Preparing for my 1st event!

Sid_Wolf

I've booked a stand at a large(ish) event in my town, its the all about dogs show, which is a big, fun dog day out at the showground. The organisers do loads of promotion and so its a really popular event, I went last year as a visitor with one of my dogs and it was packed, we had a great day

So this year I'm going as an exhibitor! My stand is 3m front x 6m deep, and is £175 for both days, all booked up and deposit paid for now, I have to pay the rest by march (event is in april)

And now im suddenly really nervous! I have 3 months to prepare but the idea of going and making zilch is scaring me! Im sure it wont happen, im confident in my products and have had lots of support from my online customers, but im a natural worrier!

Anyway, I'm trying to get myself sorted early, so am trying to get together things I will need, heres my list so far...

Gazebo - borrow from family
Tables - borrow one from family and rent the other from the organisers
Tablecloths - im thinking white or black so the products stand out well
Stock obviously
Banner - i'll be ordering one next week, i've already designed it
Business cards - need to order some more, have about 200 atm
Chairs - borrow from mum
T-shirts - have 4 on order already for me and my helpers
Bumbags & lockbox for money

Theres a couple of things im not sure about...

Float - I dont know how much to take? £50?
Price tags - Should I have little cards with prices on for each type of thing and just keep those things together, or have individual tags tied onto each item? Im leaning more towards the latter as I would like to everything spread out, e.g I dont want all of one thing at one end and all of another at the other, if that makes sense?

Any other tips or advice to help calm my nerves and make the weekend a success?

pitkin2020

Well done on getting out there to promote your products. I can see one major missing component!! (i'll come back to that)

Float - £50 is a good average as obviously as you sell it will build up. Depending on your prices will depend what change you actually need, i.e if lots of your products end .99 make sure you have plenty of pennies. Again if you have lots of items under the £5 mark make sure you have plenty of £5 notes.

Price tags - people don't always like to ask the price, if they can't see them clearly a lot of people will have the perception its going to be expensive so make sure they are clear for all to see. If you want to spread items out you'll have to price everything individually.

Events like this are all about getting your product out there, business cards are great for doing that, hand them out to anyone and everyone. Depending on the size of the event will depend on the amount you will need. Don't under estimate how many you order, you can easily clear 500 in only a couple of hours and you don't want to run out.

Whilst giving business cards out is a great way to get people to know who you are, you are competing with a lot of people at events for attention so within 10 minutes they have moved to the next stall and your easily forgotten about, you need to be able to contact these people after the event. When the event is in the back of their mind you remind them about your products, services and business.
You can do it a couple of ways but by far the easiest is a raffle at the end of the event where you give away a selection of your products/services. Encourage people to sign up for the raffle for free by completing an entry card detailing such things as name, telephone number, address and email. At the end of the event just randomly pick the winner and send them their prize.

A couple days after the event compile all those valuable contact details you have gained from the raffle and email or flyer drop them to remind them of your services and give them an outline of what they can do for you. You have also built up a contact list you can easily email or flyer drop for any future promotions events etc. That list of names could net you far more after the event than at the event.

Best of luck.

MessyMare

When i used to do jewellery stalls I used to take a full bag of each denomination (bearing in mind your prices, if you've only got round pounds etc this cuts down on the faff). Take bananas- no mess snacks, will help to keep your energy up because you will be exhausted, helpers or no but it's good exhaustion! You'll have a great time, it's a shame you don't do martingale collars as I'm after a new one for my greyhound

Auntie-Dolly

Bags/carrier bags?

Sid_Wolf

Thankyou guys, yes i forgot to put bags on the list, but will definately have plenty!

That raffle is a really good idea, thanks pitkin!

the smallest change i'll need will be 50ps I think :j

Just ordered my banner :T

Savvy_Sue

Here's another vote for individually pricing things, for two reasons: it helps the customer who doesn't want to ask, and it saves time and worry for your helpers.

I've been involved in selling bags a few times, and to start with we had a sample of each bag on the stall with a price label giving its name, colour and price. People would say "I'd like this one please" and we'd have to root round under the stall to find that bag. Too fiddly really.

Which leads me to stock control: if you're usually selling items a few at a time, it's easy to keep track. How are you going to do it here, try to jot down each thing you sell, or know how many you take and count them back in again at the end of the day?

Also if you're going to let people buy and leave at your stall while they go elsewhere, cloakroom tickets might be helpful - don't know how big your goods are, but if bulky people might welcome that, and it might be easier than writing names on bags etc.

So that's sellotape, plenty of pens, stapler, paperclips, maybe blu-tak.

Will your products blow away if it's very windy, btw? Think about that in advance.

Sid_Wolf

Thanks sue, the products are small enough to take away with them, if they want to leave them then i will write their names on a note and secure it with an elastic band, and put it under the table

I think I will write down everything I take with me and then i can work out what i've sold from that

they shouldnt do no, they arent heavy, but not blow away light either, the gazebo has sides aswell which i can roll down

Savvy_Sue

Another thing to consider is whether you will do any 'deals', eg 3 for the price of 2, or 5 for the price of 4, or buy one with flashing lights and get the basic one free etc. Best to work this out beforehand so you don't feel put on the spot on the day.

I bet some stalls will have a bowl of sweets for people. Would a bowl of doggie treats help you stand out? Or a plate of fresh fruit, not apple slices 'cos they go brown, but satsuma segments, grapes, melon chunks - it might be too much work but could be worth a thought.

pitkin2020

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Another thing to consider is whether you will do any 'deals', eg 3 for the price of 2, or 5 for the price of 4, or buy one with flashing lights and get the basic one free etc. Best to work this out beforehand so you don't feel put on the spot on the day.

I bet some stalls will have a bowl of sweets for people. Would a bowl of doggie treats help you stand out? Or a plate of fresh fruit, not apple slices 'cos they go brown, but satsuma segments, grapes, melon chunks - it might be too much work but could be worth a thought.

Some good ideas there, as its a dog event make sure you have several bowls of water available for the dogs!!

Sid_Wolf

yea treats & water will be avaliable, i'm taking one of mine along with me too so there'll definately be some there

Sid_Wolf

Arrrggg how do i work out how much stock to take?

i'm thing 40 each type of collar (so 200 total)
25 each type of lead (100 total)
30 x each harness (60 total)

but dont know if it will be enough? I'll take orders on the day too aswell tho

i just dont want to get to the end of day one and find that I have little stock left for the next day!