Monday, November 19, 2012

Craft Show Update

Hello, everyone!
As I have mentioned, this past Saturday was my first craft show. I was pretty excited, nervous, and had high hopes for the show. But, alas, it did not go as well as I had hoped. I only made two sales. And while each sale counts and is greatly appreciated, the two sales I made did not even cover the cost of the table for the show. I had a lot of people look at my table as they walked past. Some people stopped to get better looks at my items. And some people looked at all of my stuff. I tried to make friendly conversation with everyone I could. But I only made two sales for the whole day.

I was pretty disheartened by the time I had gotten home on Saturday. So, yes, I sulked around a little because I really needed this show to go well. But I guess it wasn't meant to be this time. Sunday, I had a chance to unwind with some great friends. And that helped a lot. I am still discouraged, but I refuse to let my discouragement keep me from trying. This just means I have to re-evaluate some things, regroup, and refocus.

So I am going to focus on what I learned from this experience. I got a lot of advice from other crafters on my Etsy teams. All of their advice was right on and helped me get prepared for the show. Thanks to them, I was ready and had everything I needed. (So, a big thanks to everyone who gave me advice and pointers!).

In addition to that, I got a few other lessons from this experience. For instance, I am not the most outgoing person. So it is difficult for me to start conversations with complete strangers. But this is an important part of selling your work. I did step out of my comfort zone a little to speak to people. Talking is of the utmost importance in these kind of events. So this is something I will continue to work on.

I also learned a little about my display. I thought that by placing little tables at different parts of my area (I had a tent), I would be making my space appealing from every angle. I thought wrong. What I ended up doing was breaking up my display, which took attention away. Most people didn't even notice the other stuff I had that was not on the big table.


See how everything is separated? This did not help me. I also tried to use some layers on the table to create dimensions or levels. But that needs work too because looking at these pictures, I can see how it might look a little boring if someone is just walking by.

The other thing I learned is that if you are doing an event outside, plan for the elements. The person next to me had a lot of paintings on easels next to me that kept falling down because of the wind. I didn't have to worry about it too much with my items. But seeing her art work falling down so much made me make a mental note to think about this for the next show just in case I might have something that could fall over a lot. 

Here are some more photos of my display








Ok, to recap, here are the lessons I learned from this experience:
1. Take the advice of those more experienced than you.
2. Speak to everyone!
3. Keep your display flowing and avoid visual breaks.
4. Do what you can to keep your display interesting.
5. Plan for the elements.
6. Most importantly, do not give up!

This is what I learned from my first craft show experience. Tell me about some of your craft show experiences or any advice you may have. I would love to hear from you!







2 comments:

  1. lol, I haven't heard a single story about a successful first craft show! They simply don't exist. But good for you for going out there to try, and learning from what went wrong. That's how you get better.

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  2. I guess you are right! I don't recall too many first itme craft show experiences going well either! But I will keep on trying! Thanks for the encouragement!

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