Preparing for Vending at a Festival

This logo that I designed for HoopFest symbolizes the official seal that I’ll be attending and vending at a (hoop) festival for the very first time! I was honored to have the opportunity to design it and be a part of  the planning and strategy of this very first year of HoopFest New England! Isn’t that hooping lighthouse cute?

(For those of you not sure what a hoop festival is ~ hooping or hoop dance is a fun recreational activity. Its the successor to the good ol’ hula hoop, only much more active. A great workout and I am addicted to it! I have a brand of shirts and gifts for hoopers.)

I’m excited, but anxious. Will we be able to get everything done? Will it all look nice and presentable? And, of course, a very important question… Will we make some profit?!

Here’s a list of what I know need to do by the beginning of July:

• make accommodations
• get sales permit for State of Maine
• fund & create enough merch
• package merch for sale & transport
• plan out the booth ~ merchandising layout, etc
• create signage for booth
• figure out pricing
• marketing handouts ~ enough of them?
• get credit card payment set up (I actually have this done already! Square!)
• gather together supplies for selling
• and…?

Notice the “and…?” there? Yep, I’m in full research mode on just what I need to do! Yeeeppees!

I want to note: obviously, the first step in vending is deciding if it makes sense to do on a monetary scale. It really depends on what your objective is. It really should be to make money; but other fairly good reasons are to make connections and represent yourself, especially if you are a first-timer and want to start establishing yourself in a niche. Vending is about building relationships and exposure, in addition to selling your wares.

So… therefore… I’ve decided HoopFest will be an ideal opportunity to make connections and meet up with fellow hoop dancers. I have been interacting with the organizers of the event and feel good about showing there, as it seems to be very well organized for a first-time event. I cannot wait to meet these people :) Plus ~ Maine! I’ve never been there and have heard of it’s loveliness.

I have confidence and hopes that we will at least break even. If we make a profit, therefore, that’d be awesomeness. My expectations are pretty pragmatic, but I’m still aiming high!

I have another much larger retreat in mind to vend at later in the year and this one is sort of a dry run for that (possibly) more lucrative one. The good thing is that we’ll have months to tweak our vending plan to be prepared for that big showing!

Preparing for showing/vending resources

I’m reading lots of great books to prepare and one of them is actually Khristian Howell’s Showstopper. The Surtex roadmap is similar to vending so it’s been helpful as a game plan. What I really need is a step-by-step guide and this book is just that. I’m sorta surprised I can’t find any step-by-step book re: vending your crafts step-by-step. If anyone knows of a book, please leave a comment and let me know!

Some useful links are:

Tips on preparing for a craft show

How to Sell at Craft Fairs and Shows

I’m also thinking about picking up this book on Kindle, which seems to have gotten some great reviews and has a pretty good section on showing at craft fairs:

The Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, and On-Line

I already completed:

• Accommodations / Travel plans
• Register for Maine sales permit
• Tell the Hoop World we’re attending via various outlets ~ FB, Twitter, Blog

What I have to do this week

• Start planning the line-up of what goods to bring
• Figure out what’s already provided to me, booth-wise
• Start planning booth out ~ design the overall layout

Here I go! Hope to have a good report for the next post.

PS: If you need you need a logo to prettify your business, I would love to help you out there. Go here to find out more.

*Some links inserted in this post are affiliate links. If you are preparing for a show, I hope you find them useful!