Craft Show Review and Tips

I can't believe the holiday show season is already here! I've already participated in 2 shows this fall...two down, two to go! I wanted to share what I've learned from these two shows and give some tips for those of you doing shows this year as well.

I'm noticing a pattern I saw last year that people like to buy smaller, less expensive items at shows. My most popular items at shows have been in the $7-$20 price range. Luckily I have several items in this price range that have appealed to shoppers. I noticed this at my first show, so stocked up on even more at my second show.

I'd also like to point out that that doesn't mean you shouldn't have larger, more expensive items at your shows. In fact, I encourage you to have at least one large item to draw in attention. The item itself may not sell, but drawing people into your booth and starting a conversation is half the battle. Once they've checked out your larger piece, they will want to see what else you have for sale.

Another trend I've noticed in years past and am seeing again this year is that people at shows want to take their items with them. I only took a handful of custom orders at both shows. Personalized items are my biggest seller online, but at shows, people want to take their items out the door that day. I've started gearing my display to this mindset and leaving out some of my custom work and adding more premade items for options at shows.

Both of the shows I've attended this year have been great shows. I attribute part of this to the shows themselves. Both shows have been going for several years (over 50 years in one case). The shows are also well advertised and well organized. I've attended several shows that are a total bust because of lack of advertising. I'm really picky about which shows I attend anymore and these two shows just prove that point to me again and again.

Have you attended any shows this year? Do you have any tips to share...leave me a comment.

My First Bridal Fair

I showcased my items at my first bridal fair last weekend. Wedding items are some of my biggest sellers, so I've known for quite some time that I wanted to participate in one. I checked out a couple locations last year, but the prices are so high for these events that I hadn't taken the plunge to attend one yet. The fee for this fair was high compared to my normal craft shows, but much cheaper than the other bridal fairs I had seen advertised, so I gave it a chance.

For this being my first show and it being the first time this venue had hosted the event, I think it went pretty well. The location is in the country at a glass chapel. My wood items fit the theme really well as do my  mason jars and wine bottle candles/table numbers. We had fairly good attendance considering the weather didn't want to cooperate at all. I handed out several cards to interested couples and now the waiting game begins.

Unlike craft shows where you generally know how well you did at the end of the day, with the bridal fair you don't actually sell anything, just hand out cards. So I just have to wait and see if anyone contacts me about my items. I put a coupon code on the back if people reference the show, so I'll know if they found me through the event.

The best part of the day was that my mom came to help me. She drove 6.5 hours home just to help me with my first bridal fair :) She knows all about my products and that I can customize anything, so she was able to talk to people and explain everything if I was helping someone else. She was even nice enough to bring all my stuff inside for me...in the rain and through the mud...so I wasn't a mess before the show. She really is the best!

There were a few things I'd like to see done differently next year like the lighting. We were set up in the reception hall and the lighting is set more for night time dancing than a day-time event. One vendor mentioned having us face outward instead of inward so we would get good use of the windows for lighting. Another thing I wasn't impressed with were the owners. They weren't there to greet us and show us our tables and they didn't come around at any point and ask us what we thought of the event and how the day was going. I hope they send an email asking for suggestions and how to improve for next year.

All in all the show went well and time will tell whether I will attend next year. But I'm glad I got my first bridal fair under my belt and know what to do differently on my end for next time.

Spring Craft Fair 2013

I had my first show of 2013 last weekend. And I'm happy to report that it went really well! This is a show that I've done 4 or 5 times now and have great success there.

Last week I showed you how I turned a shadow box into an earring holder and display. Here it is all set up at the show. I added price tags to different sections of the display and they worked really well. Surprisingly, I don't think I had one question about pricing on things in this area! I think I'll display the bottle stoppers differently next time as they didn't get much attention, but other than that, the display worked great!

I tried this necklace display last year, but didn't like how it turned out. One of my readers mentioned that the open screen needed a back, so I added some aqua cardstock and it really helped the necklace stand out. I love how this display looks now!

I also changed how I displayed my glassware at this show. Normally I have a smaller amount of glass and I place it on the table. For this show, I chose not to put out all of my scrapbooks and used my wooden display stand for glassware. I'm happy to report that beer mugs and wine glasses were my top sellers at this show. Note to self: Bring more glasses in the fall!

 I only have one more show planned for this spring. It will be my first bridal fair. So I'll be rethinking my whole display and set up. I'll only be taking along wedding themed items and everything needs to fit on one 8' table. I have a lot of work ahead of me!

Sales vs. Networking - Final Show Review for 2012

I actually had two shows this week. That's a first for me!

Sports Team Beer Mugs

The first was on a Wednesday, my first week night show. It was for our local grocery store and they had tasting stations set up all around the building and asked local businesses and vendors to come set up booths. The show was free (bonus!) and it was just a couple hours long. I didn't actually sell anything at this show, but I did a ton of networking! I handed out TONS of cards and even made a deal with the liquor department to set up my etched glassware in their store for them to take orders. We still need to work out the details, but I'll be sure to keep you updated on this great opportunity.

Even though I didn't make any sales, I still consider this show a success and will plan to do it again next year. Knowing that people aren't really planning on buying at this type of show, I might take less items and not do a full set up.

Wine Charms - Wine Sayings Set 1

My other show was this past Saturday. It's a show I've done for 5 or 6 years now and have done pretty well. This was my best year by far and I sold almost 4 times as much as I did last year! And I had an awesome space! I'm kicking myself for not getting photos...ugh! This building hosts wedding receptions, so there is a stage where the DJ or band usually sets up. I had the entire stage to myself! It's only about 6" off the ground, so people were still able to browse from the floor with no trouble. And I was able to stretch out my items a little more. We had great traffic and I was so happy to have ample space!

I sold a nice mix of items. And my jewelry did really well at this show, which made me super happy!

Pink Sunburst Earrings

All of my shows this year were great. I loving getting out and being able to talk to people about my products. And getting them in the local eye is always great!

  But that being said, I'm glad to be done for the season! Now it's time to focus on holiday orders and adding LOTS of new items to my shop :)

Show Review

I had another great show this weekend! In fact is was my best show of the year! I can't tell you how happy that makes me :)

This is the 4th show I've taken my jewelry to and the third different set up I've tried for displaying it. I think I'm getting close to finding a lasting display. At my last show I tried a picture frame with mesh, but didn't like how it was see through and my pieces didn't stand out. I was really at a loss of what to try next when I remembered we had some old DVD organizers. They worked great!

I remade my earring cards so they had a back flap instead of just a single piece of paper. They folded over the "shelves" just great! I had room for three of these so I used one for necklaces, one for earrings and one for my new fabric jewelry. Then I laid out some necklaces on the table as well. I liked this set up pretty well. And I sold a few of each style except the fabric ones.

Here is the rest of my table set up. I also have my wooden display that holds all my scrapbooks over the left of my tables. These booths are strangely shaped. They are 5' deep by 8' long and I had two spaces. The 16' length is great, but being back to back with someone and only having 5' each is a little tough. Luckily I had a great vendor behind me and we made it work well and got to chat quite a bit at the end. I forgot to take a photo of her booth, but you can check out her Hippie Headbands on Etsy!

There are several reasons this show was such a success:

1. It's the 53rd annual show. People already have this show on their calendar to attend next year!

 2. This show is huge! There are 5 buildings full of vendors and shuttle buses taking shoppers from one location to the next!

3. It's very well organized and very well advertised. Two key aspects of a craft show.

4. I sell a variety of items. And that's what I sold...a little of this a little of that, a good mix of everything I have.

5. It's local. The vendor behind me traveled about 3 hours to come to the show. She mentioned that I knew almost everyone who walked by. This helps because then you can strike up a conversation and as you're talking, other people listen and see what you're describing. They get interested and others stop...it's a fun chain effect :) I do several shows where I'm not local, so I definitely see the difference.

I just have two shows left and both are smaller local shows. One is a new event and another is an annual event. I hope everyone participating in fall shows is having great success!

Grape Stomp - Show Review

Saturday I did my second outdoor show ever. I'm always a little leery with outdoor shows since there are so many factors with the weather (wind, rain) and bugs and dirt. It can be scary putting your handmade items out there in the elements! I decided to only take along my lasered items and left my scrapbooks at home (safe and sound). But the weather was gorgeous! The sun was shining and there was little to no wind...it really was a perfect fall day!

Grape Stomp is an event set up at a local winery called Sugar Clay Winery. It was a very family-friendly get together and everyone had an awesome time :) They had a band set up that played two full sets as well as in between events.

Jesse's brother and family even showed up and it was so fun to see the kids! It was my sister-in-laws birthday, so this was the perfect event for the family :) I got a cute picture of them on the hay rack ride (they're on the left with the 3 kiddos between them).

I didn't get any photos of the Grape Olympics, but they had events like a hula hoop contest and a cork toss. I did make sure to get photos of the Grape Stomp. They had categories for the kids as well as the adults. Everyone was laughing and having so much fun with this! And everyone came away with purple feet!

As for sales, this show was great. There were only two vendors set up with crafts, so that was a big help. I sold a good mix of all my items. The guys loved the beer mugs and the ladies loved my jewelry. I even sold one of my new signs (that I need to get listed in my shop)!

 I also sell on consignment at this winery and got a call on Sunday that a customer wanted to buy 4 beer mugs and to ask if there was a discount for that quantity. And then Sunday night Jesse's aunt and uncle sent a text saying they saw a lady walking around with one of my necklaces on! I'm so happy this location is doing well!

Show Review and New Displays

I had my first fall show this weekend and it went pretty well. We had awesome traffic all day Saturday. Which says a lot for a show that runs from 9am-8pm....long day! The general consensus from the vendors was that we had a lot of lookers, but not as many buyers. I'm pretty used to this since a lot of what I sell is custom. I did hand out tons of business cards, so now I just have to wait and see if the sales come in :)

September is a hard month for shows because it's too far away from Christmas, but it's also close enough people are thinking about saving their money for the holidays. That's the nice thing about having a website, they can find me any time of year when they're ready to buy :)

 

I did get a chance to try out a few of my new display items. I found out that my jewelry tree looks great, but isn't as functional as I hoped for. The branches are kind of all stacked on top of each other, so the pieces tend to bunch up. I put a few pieces on it, but laid out most of my new jewelry on the table instead.

My new wine bottle stopper holder that I talked about here worked great. I ended up painting it pink (seen in the right side of this photo). I think this helped them stand out and these sold pretty well.

The other displays are key chains and ornaments. They're a little hard to see in the photo, but these hangers worked out great for both items.

 Here's a shot of my whole booth. I have two 5' tables as well as the wooden display at the end. This set up seems to work well for me when I'm able to be placed on an end section. My next show is only 3 weeks away...time to stock back up!

First Spring Show Review

I attended my first Spring Show this past Saturday. I can't believe how much I forget from fall to spring! It's like going to my first show again every season! I always have so many new products that my set up is never the same, so it takes me a little longer than most people, but I think it's a great thing that I have new products every time :)

My booth partner and I did this show last spring as well. And though this show wasn't as good as last year, it was still a successful day :) For me, the sales don't always come the day of the show, but later on when people need a custom gift or are planning their wedding.

I had one family really interested in my Wine Bottle Candles for an upcoming wedding. The mother and father saw them and thought they would be perfect for their daughter's wedding. They also loved the personalized flutes, beer steins, invitations and guest books...WooHoo! The mother was so excited that she called and had the daughter and her fiance come take a look. The daughter loved everything as much as her parents...WooHoo again! And though I won't know until the order is actually placed, they seemed incredibly excited about my work :) This sale alone would make the show an incredible success!

I have one more spring show this year in about a month. So I have plenty of time to prepare for it...and hopefully next time I won't forget my table clothes!

Open House Review

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! I know I'm not ready to be back to work, but Christmas is just around the corner :)

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Over the weekend, I had my final fall show. There were only 4 vendors and we set up at the local winery that I sell on consignment at. It was a pretty slow day, but that didn't stop us from making sale :) I set up my booth about the same as I have been for my fall shows this year.

The one thing I noticed between on Open House as opposed to a Craft Show is that there may not be many people, but they are there just for YOU! There wasn't much competition with only 4 of us and we all had different items.

We each invited a handful of people that we knew were interested in our items and the winery helped advertise as well. Next year we hope to do this again and put an ad in the paper as well.

All in all, I was happy with the day and hope we to do this again :)

Now it's time to get busy on all my custom orders!!!

3rd Fall Craft Show Review

On Saturday, I had my third fall craft show. This is a show that I've done for many years now. I had to miss last year, but it was sure great to be back! I was at a different location and was unsure if I was going to like that. There are 4 or 5 locations for this craft fair and this location was the furthest away from all the others. But it turned out to be a great show!

One thing that makes this a great show each year is the fact that it has been going on for over 50 years. It is a huge show and people plan all year for it. It can be snowing and icy or 90 degrees out and there is always a great crowd :) It is also a well-organized and well-advertised show as well.

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I like that this is a more local show than the others I've done so far this year. That means I know more people that are shopping and more people stop to talk. That always draws more people into your booth :) And many people didn't realize I had added my laser engraved items and stopped to talk and saw all my new products!

I am always surprised by what sells and what doesn't at different shows. My engraved photos always get a lot of attention, so I made sure to put my sample in the middle of my table and higher than the other items. It got a lot of attention at this show as well! And hopefully lots of orders will follow :)

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This was the first show that I brought my etched glass candle votives to. And I didn't sell a single one! I was really surprised by this because they are an item that got a lot of interest from friends and family and from my blog when I posted them a while back. But I'll be sure to take them to the next show and I hope to get them listed in my Etsy Shop soon.

As with my other shows this fall, I handed out a TON of cards! I only had about 3 cards left at the end of the show! And I think I started with almost 150!!! I got lots of custom orders at the show and I hope by handing out cards that I'll get even more :)

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Another thing I found interesting is that I didn't use my Square credit card reader one time! I didn't even have people ask about using a card. I think this has to do with the fact that this show was in a smaller town than my other two shows this fall. People are used to using cash and didn't think about using cards.

I also got the biggest complement at this show :) I'm not used to having other people make similar items to what I make...usually I'm the only one with Name and Word Albums and Engraved Items. This time there was someone at another location making my Word Albums! But I got told on two different occasions that my albums were much nicer! They were much better quality and they could tell the work and detail that I put into mine :) This made me feel awesome!!!

Second Fall Show Review

I had my second fall craft show of this season this past Saturday and I have to tell you...It Rocked!!! It was by far the best show I've ever done! There were people there non-stop from the time the doors opened to the time we shut down! And they were buying!!! My booth-mate and I both did wonderful :)

Here are a few of the things that I think helped this show be a success:

*It is well advertised

*It has been going on for several years

*It is in a high-income neighborhood

And here are the things I think helped it be a success for me personally:

*We had an awesome location!

*I have such a wide variety of items to offer

*Most of what I sell is given as gifts...and it's gift-giving season

*I take custom orders

I had someone ask how I do custom orders at shows, and it's easy :)

*Take payment as well as shipping Up Front

*Take down their shipping information as well as phone number

*Let them know when they should expect their item

*Take down any info pertaining to the order...colors, sizes, etc. and keep everything all in one place. I use a small notebook.

It's really that easy. Just think of all the info you would collect from someone on Etsy and write it all down. I took 7 custom orders and everything went smoothly :)

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Luckily I have three weeks until my next show so I have time to get all my custom orders done and get my inventory stocked back up!

First Fall Show Review

I had my first show of the fall season this past weekend. All in all, it was a good show. There was a lot of traffic all day, which is a lot to be said for an 11 hour show!

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I shared a booth with a friend that I do a lot of shows with. We had an end space, so we each got 1.5 sides of a 10'x10' booth. Here are my displays:

This was the first show I took my glassware to. I only sold 2 beer mugs, but I had a lot of interest in custom orders. So we'll see if I start to get orders on Etsy (whenever I get my glass listed!)

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I sold a good mix of items. 5 or 6 scrapbooks, a pendant, 2 mugs, a set of etched glass in frames (my first sale for this too), a wood greeting card, two set of coasters and some other items. Usually one item sells better than others, but this time it was a little of everything. I'm glad that people like everything I have to offer :) But now I don't know what to make more of for my next show...LOL! I guess this will give me time to work on the custom orders I received from the show.

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Look for another review next week as I already have my second show next weekend!

Last Spring Show Review

I was so excited to announce my giveaway and do a review about it, that I forgot to do a review about my show this past weekend. This was by far my best Spring show. It was a 2 day show which helped, but even for a one day show it would have been great. As always, I handed out tons of business cards. I didn't realize how many cards I had handed out until I had to get the ones out of my purse and laptop bag to have enough! There was a nice, steady stream of people all day long. The show lasted from 9am-8pm, so we assumed from 4pm on it would be dead. Not the case! We had steady traffic until about 6pm! And Sunday morning rocked! I had another vendor bring photos in for some custom work and ordered an album while she was at it :) I also sold two more albums within the first hour! I was glad to get the business early as I had to pack up early so I could get some sleep before work that night. (gotta love night shift!) The best part of the show was that a couple that own a craft store in the mall, and the ones who put on the shows, asked me to put some of my items in their shop!!! They are very selective on who they ask, so I was very honored to be invited! I still need to get all the details ironed out and decide what I want to try first, but it's definitely worth a shot! They ask for a 6 month lease, which I think is a nice time frame to see if it is going to work out. That will give me Summer, Fall and part of Winter. I'll definitely do another post when I get all set up and keep you updated on how things are going. This was my last show for Spring, so I was very happy that it went well :) And I'm anxious to see how many of those business cards I handed out bring in more business...fingers crossed!!!

Thoughts on Spring Craft Shows

I had my third Spring show on Saturday and I've noticed some similar outcomes and thoughts from each show.

*The weather is a big factor. If the weather is bad, people don't want to get out of the house. By Spring, we're so tired of bad weather, we don't want to endure it any longer. But if the weather is too nice, people want to get things done outside. It may be the first time they're able to work in their yards.

*There is no special reason to buy. Unless they need a graduation gift, Mother's Day gift, etc. they are only buying for themselves. People have a harder time buying for themselves.

*Most of my items are purchased for gifts. I notice this both on Etsy and at local shows. I heard on Saturday..."my sister would love this" or "this would be a great gift for so-and-so's wedding in a few months". Fall tends to be a better time of year for me because of this. Everyone (or mostly everyone) needs holiday gifts.

*Having a website is both a blessing and a curse. People love knowing that they can get ahold of you later when they do need a gift, but it keeps them from buying that day. If they only brought a certain amount of money with them and they know they can buy your item later, they might hold off.

I'm not totally discouraged from doing Spring shows, but I may reconsider how many or which ones I do next year. We have heard that a few shows require you to do the Spring show if you want a spot in to the Fall show. If the fall shows are good enough, I'll stick with the Spring show the next year. Time will tell. And if a lot of the custom orders that people were interested in come through, then it is worth it to be there to get my name out. Most of the time I don't know how successful a show really is until a few months later when orders start coming in.

How have your shows been going this Spring?

Show Review

Yesterday's show went much better than last weekend's show!!! It wasn't my best show ever, but it was still a profitable one :) And it was just a great day in general...

*The sun was shining! The weather was nice and people were dying to get out!

*There was a nice flow of traffic ALL day! Usually lunch time slows down significantly...not so for this show!

*I got to use my new credit card machine and process two orders when I got home...and it all went very smoothly!!!

*I got to meet two fellow Etsians :)

I have to give a shout out to HandmadeBlayne and lizannnecessities! It was great to meet you both :) Liz made my day by noticing my work right away as she was walking by! And Bailie made my day by purchasing one of my pendants :) Thanks girls!

I was surprised that my scrapbooks sold much better than my lasered items! I'm glad my scrapbooks sell well, but I'm dying to sell my lasered items! I've sold picture frames at both shows, so I may get a bigger variety of those made. And I got a lot of lookers at my tiles, but no buyers. I may need to take another look at my prices? I think I'll add them to Etsy first and see if they do well there.

And I didn't care for our set-up as well this time either, but we have to deal with the space we are given. We will be doing this show in the fall and getting two booths instead of just one. The pics above are of my set-up from yesterday.

I hope others that had shows over the weekend did well also :)

Show Review

Well, the show yesterday definitely could have gone better! But with the snow we got and a big show last weekend, it was to be expected. There was a slow steady flow of shoppers in the morning, but the show pretty much died in the afternoon. And people just seemed to be browsing...not many purchases being made anywhere that I could see. And low ticket items were definitely a bigger hit than larger items.

I did like how my setup looked, but of course I forgot to get a picture! I promise one next weekend :) The good thing is, I have a show next weekend and we've been hearing good things about this show! It will be our first time doing this show, so no big expectations, but fingers crossed!

I do have some custom orders to get done :) And I'm actually glad I'm not scrambling like crazy to get inventory restocked for next weeks show. Everything happens for a reason...so maybe online sales will be great this week :)

Thank you to everyone for the well wishes :)