Know Your Show Tips

Doing shows is ultimately a necessity for an artist, designer or small business. How you present yourself and your product to the public is yet another line item in the ‘make or break’ of any business. It’s all in the presentation and how professional, business like, and in some cases your ability to entice the public to not pass you buy, either on the net or at a show.

I’ve done shows for years, in a couple of different industries and several states; but what remains the same is being able to get noticed. Here are a few things I’ve learned through trial & error along the way. I’m by no means a ‘professional’ at this, just passing on what I’ve learned to give everyone a starting point and something to build upon depending on your own style, company or business.

*Be aware of what type of booth you’ve been assigned. Have several different configurations in mind that can fit a variety of booth spaces; 10’x10’, 10’x15’, 10’x18’, or 10’x20’ are all standard booth configurations. Also know how to work with a front only verses a corner booth.
*Try to keep the same booth space from year to year at the same shows. Your customers are often looking for the booth location verses the business or product.
*Try to keep your booth displays and configurations the same from show to show. After the booth location, customers are next looking for the booth type verses the person, business or product.
*Be professional and know not only your products, but also your customers. If you know something special about a particular product (i.e. how it was made, a special part, etc.), tell the customers about it.
*Dress as nicely and appropriately as possible and always welcome your customer by name (if you know it) and with a smile. Ask how they’ve been if you haven’t seen them in a while, introduce them to your new or improved products and find out what they like or dislike. The acts of ‘personal attention’ to your customers are something seldom felt in the world of today’s global technology.
*Don’t be pushy and know when to ‘back off’ of selling to a customer. You’ll know if a customer is willing and ready to make a purchase.
*Above all, have fun with your products and customers. If it isn’t something you enjoy, then it’s probably not the right place for you or you may need to make adjustments somewhere.

These may work for some and not for others, but like I said, it’s a place to start. Build your own style and presentation of your products; make a lasting impression that invites everyone back.

What A Difference A Year Makes

It has been a long year filled with tons of learning, development and gaining of experience. This past weekend’s show went very well and I’m very pleased in booth display. In looking at the booth photos, it made me stop and think how far we’ve come in booth display at shows.

I found this early picture (above) from the same show a year ago; notice how cluttered and disorganized the tables look. The booth is in a “U” shape allowing customers to come into the booth; however there is no real flow among the jewelry for customers. This picture almost makes me cry to think it was so unprofessional, cluttered and in such disarray. There is almost no space for customers and us to walk within the booth; thinking back it was like everyone was bumping into each other!

A year later……
The booth is now inverted so that customer’s walk along the outside of the tables. We’ve found that displaying this way the customer’s don’t feel trapped or pushed into any sells and can look at the jewelry in a leisure fashion. There is an even flow of the jewelry from table to table and everything is displayed in a professional and organized manner. This week we received the final piece to our booth display, professional display table clothes in a natural complementing color. We can’t wait to use them this weekend, along with the new neutral colored necklace busts. With the holidays approaching, this weekend we are going to try something a little different and add touches of Fall or Holidays around the tables. The two pictures here show the booth before the jewelry was placed and the finished booth after placing all the jewelry.


I'm sure there are a few things we will continue to 'tweak' as time goes on, but for now, I think we have finally found our 'booth'!!