you can answer this privately or publicly, or not at all; whatever you prefer. A friend and I are trying to set up to do our very first table in an artists' alley at a small local con and I'm SUPER nervous! Do you have any pointers/advice for a newbie?
So I read your ask to @dadhoc, and the first thing they said was ‘believe in yourself, because nobody else will,’ which is true. Then we started thinking about practical advice:
Try setting up your table beforehand, at home. If you have a 6′ table (the most common size), set up your stuff on a table at home and make sure you can see the things that you want people to see. They won’t buy what they can’t see.
Depending on how much stuff you have to bring, and if you intend to do more shows, consider a hand truck or rolling wagon. (The link goes to the one we use, it’s really useful and collapses really small.) You’ll thank me, if you have a lot to carry.
Find the bathroom the minute you get to the con, and also, consider packing your snacks and lunches. Nothing eats into your profits faster than eating from food trucks and ordering from DoorDash or whatever.
Make sure you have your load-in information from the con somewhere easy to get to, especially any verification numbers or QR codes. You don’t want to be fumbling for your ticket on your phone, if there’s a QR code or ticket to check in, it’s easier to print it out and keep it on you.
Make sure you know exactly what time load-in starts and get there then, especially if you’ve never set up a table for your art before.
Introduce yourself to the tables to your right and left. Help people if you can. The community is a lot smaller than you think, and being awesome means people will refer others to you, will tell you about other shows, will ask you to come to other shows they’re running. Being a shithead will make getting future shows much harder.
Create a ‘show bag’ that has everything you need to run your table in it. Think about being stuck in one place for hours and hours, and not being able to run out to CVS or whatever. Our show bag has our cash bag with our credit card reader, lip balm (MUST HAVE, you will be talking A LOT), small diabetic-friendly snacks, a small bottle of hand lotion (your hands will dry out faster than you think), water bottles, pens, Sharpies, index cards (for ad hoc signs), menstrual supplies, a first aid kit, a medication kit with one round of meds for each of us in case we get delayed or forget to take our meds running out the door in the morning, and extra business cards. Oh, and duct tape. I need to put another roll of duct tape in our show bag, actually.
Bring more business cards than you think you’ll need. Seriously.
Make sure you know whether or not the con is providing chairs. You don’t want to stand all day because you missed the line where it said your table doesn’t come with chairs.
Look at Home Depot for cheap display options. You don’t need to spend a million dollars on shelving or display stuff. The shelves we use to display our heating pads at shows cost $10 each at Home Depot. (And plus, that way, you’re not mad when something breaks. And shit will break.)
Do you have wifi at the con? Make sure! Otherwise you’ll need to be sure you have signal on your phone so you can run credit cards.
Get an external battery for your phone, and make sure it’s charged. You need that sucker to run credit cards. (By the way, do you have Square, or another credit card setup? If you intend to do multiple shows, having one = must. People don’t carry cash, you’ll lose sales.)
Agree ahead of time who’s responsible for bringing/setting up/tearing down what. You’ll argue a lot less when you’re stressed if you’ve discussed it beforehand.
Buy a cloth tablecloth. Plastic ones look tacky, and if you do more shows, you’ll want one that can hold up. Picking one up on clearance from Target usually works. For a long time we used a Hanukkah one because it had Stars of David on it, and I got it for like $5 on clearance in January.
If it’s a multi-day event, think about what you’re comfortable leaving on-site, based on the security. You don’t necessarily want to carry everything out every day if the area is being locked up or has security, but no matter how good the security is, I’m not leaving our patch box or pin boxes on site. they always come with.
If you’re in a state that has sales tax, make sure you are set up properly for that, especially if you’re taking credit card payments. We’ve had people from NJ dept of revenue randomly pop up at some of our shows. It’s annoying, but they do it.
Smile at everyone, says @dadhoc. (Yes, even the assholes, says me. It makes them angrier. Smile, but don’t take shit.)
That’s pretty much everything I can think of. Good luck! Let us know how you do!
