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| The Natty Maid Stand |
I met so many lovely people, had lots of valuable feedback from buyers and had a great time taking in Harrogate itself each evening when we finished for the day. I am looking forward to next year. Here are some pics of the stuff that proved most popular
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| Umber Cockerel Collagraph |
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| Red Cockerel Collagraph |
There was a lot of interest in my collagraphs and linocuts and I was approached by a publisher interested in sampling my collagraphs for print. I have decided to go ahead with this and signed on the dotted line a couple of weeks ago. I am keeping a very open mind about this and may be able to post more about this soon. In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for me. Here are two of my rooster collagraphs.
I only have one of the red roosters as the others in the edition (4) got ink smeared over them as they were drying...think someone must have lifted the tissue while they were still wet. This is the only setback with collagraphs as the printing plates can flatten quite quickly resulting in a very small number in the edition.....makes them more collectible though I suppose.
Right, this is where the 'warning' part of my blog comes in. I thought that by sharing my experience of the Great British Home Show at Bluewater in Kent, other folks may be informed and as a result be prepared if approached by an events organiser promising the world.
Now thing is, I am not naive and I do not rush into things without giving them due thought and careful consideration. Therefore, when I was invited in January to take part in a 5 day event at 'one of the uk's top venues' I wanted to know more before I made any decisions.
The information I was given by the organiser who shall remain nameless was that this 'was an event for 55,000 visitors to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee with the targeted visitors being ABC1 with household incomes of £60k plus'. I was asked to confirm that I would have enough stock to deal with a show that was expected to be very busy due to heavy promotion across TV, Radio and Print. Given the literature content I was sent at this point, I had no reason to doubt that this was a venture destined to fail, nor did any of the other unfortunate exhibitors who took part.
In short....it did. I have made more sales in a village hall. I, like a majority of other designers had committed to parting with large amounts of money for stand fees, and worked extremely hard to build enough stock for an event that took less than 10% of the footfall.
The sad thing is, the organisers MUST have known that the ticket sales prior to the event were desperately low...yet they went ahead with it at our cost. A lesson learned.
Now, it is standard to be approached by events organisers doing special reduced deals if you book a stand early. It is a sales tactic that is commonly used, as these folks work on commission. BUT if you do get contacted, do not be afraid to ask the following questions:-
- How many times has this show been held previously? If several times, how successful were they and could they give testimonies from previous exhibitors.
- If this is the first show, what have they based their demographic on? Do they have a report and could you see it?
- Is this the first time the event has been hosted at a particular venue? If so, how successful have other shows been? You could contact the venue direct for a history of shows held.
- If tickets are being sold prior to the event, what action, if any, will be taken by the organiser should the ticket sales be low.
