Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Working the Shows Wednesday - What shows are you planning to do this year?

Hard to picture that Spring craft show sitting on that field in just a few weeks isn't it? Spring IS coming!! Or, so they say! I'm choosing to believe it. Go ahead, use your imagination!!

I’ve been reading a number of posts, both in blogs and on various craft forums, where the poster has commented that they intend to participate in more craft shows during the coming year. Since “show season” seems a good ways off, most have indicated they “want” to do this, or they “plan to look into” or they’ll be doing shows later in the year.

Well, if they haven’t begun to set up that calendar yet or look into just what shows they plan to do, many will have missed the application deadlines for a lot of the better shows.

Easter is 9 weeks away. Mother’s Day is 14 weeks away. Around these parts, the Mid-Atlantic, and for many other areas of the country, indoor shows try to capitalize on the Easter rush and the outdoor shows and festivals kick into gear for Mother’s Day buying. Many of the Spring and summer shows I am looking at have February deadlines.

In fact, a lot of the better Fall and Christmas holiday shows have deadlines as early as March and April. Now is the time to determine what shows you intend to do throughout the entire year and check into the application process for each of those shows.

I have actually spoken with new crafters who have busily spent months building up stock for the great show they want to do in October (pre-Christmas) only to realize they have not checked into the application process for that show and just assumed they’d sign up in time. When they get around to looking into actually doing the paperwork and paying their fees, they find they’ve missed it by months.

So, if you are one of those PLANNING to do some shows later in the year, now is the time to put together that list, contact the organizers and get the paperwork in.

NOW is also the time to take some great pictures for jurying processes and giving solid thought to booth displays. For more information on both of those subjects, check out some of my previous posts in both the Working the Shows Wednesdays and my Marketing Series archives. (Find these in the side-bar.)

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[I’m not ready to bring this back as a weekly feature yet as we are still in the slow season in the world of arts and crafts shows. However, there are some things happening “back stage” so to speak that I do want to call to folks’ attention. So, for now, this feature will appear on an occasional basis until the show season gets into full swing once again.]

1 comment:

Ilena said...

I'd love to spend this year creating more and hopefully participate in a few local holiday shows. Best of luck with yours & it is hard to imagine a snowy field filled with crafters at this moment!