How to Direct a Craft Show Part 1: The Space

Its craft show season. Did you know there was a season? Guys have hunting seasons, girls have craft show seasons. We've just gotten in to the Fall Shows, and before they are done we will be in the Holiday Shows season. The Spring shows are not as well attended as the fall and holiday shows. I don't know why, maybe because that is prime garage sale season and sports are going full swing. I just know it is true.

I have been directing or co-directing a craft show at our church for a half dozen or so years. For many years we did both a spring and fall show. Now we just do fall shows. I actually started the shows. We'd had one a few years prior, but I began the show as it is now after being a vendor in a few shows. I realized that churches and schools were making a few thousand dollars by opening their building to vendors and putting on a great show. At the time our church was begging for scholarship money after having a VBS fundraiser pie auction and several people were asking for donations for mission trips. I kept thinking there had to be a way to get money from the community, not just the church members. I knew we could have a car wash and things like that -- but I also knew we'd have to do something little every month if we didn't do something big. So this was my big idea. My how it has grown! We've almost doubled the number of vendors from our first show, and tripled the number of visitors.

These are pictures from our 2011 shows. At that time we had two vendor areas. We've since added an upstairs area with classrooms. Some day I'd like to have 100 vendors.

My friends (and certainly my twin sister) will attest to the fact that I am NOT the most organized person in the world. So over the years I set processes in motion to help reduce the reliance on my administrative skills. Those are the kinds of tips I will share with you.

I will kind of start at the beginning of the process as if I were going to start a brand new show. Knowing what I know now and with the experience of directing a dozen shows behind me, how would I do it if I had to start over at a brand new place?

First, GET THE BIG PICTURE:

• When will you have it? 

Give yourself 6 months to plan your first show. At least. Vendors plan two to three months out, so you have to be completely ready that far out. Now that we've done about a dozen, I start planning 4 months out to be ready to accept vendors 3 months out. And that is only because I've been doing it so much. This blog will save you some time, but you will still need those 6 months. Don't worry - they are not 6 frightfully-busy months. You do a lot of work in spurts and have some easy, easy weeks as well.

So find an empty slot on your organization's calendar. Research that date. 

• What other events are going on that day?
• Do a search for craft shows in your area. How many are on that date? How far away from your location? 

Once you have a good potential date, figure out your location. Now I realize these two may have to be done in reverse order, or at the same time. But that's OK. Just get them both done.

• Where will you have your show? Does your organization have a building? Is there street traffic already? Is it easy to get to? 

If you have to show an ID to get to your facility, maybe you should choose one that is more public. (Maybe not. Perhaps you want a show just for members of your social club. That's OK too! You will have to tell your vendors about this and get them in to the facility. That is OK. Get it on your questions/to do list!)

Walk through your proposed location with an eye for your craft show. Here are some questions to think through. Make notes, make a list of questions and things to do. You are trying to figure out if you should even run with this idea. Be critical of the space. Will it work? Can you picture booths there? If they only space you have is a 9 foot wide hallway, that will have a serious impact on booths. Think it all through as you make your initial game plan. Only have an outside space and want to have a fundraiser in December in Oklahoma? Maybe you need to figure something else out. Ice skating anyone?

Once you decide to continue, you need to BEGIN FOCUSING ON LOGISTICAL DETAILS:

• Who will you need to talk to about the idea? 

Think about who needs to approve the plan, sure, but also who will be affected by the show? Who uses the room(s) you want to use? Getting them on board early in the process saves so much frustration later! For now, just start a list. Don't talk to them until you have some information gathered. Unless you need to talk to them to get information - but don't make a big presentation to the elders or church committee until you have your facts. Who will help you?

Think about the people you will talk to and the questions they (and you) will have. GATHER FACTS you need to make a presentation (or at least have an intelligent conversation about the idea):

• Where will you put vendors? In classrooms? An auditorium? Hallways?

If possible, it is best to start off in one bigger room and plan to add space as needed. (12 vendors together is more exciting and easier for shoppers than three vendors in  each of 4 classrooms. That feels small and like too much trouble for shoppers. Trust me - it does.) Get a list of possible spaces. Think about each one. (Maybe there is only one. That's great. Saves time.)

• How big is the space?

Measure the space(s) you want to use and draw a basic layout. ASK your maintenance person if there is a picture of the building layout.

[Usually there is a CAD drawing or perhaps even architectural blueprints. If you can get a digital copy, you can plan the space and even make a map. More on that in a later post.]

ALWAYS measure -- even if you have a drawing. Buildings change. The stage is different than originally planned, acoustic walls and decorative finishes may change the actual room dimensions by a foot, the sound booth is here, not there, etc. Make note of all the things that cannot be moved. The stage, the drum set possibly, the sound system. Also make note of all doors and windows. You can't block exit doors, and what if the maintenance guy, Sunday School teacher or preacher needs to get INTO his closet, etc. It all affects your booth layout. Which doors can you block? Where are architectural design elements (such as a column or overhang)?

• How many booths will fit? Will you have different size booths or all one size?

You have to do the math here. Make a preliminary plan for the number of booths you can have. We have 9 x 9 booths. I've been in 8 x 8 booths, and they are common. Crafters really don't like anything smaller than 8 x 8. 10 x 10 is standard for very large commercial trade shows.

A lot of this is determined by the room size. We have some booths upstairs in classrooms and we generally let the 2-3 vendors in the room just divide the space. Its more than the 9 x 9, but we can't get another vendor in there, so we tell them they have to allow space for people to get in to all booths, but that they can spread out and fill the room. In contrast, in the auditorium, our main space, we tape off lines and ask vendors to move stuff out of the aisles and adjoining spaces. We tell them up front and in the vendor guidelines -- and we hold them to it. WAY too many vendors to let them 'creep' into other spaces.

www.Floorplanner.com can help you designing your layout. I will talk about that more later, too, but you can start playing with it. Especially if you don't have a layout of any kind of your space.

• What is traffic flow? 
• How do people get into the building now? 
• Which door(s) will you have open?

You have to plan how people will get to all the booths and booth areas as well as any amenities such as cafe and rest rooms. That means planning aisles. Not just for shopping, but for getting to everywhere you want them to go. Can a wheelchair-bound guest get around easily? How many people can walk through this aisle at once? Begin to plan your traffic flow. If you don't have good aisles, people will cut through booths making aisles, and your vendors will be annoyed. If you have to go down fourteen halls to get to the last set of booths, people won't. Plan the booths as close together as possible.

Speaking of getting to the booths, you have to think about outside navigation as well.

• Where will parking be? Will you ask vendors to park in another area?

And of course, from the vendor's perspective, how will they set up their booth? We will discuss vendor set up in another post, but as far as lay out and logistics go...

• How will vendors get their merchandise to their booth space? 
• How far away from bathrooms will the booths be?
• How many will have access to electricity?

Its one thing for a customer to walk down a football-size hallway and up four stairs to a booth, its another to ask a vendor to lug their boxes that far. Even with a dolly. And while you are thinking about where booths go...

• How much furniture will you have to move to set up for the show and move back after it is over? 
• How much wall space do you have? Will you need to move or protect anything on the walls? (Especially something to consider if you are using a classroom with preschool stuff hanging up all over the place.)

And finally, when considering your location and number of vendors you would like, you need to answer these very important questions:

• What building-related expenses will you have? Will you have to rent the space? Will you have a use fee or cleaning fee? 

Are you overwhelmed yet? Don't be. We've only just begun! This is going to be SO MUCH FUN!