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Be sure you
know the "rules" for holding
and selling at special
events in your area. Check with both
your state and city sales tax revenue
departments. State on your contracts
that sellers are solely responsible for
any and all sales taxes. No one wants
the city or state showing up at your
event to interview your sellers to be
sure they are all compliant. With the
economy the way it is, government
agencies are hurting for money so you
want to be sure you know and follow the
rules to prevent large fines.
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Research your date and see if there is
any other event in your area.
Check DollShowUSA.com for other doll
events in surrounding areas as well.
Saturday or Sunday? Both have benefits
and drawbacks. For instance, Saturday
shows limit Sellers/Vendors that own
shops from coming and Sundays have
church so some would not be able to come
until later in the afternoon.
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Consider an "Early Bird" Admission.
Sellers/Vendors don't have to be set up
by that time. That's part of the fun!
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If this is not
a club event, consider having a charity
benefit from the grand prize and/or
raffle (sometimes known as helpers)
drawings. Usually, the sellers are
more than willing to donate nicer items
for the raffle and the charity may have
a mail out list that they can send
notice of the event out to as well.
Sometimes, television or radio stations
will do a story on the doll show if a
charity is involved.
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When advertising,
start with FREE and go from there.
Go online and search for free calendars.
Don't forget
television and radio stations. Many have
online submission forms. Send out
PSA postcards (Public Service
Announcement) 6 - 8 weeks before. Spend a day posting flyers and leaving
handbills.
I always carry some with me and leave at
craft & fabric stores, antique shops,
post office & anywhere I see a bulletin
board.
The week before, I sometimes hand them
out to everyone I meet in a day, bank
tellers, clients, grocery clerks,
doctors offices, dentists, etc.
You never know who likes dolls or knows
someone who does.
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Take advantage
of the
www.DollShowUSA.com Deluxe Post. For
only $25, your contract, flyer,
registration form, can be available 24/7
to anyone visiting the site looking for
"your" event to attend! With over 1,000
hits a day, you are sure to get some
response.
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If you don't have a webpage, get one!
In this day and age, it is absolutely
necessary to have one.
There are many sites that allow you to
build one for free such as
www.weebly.com or sometimes the
company you have email services through
also allow you to have a webpage. If you
have a webpage
through a company like weebly, your
webpage address will be long and harder
for people to remember (example:
http://dollshowusa.weebly.com). My
suggestion would be to open an account
with
www.mydomain.com, purchase an easier
name for people to remember (www.dollshowusa.com).
Then just forward the domain name to
your free site.
OR Visit
www.dollsontheweb.com for more
information on my very reasonable
webpage services.
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Be sure you
add a space for your seller's email to
your contracts and start developing a
seller email list so you can email
contracts instead of snail mail. Saves
lots of time and money.
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When emailing out contracts and/or
flyers, it is a good idea to turn them
into a "pdf" file first. You can
download free software to do that at
http://www.cutepdf.com/. It installs
a printer driver onto your computer
where all you have to do is print your
document to the printer driver and it
will turn your document into a pdf. That
way, the person receiving the file
should have an easier time at printing
the documents with less conflicts and/or
challenges with different versions of MS
Word or whatever word processor you may
use.
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Help your
sellers have a great show!
www.selling-dolls.com has some great
ideas for your sellers and even has a
link to a printable copy if you want to
include it in with your contract. I have
done all the work for you!
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Keep track of your
sellers on a
spreadsheet listing Name, Helper, Preferences, Number of
Tables Requested, Amount owed, Amount paid.
Makes for an easier transition to the
table assignment chart. Always make copies of the checks
received and keep the envelope they came in just in
case the handwriting is illegible.
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Sellers will often wait until
the last minute to commit.
Always allow for extra tables, if
possible. If you don't need them for
sellers, you can always use them for a
make and take or other activity.
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Develop an
email and snail mail list at the door of
the show. Have attendees fill out name
address and email for door prize
drawings. You can also ask how they
heard about the show to track
advertising. I always give them $1 off
with coupon, ad or flyer and chalk it up
to advertising costs.
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Send out
postcards about 6 weeks before the show.
You may even get an extra seller or two
from them.
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Attendees love goody bags!
Even if it is simply a pen and a couple
of chocolate kisses or a raffle ticket.
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A
doll display of some sort always sparks
interest.
