JDT

True, but that's also because most salespeople can barely operate a phone and fill out an invoice. It certainly takes practice. This is essentially a form of technical sales, only you're not selling a specific item, but rather your craftmanship and tying it to finished pieces and potentially commissioned work. The practice part is important though. Having given plenty of live demonstrations (not on leatherworking, but the concept is broadly applicable), you definitely want to work on it at home and in front of a friendly audience that can critique you (just narrating what you're doing to your dog or cat is a decent starting point if you have trouble speaking while working). What I'm advocating for wouldn't even be anything particularly difficult. Cutting some small patterns, beveling, skiving, etc. Things that can be done with a few small hand tools which you can quickly demo and then point to a finished product and how it improves the completed piece. I'm not a fan of just having a video running. It would require setup that may not be practical at a fair booth. You may also have issues with getting sound at a level that both works for customers and doesn't overly annoy the neighbors. It also takes attention away from you and the items you're selling. Too many salespeople use powerpoints and canned videos as a crutch. It often ends up being either too sanitized, rambling, or a combination of the two. This is an entire other skillset to learn.

To add a bit to this, you could try beating this guy at his own shtick. He's "making" belts in front of people by adding a buckle to some unfinished, poorly dyed leather. Have some unfinished projects that you can work on at your stand in front of people to explain how you do things, why they make a difference, and shows the quality of your work. You should also have samples of the different types and thicknesses of leather you work with, samples of dyed leather to show the color options, thread samples, and the various hardware you use. With all of this, you can walk a person through "designing" their own product. Your finished products will give them ideas of the patterns you can do and they can take part in the process by choosing colors, textures, and making some small customizations. If you do carving, have examples of different patterns and you could even offer to do a pattern the customer comes up with. Stamping names would also be a great addition.