I thought I would share my experience with the most recent show that I did. I live in Alberta, Canada and this show cost me $110 CAD to be at. We had to supply our own tables and chairs and tents because it was an art show/sale in a park. We were told that the organiser was doing extensive advertising and she was expecting 10,000 people to come through the show. I was very optimistic about this show because I thought the people would be my perfect audience. I did sell 4 or 5 small items but that was not even close to comparable to another very well run show that I did in November last year where I sold half of my products. In addition to that, the amount of people who actually came through the show was substantially lower than predicted (MAYBE 1,000) and the only advertising that was done was flyers handed out in the community surrounding the park. When I searched for the show on the internet I discovered that the event was not even listed on the community website.
It was very disappointing for me but I think I have learned an important lesson in selecting craft shows to sell my product at. It is extremely important to find out what kind of advertising is being done and realistically estimate how many people will be there on your own before believing the organizer. Anyone can put on a craft show but not everyone can do it well and it is difficult to find well organized shows around here.
Here are some pictures of the booth I had at the event. Let me know what you think of my experience and my table set up...I am always looking for ways to improve. (That is my sister sitting there before the show started)
Rock Shelley
www.rockshelley.com
