Starting Out - The First Craft Show

With my oldest child now in school and the younger one on a predictable routine, I have finally been getting back some time to do some of the craft projects that interest me. The past two weeks have been spent researching different organic materials/fabrics that are available. These are for 2 related projects that need a soft and absorbent material. A couple of materials that really caught my eye and feel amazing are: organic bamboo velour and organic bamboo terry. Now that these have been selected and sourced, it is time to put these into production.

I have been selling my designs online for a while and am now considering being part of a craft show. Doing this in person is a whole new experience and truthfully I am a bit nervous. My son's school is having a craft fair at the end of the month that should be a good entry point to doing sales live (as well as getting more face-to-face feedback). While some of the bigger shows have larger entrance fees and restrictions, this is a low cost option with hopefully a decent size. Of course I need to find out how many they expect (or any past metrics) to help better gauge the audience that *may* be there.

So planning for this is going to require a few things for the first time craft show experience which include:

1. What to bring? Remember those metrics mentioned above, in order to figure out what I need to bring I think understanding the basics of who will be there and how many to expect are going to be the key. I am going to concentrate on my jewelry designs and baby items since this craft fair will be at an elementary school.
   
   
2. How best to display these - Visual appeal is a must to help draw people in and of course I want to do this in a very thrifty way. Trying not to go overboard while doing this is going to be a chore as I want it to look nice but not sure how many future shows or when I will be doing them again. Since we are bootstrapping the company, every penny needs to count. From my engineering past I always focus on the analytical side, in this case balancing how much to spend on preparations vs. how much revenue (and product) one can reasonably expect to earn from the show. I feel that a eye-catching sign is a must, but am undecided on other display items at the moment.
   

From the web side, I know what to expect for our conversion rates but I expect this will be much different in person. Got any metrics and/or experiences to share? I will post back after the show to give you an idea on what we did and hopefully in the future can build on this to get some better ideas.

I would love to hear about your own craft show experiences...thanks in advance for your guidance.

Why a Blog?

I have been designing things all my life. As a child, I designed lego castles and tree houses. As a career woman, I designed bridges and structures. Now as a mom, I design items for my children. As I travel along this design path, I wish to share with you my ideas and inspirations.