Signing Up for an Outdoor Show – Insights from Jewelry Artists

Two experienced jewelry artists, Cheryl Feyen and Jeanette Ivins, sent in some excellent insights on doing outdoor shows.

Their helpful tips are in response to the question-and-answer article I published in my newsletter last week, where a jewelry artist asked,

“There is a big show coming up, and they guarantee at least 5 thousand visitors – but it’s outdoors. Is it worth it to do this show if it rains? The tickets are bought in advance and are almost sold out, and I would have the first booth at the entrance, so I would get a lot of exposure. But if it rains, will those people show up?”

(If you haven’t already read it, you can see my response about signing up for the jewelry show.)

Regarding doing outdoor shows in the rain, Cheryl Feyen of Magickal Mall says:

I have found that if I am prepared it can still be a really great show.

One of the first shows I did starting drizzling late morning after everyone was set up. Crafters started packing up and left before noon.

While it continued to drizzle on and off for the rest of the afternoon, people still came with their umbrellas and I sold several hundreds of dollars.

Now I come prepared, I have the sides of my canopy that I put up and can roll down at a moment’s notice and I made a front curtain for my booth of 2 clear plastic shower curtains that I attach with those old fashioned clip closed shower curtain hooks.

People can still see in and I can encourage them to come in out of the rain and I do a booming business with so much of the competition closing up and leaving.

I also bring clear plastic sheeting to put over my displays if it starts raining really hard.

*Note from Rena: Brilliant idea for adding the clear shower curtains across the front of your booth, Cheryl!  Thanks so much for sharing your great tips on going ahead with the show and making lots of sales despite the rain!

Next, in the article from my newsletter, I gave this advice about deciding whether to participate in the outdoor show:

“First of all, what percentage of the other vendors will be selling jewelry? Shows with too many jewelers are harder to profit from, regardless of the rest of the situation.  So I would ask the show promoter for that figure first, because it may help you decide right away whether the show is worth participating in.”

Jeanette Ivins expands on that, saying:

Rena, you give excellent advice to the woman who inquired about doing outdoor shows but I’d also like to add another point that I have been experienceing for the past few years.

I always, ALWAYS ask how many other jewelry vendors are being accepted into any show I’m intersted in signing up for – and have discovered that lately many of the show promoters are flat out lying about how they are accepting anyone who applies no matter what their product.

I did a show this past Labor Day where out of 220 vendors, 90 of them had jewelry.

I’ve been doing craft shows, mostly outdoors, for the past 10 years and this is getting out of control. It seems to be “jury by check” anymore.

As you wisely pointed out, too much jewelry can only hurt business – not only due to competition, but because not every craft show attendee is interested in jewelry

I overhear many comments about how there is just too much jewelry allowed.

I suspect that is one of the many reasons that show attendence is down this year.  My sales have dropped by at least 60% this year, it almost doesn’t seem worth the effort.

*Note from Rena: Jeanette, I really appreciate your sharing your experience with dishonest show promoters who don’t care about the show’s product mix or their vendors’ ability to make sales.  Many of us have seen previously good shows go downhill because of promoters who are unethical or don’t care about quality.

Readers, I’m interested to know your thoughts and experiences related to outdoor shows, dishonest show promoters, and other issues involved in deciding whether to sign up for a show.