First ever show was a dud :(

[Paladin]

Well I finally set up at my first craft show on Saturday, and it was kind of disappointing. We had very little traffic going through. It was a smaller show, but seemed like a decent location and had good marketing, but people just didn't show up. Booth space was only $25 which was why I got into this one to try it out for my first time. If I don't count sales to family and a few friends that came by, I sold a total of $39. At least I made my entry fee back, which is more than some other crafters did. I got some good leads from others about some of the other shows in my area, and now that I've done one and have all the stuff I need to setup, I might try another later this year. Hopefully that will go better. I'll try to post pictures later this week.

[DaveG]

You never know how a show will turn out. I've had my share of poor shows. Sometimes I think my share and then some. But hang in there and don't give up. Your time will come.

Dave

[Rolf]

Paladin,

Did you take pictures of your table and work? If so would you mind posting.
There are many sales wizzards on this site that may be able to give you some tips that might help with sales.
What kind of stuff were you selling?

[MikeyD]

Seems to me you did okay for your first show. Just the knowledge gained from the other crafters was worth the entrance fee IMHO. I've done a few and found that I enjoyed visting with the other crafters more then any other part of it. As for the money, I've done enough shows that lost money so as to be glad if I broke even. The biggest compliant I had was on Monday morning I just didn't feel like I had a weekend.
I'm wondering though, did you enjoy the experence?

Mike

[Bluebird]

I bet you have learned a lot from this first experience... I remember my first show. Spent lots of time to get prepared and organized as this was all new to me. Just the learning experience was worth it. My display was not appealing, I didn't even brought any paper with to take orders or give receipts, didn't have cash box, etc Better start small an grow from there Don't get discourage, it's just a first attempt.

[wood-n-things]

Too bad the first one was a little slow. But it is that time of year. Did you try and Market Mothers day and Easter etc? Try and have some seasonal items in your booth every time you show.

Hope you had enough fun that you won't give up. It is a learning experience....

[GRAYBEARDSTL]

Garage Sale!
Booth space for residents is Free!
This will be my first attempt at putting in some of the scroll stuff along with my Bar-B-Que Sauce so I am just trying to see if anything 'takes off'!
Will be the week before Mother's Day so will have some goodies for mom!
Not going to drag a lot of stuff just some items to 'test the waters' so to speak.
Last year it was mostly 'junk' but a few good booths. Our really big craft fair is in August and runs for three days and I haven't even checked on the booth fees but am considering doing both items there also. If I sell out I will go home! If I am not selling anything by the middle of the second day I will go home!
I am not really in this to make money just get bck enough to buy MORE WOOD!
And to Relax and if doing shows is not relaxing I won't do them....

GraybeardStL

[GrayBeard Phil]

Paladin:

Just asking... Did you check out your craft show with Craft Listers?
Art and Craft Shows, Festivals, Fairs, Expos, Concerts - Event Directory of 50,000 FREE Online Listings!

As I recall, there was a way to check out the foot traffic from previous years and get an estimate on the amount of money the average customer spends. But then again, your show may have been too small to be listed there.

Depending on your geographical region, there are craft show magazines that also give out information on arts, craft, and street shows.

BTW: with low foot traffic, even a break even (gas for car not included) is still not bad for a first time. You did well.

[naveall]

we have had the same situation happen with us, we have been at events where there are a lot of people but the events for the whole town was either in another location which did not allow them to come to the area we was at or there was just poor planning, we have been at events where the promoter does not even show up to tell everyone where they are suppose to be and probally the worst situation is where we set up has a set of resale items in fron tof all the people that actaully make all their items by hand, well to the person looking at the area it looks like the only thing there is a resale park and there would be nothing there but the same old stuff you can get at any fair or event.
Hang in there, we have done one show where we barely make our cost back and then at the next event we gross over a thousand or more so it really depends on where you are, the customers you are presenting to and traffic flow. one of our events we do every fall down south of us which is really a good event this year moved and the customers had no idea where we was at and the signs directing traffic to us was extremely vague so we had less than 1/8 of the traffic we had the year before, the promoters understood the error and will have it fixed for this fall when we go back so sometimes just letting the promter know helps.
on a negative note, we have been at events where the promoter sells you a space that is suppose to be say a 12x6 or so and when you start setting up the basic 10x10 you realize that your set up will not work because the space you have is not close to what you paid for, and you can bbarely get your 5 foot tables in the space, it happens and in the case i am describing, the promoter here charges $300 plus for a space, pays $4000.00 to use the whole building and has/had over 200 vendors in this area, his bragging about cost verses income resulted in a lot of the hand made vendors not coming back since he was posting a $36,000.00 profit because he only had two signs on the ground at the entrance to the event.
point here is you will learn which events are good and which ones to avoid and there is only one way to learn this and that is get out there and attend, we have made that same mistake and still today schedule only events that are well known and we know has great advertising. learn as you go and you will figure out which ones work and which ones do not, and here where we live a lot of the shows we attend are going to stop all resale items because they are everywhere and the customers are tired of seeing the same people at the events with the same stuff over and over so when wood workers or any hand made items come into play the promters are usually willing to give them prime spots.

[wood-n-things]

GraybeardStL,
Unfortunately when a sale has garage sale or estate sale attached to it most buyers have a I want it for nothing attitude. You will probably find it difficult to get a fair comparison on what your prices should be.

I wish you luck and hope you are very successful though.