and law, Gray Eyed Scorpio, and her family are staying at the same hotel as well as one of Mike's best friend's Brian Katcher. They are having a local author booth this year and Brian will be promoting his current Young Adult novel Playing with Matches and his new one that comes out in October Almost Perfect.

So what have I gotten accomplished so far you might ask. Strange Folk has a rule that you can't use plastic bags so I decided to create some personal shopping bags for my customers. I bought some Kraft paper bags and ribbon with a coupon at Michaels. I used my logo stamp that I got from Terbearco on Etsy awhile ago. I think the bags came out cute. I'll probably stamp some paper sandwich bags for smaller purchases as well.

It's not a great picture above but the backdrop is a cool fabric that I got for a few dollars on that other E site. It's a burlap type material that I'm going to use as a tablecloth with a cream sheet beneath it that goes to the floor. Thanks to my friend Kristin from My Art and the Mom in Me for the idea to use burlap in my display for a natural and rustic effect.

So this week I need to get everything tagged and inventoried. I also need to get everything I'll need for the weekend packed up and ready to go. Wish me luck!

First Craft Show Anxiety

So a few of you asked how to deal with the first craft show anxiety. The short answer is to be prepared and just do it. I'll give you some of my long answer thoughts but B.B. Bellezza, a craft show veteran who has far more experience than myself addresses craft show jitters in this very comprehensive manual if you want some other good ideas.

The pictures above were borrowed from my sister in law, the sewing extraordinaire Gray Eyed Scorpio on the right, and is from our first adventure in craft shows. Our friend Leslie is to my left and she made some decoupaged creations for the day. It was an outdoor street festival in Troy, MO in October 2007 and Debi blogged about it back then here. You can't tell from the picture but we were all very nervous. The good thing was we had each other to joke with and bounce ideas off of. If you can do you first show with a friend or team I would highly recommend it. It takes some of the pressure off of you to make sure everything is perfect. Some shows won't let you share a table so be sure to ask, but other low key events won't make a fuss.

I can't say that I'm proud of our booth display but we were total newbies and trying to combine 3 different crafts into one display. We used to joke that we had the "Power of Three" and Debi made up a banner to try to tie things together. Luckily we had plenty of room to spread ourselves out.

The best way to elevate your anxiety is to be as prepared as possible. Set your booth display up at home and get everything just the way you like and then take a picture. Save it to your phone or make a copy of it so that you have something to work from on the big day. I'll talk in another post about how to find display items and ideas for how to set it up.

Have your checklist of things that you need for the day printed out. I found a very comprehensive list here that covers just about everything you could possibly need. You might not need everything mentioned but it is a great place to start.

Be sure to have everything priced and tagged clearly before hand. For last year I hand wrote on the back of my business cards, hole punched them and tied them to my items, but I'm hoping to come up with something more professional for this year. I usually take a day off of work the day before to make sure my inventory is in order. Have some sort of signage for your table to let people know who you are. You don't have to spend much money if you are just getting started. Get creative and make your own. Here is a step by step tutorial that my sister in law did for her banner.

For your first show start small. Find a low key event at a school or church near your house so you don't have to worry about getting lost or running late, always one of my big fears the night before. If you are traveling somewhere unfamiliar print out the mapquest directions and if possible check somehow to make sure that it is the most direct route.

Don't be disappointed if you don't sell a ton of stuff at this first show, just look at is as a dry run to get over those first show jitters. Keep telling yourself that this is your hobby and it's supposed to be fun. That helps me for some reason. I will also tell myself that this is not my job and my mortgage doesn't depend on it. If it did I can't imagine how nervous I would be. I'm usually a mess until I have my first sale and then I will calm down a bit. Once I make my booth fee I breathe a sigh of relief and am much calmer for the rest of the day.

At the very least load up your car the night before and go through your checklist to make sure you have everything so you don't have to worry about it the morning. If you are allowed to set up the night before take advantage of it. Even if you don't leave all of your inventory just having the display done will save you a major headache in the morning. That first hour of getting the car unloaded and getting things set up is always the most harried for me. I end up hot and sweaty and feeling disheveled, not how you want to feel right before facing the public. If you have a friend or agreeable hubby have them come along for at least the first part of the day if you can't set up the night before.

Definitely get a good night's sleep the night before. Don't, I repeat Don't, stay up all night making new items to sell. If it relaxes you to work on your craft do so but having a few extra things will not be worth the all nighter if you are tired and cranky the next day. I try to go to bed early and may take a Tylenol PM to help me calm down and slow my racing thoughts. Don't take it too late in the evening so you wake up with a cloudy head and definitely don't go out and party the night before.

Wear something comfortable but not too comfortable. I generally don't wear jeans but this is a personal preference. I wear comfortable knit slacks with something that I hope reflects my personality. It is important to remember that we aren't just selling things, we want people to buy into the whole package and hopefully come back for more. Definitely wear one of your items if applicable. You want them to see the inventory in action and how cool it looks on. Have a big mirror to whip out and allow people to try things on themselves.

Whenever we interact with the public there will be a few bad eggs. I've never had an aggressively rude customer but I've heard horror stories from other vendors. Try not to have a thin skin and don't take it personal if someone turns their nose up at your booth or doesn't get the inherent wonderfulness of you and your product. If someone says something hurtful smile and show them you are a bigger person, because you don't know who is behind them that could overhear you. Vent to your neighbor but don't complain about things too much or too loudly because that will make you a target. If it is a juried show or even if it isn't don't make too much of a fuss or you will be remembered as a troublemaker and you could lose out on future shows.

As creative types we tend to have a more sensitive disposition. Don't let this stop you from trying something new and putting yourself out there. Most people will be complimentary and you will get more feedback in one day about your work than in a year on line. I have had some wonderful interactions with customers that gave me warm and fuzzy feelings for weeks afterwards. When someone really gets you and wants to actually buy something you made with your own hands it's one of the best feeling in the world.

Craft show Ideas

Thanks everyone for all you sweet words in my last post. I'm doing what I need to do to get balanced again. I know it seems early but I am starting to plan for next Fall's show season which gives me something to not only work towards but look forward to. As I've said before I did 3 shows last year and I did a post with my thoughts right after the season was over. I would like to raise that to 5 shows this year. It is not easy deciding which shows are worth your time but let me tell you the thought process I go through when considering a show.

For me it is all about Fall. Spring and summer shows are not worth the time and energy for me. Knitting is inherently a Fall/Winter craft. On this note I really prefer indoor shows. I have one outdoor festival that is the exception but I choose to do it in the covered pavilion. I don't want to have to deal with setting up a tent and keeping my scarves dry and clean outdoors. There is a big advantage to setting up in a tent if you can find a cheap one like my sister in law, Gray Eyed Scorpio, did as you can spread out and can control the display more. She found a very reasonable tent on Craigslist that is supposed to be easy to open although she still needed her husband the first time. Here was her booth at last years Strange Folk Festival in all of its glory.

Weather can be much more of a factor with outdoor shows and if you are set up next to a food vendor you may come away with inventory stinking of BBQ, yes it happened to me once. I did a street show with a few friends just to get a feel for it 2 years ago and I decided that wasn't my scene pretty quickly. These outdoor street events often have entertainment that you are competing with not to mention the resellers peddling their Avon and non-handmade items. Many of the festival goers are there with their kids to enjoy the day and aren't thinking about shopping for handmade.

Another thing to consider when choosing a show is whether it is juried or not. Personally I prefer juried shows since it keeps the resellers out but there is the stress factor of waiting to see if you got in. I am not in the league to consider the high end art shows but if you are than you need to plan pretty far in advance and be willing to put out some bucks in fees. The most I've ever paid for a booth fee is $90 but I have heard of shows that cost in the hundreds of dollars that attract a high end clientele. Shows that have been around along time and have a built in clientele are worth the investment in most cases. You should consider how long they have been doing the event and if possible find out how many attended the year before. I've never done an event that charged attendees to enter but I've been told they bring out people really ready to shop.

The show that I did for $90 was the Lindbergh show which is the largest one in the St. Louis area. It is a more traditional show held in a sprawling High School and draws up to 10,000 a year. I did not make quite as much last year as I had hoped there but I am doing it again this year as it was a good way to connect with a different audience. I got at least one large sale after the fact from it on-line by passing out my cards. It was for 2 days which I really prefer since I feel that if I'm going to devote a weekend to a show I'd rather have it be the whole weekend. You may feel the opposite and there are any number of one day events at schools and churchs with booth fees under $50 that you can use to get your feet wet. I plan on doing one of these in my local area this year so that people at work and friends can come without having to travel too far.

I'm lucky that in my area there are several groups that promote very good indie shows. These events bring out a younger crowd with more dispensable income, always a plus. My scarves/scarflettes have been received well by this market and I consider them my target at this point. It can be harder to find these events if you haven't done them before but you can look into your local craft mafia as they are often behind many of these shows. Indie Craft Shows is a directory of national indie events. It doesn't have any of the ones listed here in MO that I know of, but it is a place to start.

Missouri has a site called MissouriArtsAndCrafts with a list of events and I'm sure your state probably has something similar. It is not complete and many event planners may not have started submitting their Fall shows for this year yet. I will sometimes go back to the year before and see what was offered and then do a google search to see if I can find any info on something if it sounds interesting.

I just discovered a new site called Craft Lister with over 50,000 events listed across the country. You can sign up for free but to access all the details and reviews of the shows it costs a fee. It is $20 for 2 months which should be all the time you would need. You can also get some time for free by giving reviews or referring people. If you are interested please let me know and I will send you an e-mail and if you sign up for the free account I get 14 days of full service for free!

Another comprehensive site is Festival Network Online. You can search events for free here but to get full details and other services it costs $49 a year. This is more than I can justify paying but I do use it to search and then I google events that sound interesting to see if I can find more details.

The Artsy Crafter is a favorite blog of mine that focuses on art and craft shows by an artist that has many years in the circuit to share. If you are just getting started it is good to attend some shows first to get a feel for it and talk to some vendors to get their ideas. Some people will be open to helping while others might be more reserved, especially if you are in the same category. I know there is at least one other knitter in the St. Louis area that I see around and consider my "competition" for shows. Would I share all of my secrets with her, probably not, but I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys might have about shows.

What I Learned About Craft Shows

I survived my first real craft show season. I know that 3 big shows is not a huge deal to many crafters but it was my first true experience in the field. I have learned a lot and want to record some of it for my own reference next year and maybe someone else can get something out of it too.

1. I learned that I can probably handle 5 shows if spread out by a few weeks. Especially if a few of them are the boutique style where I don't have to be there the whole time.
2. Indie shows are the way to go for me. These are designed for a younger more urban target market that seems to like my designs and generally has dispensable income for higher end purchases.
   
3. Make more neutral and black scarves. All of my black scarves sold at Mad Art Gallery. I love working with vibrant colors but I really need to have something for everyone and some people really like wearing darks and black.
   
4. I should continue to expand my lines with all different price points. I want to continue to come up with innovative designs and have some items at the lower end so that everyone has something they can buy.
5. Prices should be clearly marked and consistent. I made the decision this year to have 2 different price points on my scarves instead of having individual prices on things. This made it hard since there were some scarves that I was charging more for on-line, but it made shopping my booth much easier. I decided that it was worth it but I really need to think about the issues of having different prices on-line and at the shows.
6. Too much is not necessarily a good thing. I always brought all of my merchandise to the shows but I found that over filling my quilt racks and table actually overwhelmed shoppers. If someone was interested in a different color I could always get out the plastic tubs with the rest of my inventory and let them look through them. I sold a bunch of scarves right out of the tub.
7. Always have a mirror, the bigger the better. This should be obvious if you are selling jewelry or wearables but at every show I did I had other vendors asking to borrow my nice big mirror I bought at Big Lots for $4.
8. Keep my inventory organized throughout the year. This is a big one. I spent a lot of time organizing and reorganizing my inventory this season. As I'm finishing things, instead of just putting it into the nearest plastic tub, I need to keep them separated by type. This will also make it easier when I'm looking for something that has sold on-line.
9. Keep my inventory list updated all year long. I need to keep the Google documents spreadsheet that I created for the last show up to date to keep record of what I have and what has sold at any given time.
   
10. Renew my Propay account. It paid for itself the first day of my first show.
11. Shows that allow you to set up the night before are much less stressful the morning of. After rushing to the site and unloading everything and then setting it all up I was exhausted the first day of Strange Folk. Lindbergh has you set up the night before which makes that first morning much more relaxed.
12. If you can't set up the night before than at least pack up the car and be ready to go. Have the mapquest directions printed out and read through carefully. Try to get a good night's sleep. I'm always amped up and have a hard time settling down so try a beer or glass of milk.
    
13. I should do one local show. I had several people in the office and whatnot that wanted to go to a show but didn't really want to travel the distance. I should find a small St. Charles show that has a low booth fee next year for the locals.
14. Let people know where I will be. I had at least one person come to the show because they saw on-line that I was going to be there. Hopefully people will come back to the shows next year expecting me to be there which will also be nice.
15. Bring tons of business cards. I ordered 1000 cards before the season started and I'm down to a few hundred left. I know of at least one big sale that came from someone seeing me at a show and then going to my Etsy shop soon after. I should also mention that I used my cards as price tags and wrote info on the back. Next year I want to print little labels to stick on the back with the price, fiber content, and washing instruction typed out.
    
16. Start an e-mail list. I am going to bring a sign up sheet next year that people can put down their e-mail if they like. I will then send out a monthly or bi-monthly newsletter. I will entice them to sign up by giving them some sort of coupon they can use on-line.
    
17. Research the shows ahead of time but have room for the unexpected. I was actually signed up for a different show on the weekend of the Big Ass Show. When I got the e-mail suggesting I apply I signed up on a whim and it sounded like it would be a good venue so I went for it. Luckily I was able to get my money back from the other one.
18. Make friends with the organizers and keep a smile on your face even if it's painful. The last thing you want to do is to be seen as a trouble maker by the organizer, especially if it is a juried show.
    
19. Make friends with your booth neighbors. When I got to the Lindbergh show I noticed my neighbor had her display blocking my entrance to behind my table. I first asked her if I could move it over some but I then just rearranged things so I was able to get out on the other side. If that was not an option I would have had to push it more and had her move but it would have made for a painful 2 days. And come to find out she has been in that spot for many years and I will be doing the show next year in the same space so making an enemy right off the bat would not have been worth getting an inch more of wiggle room. I think you really have to choose your battles. Sometimes it may be worth it but in that case it just wasn't worth it. And in some cases you need your neighbors to watch your booth while you slip to the bathroom so having a friend is a good thing.
20. Wear your product. Again this should be obvious but I found that when I wore wrist cuffs or necklaces they were even more understandable and people bought more.
21. Take off work the Monday after. I work full time and this year I took the Thursday and Friday off before my 2 first shows. If I stay organized I think it would be better to have the Monday after to regroup and reinventory.
    

Feel free to add your own suggestions! I'm always looking for tips on how to improve my shows.