Display at a HUGE event

[wildrose]

I am signing up for my biggest event yet: Steppin' Out in Blacksburg, VA in early August. It draws thousands of people and is home to some really nice quality work from a variety of vendors. I want my display to really be fantastic. I have a 10x10 EZ Up tent, several folding tables of various sizes, and some shelving options (my mom is loaning me some stand alone A-frame shelving she uses for her pottery shows). I'm looking for: pics and suggestions on displays AND suggestions on quantity of stock. I make a variety of items, but primarily keepsake/jewelry boxes and small things like wristbands and keyrings.

[HorsehairBraider]

Well, for what it's worth (probably exactly what you're paying me!) here are my ideas.

I like to get at least some of my stuff up to the eye level of the customer. So, I use a set of tables out front that are normal height, and right behind them a set of tables up about another foot, with stuff on the higher tables on stands, holders etc. That draws people in which is the whole point to me... I want them to SEE what I've got, that will sell them I think.

I don't put out everything I have. I put out SOME. As things sell, I replenish with fresh items. Putting out everything I've got is what I call "putting two pounds of sh## into a one pound bag". If things are crowded they don't look good. I want it to look like these things are precious. Sometimes, I go out of the booth and move things around a little to freshen up the display. Accept from the start that people are going to move your stuff around... either that or be sure and put scotch in your coffee cup... otherwise it will drive you crazy.

I have set up so that people can walk IN to the 10 X 10 space, but I have also had much success setting up so that the people stay on the front part of my display. (More space for me to set up a table for credit cards, fixing things etc.) Both can work well. When people can come in to the 10 X 10, they tend to stay out - it's too crowded in there with just one person with a spouse. But when it's just a front, 10' long, more people will "psychologically" fit. It depends here what you are selling... Most of my stuff would be considered "jewelry" and the one front part works well for that.

Cover your tables. Make sure your table covers go right to the ground. That way, you can store unsightly boxes etc. under the tables without anyone seeing them. Tie your table together before you cover them. People are going to lean on them no matter what you do, which can jiggle them out of alignment.

You might consider setting up a little under your canopy. That way, people can come look at your stuff out of the sun (or, I hope not, rain!!). If they are coming in for shade and end up buying something... well...

Good luck at your show! I hope it goes well for you.

[Suze]

We used to use those cardboard boxes that you can buy to put 9 pairs of shoes in (I hope you know what I am talking about)

as risers on the back of a table - advantage you can use shoeboxes to store backstock in and still be able to get to it all.

this really only works if you are doing a "walk by the front" booth and not a "step into booth"

if you ave a lot of little things (key fobs and the like) cosider some kind of rotating display. We built one out of pegboard and an old lazy susan. the advantage there is that you can rearange hooks to fit what you are selling now. and if things get "low" you can take hooks out

If you want to make table risers the "lazy way" you can take PVC pipe and cut twelve inch or so lengths of it and just slip the table legs in the pipe when you set the table up. Personaly I never really liked that it seemed a little unstable to me - but there were a lot of dealers in the dollhouse shows that did that.

One thing that we always tried to do was to leave a bit of space on the table open so that people would have a place to "park" their purse while they were fishing out their money.

Check out Fire Mountian Gems for ideas on display stands - some of them would not be hard to copy

Hope this helps a little

Have fue

[JohnBarton]

I am signing up for my biggest event yet: Steppin' Out in Blacksburg, VA in early August. It draws thousands of people and is home to some really nice quality work from a variety of vendors. I want my display to really be fantastic. I have a 10x10 EZ Up tent, several folding tables of various sizes, and some shelving options (my mom is loaning me some stand alone A-frame shelving she uses for her pottery shows). I'm looking for: pics and suggestions on displays AND suggestions on quantity of stock. I make a variety of items, but primarily keepsake/jewelry boxes and small things like wristbands and keyrings.

My advice is to take two spaces if you can afford to.

There is a book called The Science of Shopping or something like that and the main point in the book is that people do NOT stay anywhere that they feel crowded in. The book was written by an anthropologist who is contracted by retail chains to study shopper behavior from an anthropological standpoint. That book forever changed the way I display at shows and now I make sure whenever I can that I am giving people plenty of space to browse and peruse without other people crowding them and making them move on.

With a 10x10 it's very tough to do this. But I still will use all the wall space I can and get everything up around eye level if possible.

For stock: Well I am a big fan of bringing everything I can stuff into the car. I just hate to run out of things that sell well. But I wouldn't go crazy making things just for stock purposes.

Two things that are an absolute MUST for you. A guestbook for people to sign up to get emails from you as well as a notebook for taking down addresses orders etc.... and custom invoices.

I made custom invoice forms with my logo and info on it. I made them as carbonless copies so that I could write one to keep and give the customer the top the top copy. This came in handy so many times. They are cheap to make at Kinkos. Design your own at a size you like - make yourself a holder for it with a bottom flap to put between sheets so you don't inadvertantly copy on ten sheets - (done that). People save receipts and I got plenty of repeat business because someone stuffed their receipt in the case they bought and down the line when asked where they got the case they pulled out the receipt and handed over the information. The copy you keep for yourself is your record of what and to whom you sold something. I am bummed that I can't find the files to send you to use as examples.

Signs: If you are busy you can't talk to everyone at once. I used to make small signs to display next to my work with information about the product or information about the process. I even went so far as do them as thought bubbles and arrows and would print them myself, cut them out in teh right shapes - laminate them myself and then recut them again so that I laminated signs in neat shapes. I find that oddly shaped signs get read more. I am a signage freak at shows. I always took my laptop and a portable printer and cardstock so I could make signs on the fly. At one point I was even making signs for a lot of the other vendors. (hope I got karma points for that....)

Make sure everything has a price on it or next to it. People HATE to have to ask ESPECIALLY if they have to WAIT to ask for a price as will happen when a few people want to talk to you at once. Some people are pay and go types who see it, want it and want to buy it and go as soon as possible. Make it easy for these types because if it's not they leave quickly without spending their money on your stuff.

Pens: Buy a crapload of them. You don't want to be hunting for something to write with. Have 20 pens or more stashed for easy retrieval. Trust me on this one. I'd have 40 and get ones that are reliable.

Water: Have a cooler full of water bottles on ice, maybe some sodas, maybe even some beer (don't know the show or it's visitors). Nothing will endear you to a customer like offering them a cold drink on a hot day. I can't tell you the amount of times I have offered a chair and a drink to a weary booth vistor and they leave $400 lighter. I don't really want to talk about the time we had a cooler full of "juice suprise" - I am still not sure if that was a good idea or not but we sure had a good time that week. :-) (Juice Surprise was essentially some fruit juicy sort of drinks from the dollar store mixed in with all sorts of alcohol in a water jug with a tap - we shared it with the other vendors and select visitors to the booth.....) The hotel is your friend when it comes to filling your cooler with ice each morning. Also a rolling cooler with a drain is a godsend for this.

I realize that this is probably not your first show. My tips are based on doing shows for over ten years - shows with up to 7000 players in a weeklong event where I am open 18 hours a day. I have done them alone and with a staff of eight. So take what you can use and leave the rest.

Have an AWESOME show and GOOD LUCK at your first major!

[wildrose]

Thank you for the great tips! You've all given me some things to ponder I'd not thought of before...

Others feel free to jump in too.

The space is technically 10x16 - but my tent is 10x10. Weather can be iffy, of course, so I plan on also picking up some clear plastic sheeting I can put over things. Nothing worse than drippy wet spots on a nice project!

I always plan for space to "work". I always bring things to make, even if they're small things (i.e. rounders). Otherwise, it's kinda hard to answer the "how'd you do this?" question. It also shows that I really am the one who did it (people sometimes assume it's my husband when he's there with me!)

[UKRay]

I like to have plenty of stuff hanging up in plain view so people can see it easily. Little neck purses have done well for me so far this year and I'm about to make another batch... lots of different colors and both soft and hard leather seem to sell well.

I have a purse tree - one of those heavy garden umbrella stands as a base with a nice branch stuck in it to hang things on. It works for jewellery, purses, wristbands - all kinds of stuff. A smaller version sits on the table top loaded with keyrings.

Ray

[HarryB]

After MANY shows, I think the most important advice is to make it look "professional" and finished. Don't let your display look like a flea market table. Make displays that layer your products instead of piling them all on a table. Hand your belts, purses with shoulder straps and other long items. AND, don't forget security! Even at the best of shows, things WILL walk off. Have a great show. Additional note: just read another posting about shows and it jogged my mind. Its a pain to take a lot of tools and such, but I always take a small tooling surface, a few stamps, a little dye, lots of scraps and some finish. The pounding of just stamping a name on a bracelet will get a crowd up. Then you can dazzle them with some fancy swivel knife cuts and hand to the kids. Giving a kid a free scrap with some fancy cuts on it has sold many other items to the parents. I also finish all my belt tips in the shop and let the sizes run long. I cut the buckle end for the customer after I have fitted them for the proper size. Let the watch this being done and they feel like they have purchased a "custom made" belt just for them (which they have) AND, BE SURE YOUR NAME IS ON EVERYTHING YOU SELL.

Edited May 26, 2009 by HarryB

[kevinhopkins]

Thank you for the great tips! You've all given me some things to ponder I'd not thought of before...

Others feel free to jump in too.

The space is technically 10x16 - but my tent is 10x10. Weather can be iffy, of course, so I plan on also picking up some clear plastic sheeting I can put over things. Nothing worse than drippy wet spots on a nice project!

I always plan for space to "work". I always bring things to make, even if they're small things (i.e. rounders). Otherwise, it's kinda hard to answer the "how'd you do this?" question. It also shows that I really am the one who did it (people sometimes assume it's my husband when he's there with me!)

Lots of hammering goes a long way toward drawing customers.... we've always had good success with wristbands, especially if there's a good segment of kid traffic... Letting some of the kids do their own really worked well also, but you've got to be careful not to offer too many choices.

Kevin