Taking Your Online Store to the Street – Finding a Show

Now that you’ve determined how much you’re willing to pay for a booth fee, what your target market is, how far or if you can travel, and how much of a show you want to do, it’s time to find that perfect-fit show!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with your first show being “tiny.” For your first venture out of cyberspace with your wares, staying local is a wonderful idea. And maybe an actual ‘arts festival’ isn’t the best thing for you to do for your first show. Is there a church, community center, youth center in your town/city that has a bizarre? The fee is probably small (or even non-existent); you’d be dealing with ‘locals,’ and you won’t have to travel far. Sometimes, just stepping out of the box a little bit is a big enough first step. You’ll gain the experience of dealing with live customers; you’ll be able to see what kind of attention you get with your craft; you can experiment with how you display your pieces. A plus with this kind of event is that many of them are indoors – meaning you don’t need a canopy. Another plus – most of these types of events are shorter… an afternoon or one short day. These events typically are not juried (anyone willing to pay the fee or simply show up is allowed to participate/display).

If you’ve determined that the demographics of your target market would not include the people in your backyard, and you’re ready to reach out and take the plunge into an actual arts & crafts festival, how do you find one? Word of mouth is an invaluable reference. If someone tells you, “you should do xxxx show; you’d do well there,” at least check out that show!

If you’re looking for a show cold, my personal opinion is that Festival Network Online is the “go to” website. It’s incredibly easy to navigate. You can click on their handy map and and off you go! Or you can click the”Find Events” button and narrow your search to a specific city/state or by distance from your zip code. But before you go searching, a terminology lesson is in order.

What Does “Juried” Mean?

This is a term that gets caught by every spell-checker, so it’s not in the dictionary. But it’s incredibly important in the Arts & Crafts Show world. A juried show means that not everyone who applies will be automatically accepted. Each juried show will have different criteria to determine who gets in and who does not. Perhaps the show is limited to specific types of pieces, say Fine Art. Other shows jury to assure quality to their prospective patrons. Most shows jury to limit the number of artisans in each acceptable category. Many shows jury for a combination of these reasons, and each show is different. Shows will explain in their description what their unique criteria is.

A non-juried show is one that anyone who pays can attend. The show organizer is not controlling the mix or the quality of items which will be displayed; they are simply trying to fill up space. This is not necessarily bad, but you need to be aware of it before you send in your fee. Especially in popular categories (jewelry, pottery, etc.), if you choose a non-juried show, be prepared for lots of competition in your medium. But if this non-juried show is in a neighborhood where you believe your target market is, it could be a perfect fit.

The Next Step

Are you ready?

Then search away! Doing a first show is an overwhelming experience. So picking a show that’s a week-long event 400 miles away probably isn’t the best plan. You’ll probably be surprised how many shows there are within a 50-miles radius of your zip code.

Before You Send In Your Fee

Most shows will link to their own website where you can do additional research on the upcoming show and past shows. Many of these events are “annual,” and historic photos/descriptions are valuable to you in getting the feel of the show.

If you’re convinced that ‘this is the one,’ restrain yourself from filling out the application form and writing that check. Contact the organizer first. Ask any question you can think of that’s not answered by their listings/website… examples: Is there cell service or wi-fi available at your event location? Is there a campground near the event? What are the demographics of show visitors? Any question. Why? Because this will give you an opportunity to interact with the show organizers before they have your money. Did you get a timely response? Did your question get answered? Was the response cryptic or conversational? Did the answer have the feel to it that you were bothering them?

It’s been my experience that a well run show will have organizers who love what they’re doing. You’ll get a quick response and encouragement to engage in further contact if you have more questions. I am very leery of shows that can’t answer a simple question in a timely manner… a lesson I’ve learned from experience. It’s just a small indication of how the rest of the show is being handled.

Before you drop that application in the mail, be sure that you have followed all of the directions. Each show will have specific items they want with the application form. Failure to include everything requested makes your application incomplete and not considered for inclusion in their show. Some organizers may contact you to supply the missing items, but others will simply return it. Don’t disqualify yourself.

CAUTION!

Just because you’ve done your homework, you’ve searched for and found the perfect fit show, and you’ve been accepted, there are no guarantees that you’ll make even one sale. Getting people to open their wallets in person or online, many times, is completely out of your control. You took a chance opening a shop online. Doing a show in person is a business risk that could pay huge dividends or be a colossal flop. But you’ll never know until you try!

Next in this series: You’ve Been Accepted – Now What?