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I participated in a vendor fair...live, not online...this weekend and have been considering setting one up in my area. If anyone has ever done this I would love to get input. Was it successful in terms of attendance and results? If so, what did you do to make that happen?


If I do this it will be a fundraiser for the Breast Cancer 3Day in June as well as a way to highlight direct sales businesses and generate shows and recruits.

Hi Harriett,


I have set up an offline vendor fair in the past, and I must warn you that it isa LOT of work, especially if you plan to be a vendor yourself. June is only 2 months away, which leaves you very little time for preparation. If you dodecide to go ahead with it, here are some things you'll have to consider:


Venue: You want a location that's easy to access, has plenty of parking, is highly visible (preferably on a main thoroughfare in town), and is well-known. If you can find someplace that has it's own regular foot traffic, even better. For instance, I chose a sandwich & coffee shop that also had a large room to rent where they do music concerts every night. So in addition to people who came for the fair itself, we were able to draw in the site's regular lunch crowd. Make sure there's adequate lighting and enough space to set up tables without blocking walkways. And of course you want the space to be affordable to rent. Ask about extras, such as electrical outlets, access to water, etc. Find out if the venue will require you to purchase event insurance to cover anyaccidents that occur on the premises during your event (to persons and/or property).


Vendors: Who will participate? Do you already have a list of vendors interested, or will you have to search for them? If you set up a good event, you will probably be able to find plenty of people to participate. However, tracking them down may take a good chunk of time, which is a luxury you don't have at this point. Crafters may be hesitant to participate if direct sales reps are there (this came as quite a surprise to me). And others won't participate in any show's first year... they want to see proof of previous success before investing their time and money in something that may or may not have good attendance. You want to have professional individuals and a variety of quality products.


Advertising: I cannot stress this enough.If your advertising isn't adequate, you won't have any customers... and then what's the point, right? You want to reach as many people as possible. Look into the cost of different methods of advertising, decide which you'll do, then build that cost into what you charge for the booths. Look at newspapers (either placing a printed ad or having an insert distributed), direct mail postcards to homes in the area, papering the town with flyers, etc. You can probably get local radio stations to do a "public service announcement" about the fair for free, but you'll need to notify them at least 4-6 weeks in advance. Another free route is press releases... send them to every publication in town. I also had business card ads printed and gave 50 of them to each of my vendors to distribute to their customers, neighbors, friends, and family. If your venue will allow it, you'll also want a large banner to hang outside the day of the event. Large eye-catching signs along the roadway in front of the venue for a week leading up to the event are also great. Remember to make sure that all of your postings (flyers, signs, banners, etc.) are legal, and get authorization where necessary. For instance, posting flyers on sign poles andsigns along the roadway are usually not legal unless you have written authorization from the police department or the department of transportation. It's alot to consider, and both the time and cost you'll have to invest are great, but it's the ONLY way to have a successful show.


Other things: How will you decorate the venue? Assess the cost and time. Will you provide tables and chairs for your vendors or ask them to bring their own? Providing tables and chairs yourself allows you to ensure a more professional, cohesive look, but it also means more time and expense. Will you have a printed program to distribute? This would mean more time and expense, but you could also sell ad space in it to local businesses to offset some of your other costs.


I haven't covered every detail here, but you can see that there is quite a bit involved in setting up a vendor event. Most important of all, be sure you require your vendors to sign a contract that spells out your expectations of them and frees you of liability if they or their property is damaged in the course of the event. Hope this has helped some! smileys/smiley1.gif


Blessings,


Christy

Just my few notes to add to the last post:


Make sure you promote the event and that all of the vendors taking part no that they need to help with promoting. Word of mouth is really what makes or breaks a show.


Make sure you have a banner outside of the facility at least two weeks before the event advertising it.


Vendors are easy to find customers are the harder part and I can not stress enough that vendors really have to be a part of inviting people in in order for you to get a good crowd.

Thanks! I think I'm going to put it off until fall because I've got a lot going right now and if I do tackle it I want it to be a good one. I have about 13-14 people that I know personally who I can invite to be part of the event so I'm not worried about that. I agree that customers are the hard part....so I would love to hear from anyone who has set one up or been part of a successful fair to see what worked to get people in.


I was thinking about inviting someone "famous" to sign autographs for a little while. I have a couple of connections who might be able to get a pro football or baseball player to come, especially if it's a charity event. Opinions?

If you can get a draw like that, use it. However realize that baseball and a direct selling event or not really in the same target market. So it may work out but you may get a lot of dads there bringing Billy for the baseball signing.


Chris

However it would be a great attention getter aroun Valentine's day or sweetest day for husbands to come shop for their wives! >SMILE!