Is It All About the Venue?

Lindly Haunani recently sent me a story.

Watch this video.



Did you notice the protective bubble that seems to exist around the violinist. Even the few who finally stop to listen, keep a "safe" distance away.

The violinist, Joshua Bell. A world class musician. The violin, was worth $3.5 million. He played six beautiful and complex Bach pieces over 45 minutes. Six people stopped and listened for any length of time. About twenty people gave him money, but kept walking.

Just two days earlier, he played a sold out show in Boston. The tickets cost an average of $100. You can image that the audience paid full attention to every piece played.

Same musician. Same instrument. Different setting. And an entirely different response.

It certainly made me think about the many shows I have done when people have walked absent-mindedly through a show. Chatting on the phone, or with a friend. Half looking at the work. At these very shows, there are artists showing work that is worthy of being in a museum....or who have work in a museum.

I have yet to see someone walking through a museum, chatting on their cell phone, and munching on popcorn. Why does one setting invoke respect and focus, and another half-hearted attention? I do not expect people at a craft show,...even a high caliber show....to be looking at the artists and their work with reverence. But, if you do come to see beauty, then why not see the beauty?

It also made me think about how the context in which we sell our work, creates a perception of value. If you sell your work on a bare table in a school gymnasium, don't expect people to value your creative genius. If you put mediocre pictures of your work on your website, don't expect to have anyone see what you see in the work. Sell your work at price that is too low to reflect the work that went into it, and people will look to see what is wrong with the work, to solve the apparent contradiction. Put thought and effort into the design of a piece, and neglect similar attention to the finishing, and don't be surprised that the design is not fully appreciated.

Attention. Attention to where and how is essential to success. Neglect that attention, and you will have an even harder challenge to get your audience to pay attention, appreciate...and buy...your work.

What Can You Do After A Bad Show?

Throw in the towel? Decide you were crazy to even think this could work?

Those are possibilities, but maybe not the best ones.

First, sit down with a pad of paper. Divide it into two columns. In one column, write down everything that went wrong. Everything you wished you could have a do over on. Everything that you felt 'in over your head' about. For instance, you did not cover your costs. The weather was horrible. You had work stolen. You heard people whispering about how high your prices were to their friend as they walked out of your booth. You were sick as a dog, and you had no choice but to do the show anyway. You forgot half your work, and your were hours from home. Your neighbor kept coming into your booth and complaining about everything. Your booth was in the worst spot in the world.

In the other column, write down everything that was positive about the show. The people who bought your work were in love with it. The weather was gorgeous. Your neighbor at the show was a gem. You made a connection for a possible new outlet for your work, or two other shows that might be a good fit for your work. You found out about a great display at a reasonable cost. Someone gave you a great idea for a new product to try and work on.

These are just a few of some of the good and bad things that have happened to me at shows....and a few fictional ones for kicks! No matter how bad a show has been, I have always walked away with a bit more knowledge or insight. Some of the insight came from what went wrong, and some was gained from a positive experience.

Without looking at the experience, good and bad, we are leaving the outcome of future shows to chance. The more we understand why something is working for us, or what needs to change, the more we can move towards the success we want.

If a show is bad, it is easy to blame the weather, the price of gas, or the promoter. But at every bad show I have had, other artists have done well. Actually, there was one show....I guess you could call it the exception that proves the rule, where no one did well. Many different things can contribute to bad sales at a show. A recent survey by the NAIA (National Association of Independent Artists) is a real Buyer's Beware wake up call for artists about trusting the reputation of a show before investigating further for yourself. Artists who had participated in the Coconut Grove show in Florida were surveyed and it was fascinating to see the effects of charging a gate fee, or inviting other "attractions" to a show can have on the artists' sales. The group also has a survey of the Artists' Landscape on the website, and it is a bleak one. Artists are aging and retiring. Collectors are no-shows at shows. They too are aging, and less interested in acquiring more "stuff".

Are we back to throwing in the towel? That might seem pretty attractive after reading either or both of these surveys.

I think rather than throw in the towel, it is important to look at your approach from the ground up, and start thinking about what is working, and what is not. Thus the list.

Look around at how people are buying luxury goods these days. After all, craft is a luxury good, isn't it? If the way you, your friends and associates, your neighbors, you or your spouses co-workers are indulging themselves, is at the mall, or on the internet, is it any wonder that sales are down at a craft show? If people are spending $25 in gas, $30 in admission fees, and another $15 to $20 on food at a show, is it any wonder that many in the middle class are feeling too pinched to spend another $50, or $250 to purchase a hand-crafted treasure? Is it any wonder that they might feel as if just looking is what is in their budget?

And yet, some people are selling. Some people are succeeding.

It is time for a critical eye on every aspect of what we do. Is our display the best it can be? Is our work priced right? Is this the right show for our work? Have we done anything new lately? Is there another, perhaps better, way to reach your customer? What have you done to add value to your work? This could be through building your reputation in your media, to packaging, to advertising, to adding context or story to your work.

Sitting in the corner of your booth, engrossed in a Sudoko puzzle is not the path to success. Go to a show as a customer. Walk the show and observe. Which booths draw you in? Why? Which artists make you want to buy from them? Why? Which booths do you walk right past without barely a glance? Why? Visit shops and galleries that carry handcrafted work and notice the same thing. What makes you enjoy the experience? Which work draws you in, and why? Is there any work that makes you say...if only they would do, "x", then that piece would be amazing! Now, think about your own work, your booth, your selling style. Where can you improve? What can you do differently? No matter how long you have been in business this type of exercise can be helpful to shake you out of your routine. It can help you see what else is drawing the eyeballs and dollars of your potential customers.

What if you do all that, and you still feel stuck? Then it might be time for outside help, paid consultant or artist friend. If your blindspots seem to be unmoveable, it might be worth the investment. But doing the work on your own first, will make any time spent with a consultant more effective. They will better be able to get a grasp on where you are struggling. The more efficiently you can help them get there with you, the faster they may help you find some solutions. And we all know, time is money.

The same old, same old, is not going to work.

What will you do differently at your next show? Or will you do shows anymore? Maybe your answer will be to find an entirely different route to reach your customers. We can't just wait out the bad economy. We have to work smarter. Things are changing, and what worked ten, twenty years ago, may not work for anyone anymore. It may be time to forge a new path.

Shipping A Booth, and other Weighty Matters

Another obstacle that I had to overcome to move my business forward was figuring out how to ship a booth, or components of it, in order to do a show thousands of miles away. I knew I was ready to do a wholesale show, or as ready as I would ever be, but I was not sure I was ready to tackle shipping my stuff cross country.

When you are driving to a show, if you have a big enough vehicle, you can bring just about whatever you want to set up your booth. If you have to haul your stuff any distance from your car or van to set-up, then you might consider weight and volume, but otherwise, convenience, and having the best display possible is what overrides the weight and volume concerns.

But, if you have to ship, weight and volume translates quickly into cost. The cost of shipping is directly correlated to these two factors. And, at some shows there is also drayage charges. Drayage is a weight based charge that is applied at some facilities for transport of your materials from the loading dock to your booth. Both ways. This can add up fast, if your work and/or are heavy, it can easily add up to thousands of dollars. Fortunately, the ACRE show includes the drayage cost in the booth fee. But, since i will I have to ship my paraphenelia from Massachusetts to Las Vegas, weight matters.

Last year, I partially dodged the issue. I shipped some things, and rented others. But this year, I wanted to cross the line, and rent only the bare minimum. A small table for writing orders, and to stash things under, crossbars, and added padding under the standard carpet that comes with the booth. The padding is an indulgence, but sometimes you just have to take care of yourself, and the visitors to your booth! So my rental charges this year are about a third to a quarter of what I spent last year, and I will have extra electricity.

Part of the money I saved went to purchasing a shipping crate. I was fortunate enough to have purchased two fiber crates, that are often used to ship those pop-up style booths, for a song. But they are limited in what can fit inside them. I used one of them to package up my lights, banners and a few odds and ends. I still needed something to pack my pedestals into. The pedestals are going to be the foundation of my booth. They are 42 inches tall, and 24 inches wide when flat, so I needed a container to accommodate them. In addition, the "table" tops that I will lay across the pedestals are 48 inches long. Knowing these dimensions, I hit the web.

This is what I ended up with. It is hard to tell from the picture, but it has wheels, and a handle built in. Straps are attached to securely close the case. And the lid, telescopes on the base. So it can be 6" high, or 10 inches high, depending upon what and how much you put in the case.

After the cases were packed, I added some plastic strapping cord to secure the crates for their long distance travel.

Each container was less than 150 pounds, which meant I could ship them UPS ground. And I could track on line to see the safe arrival of my containers to their intended destination.

Most shows have an advance warehouse. A place where artists can ship their booth and other materials ahead of time. There is usually a deadline for arrival of your goods so that they can be staged at the appropriate time for transportation to the venue. And if all goes well, when you arrive at your booth, all your containers are sitting there waiting for you. But, you need to plan backwards from that deadline to make sure everything is out the door in time to make the trip.

It is a good idea to print out your shipping labels for the return trip at home and bring them with you. It will make that end of the process go much more smoothly. You also want to make certain to have all the paperwork for the shipment to the venue. You never know....

If you ship your materials by freight, there are a few other things to consider. First, a pallet or other way to be able to move your materials with a fork lift is important. The weight of the pallet, becomes a part of the cost of shipping. If you work from home, and thus would ship from home, you would need to pay extra for the lift truck. This is a truck that has a platform on the back that can raise and lower to move your stuff off the ground and up onto the truck.

You will also need a bill of lading. The form will come from the shipper, but it will list what you have in the crates or cartons. You do not need to go into a great deal of detail. "Trade show booth" could be sufficient.

I will show you more of the lightweight, transportable booth I came up with in a future post. So, stay tuned.