Results for my first spring mega event

[amazingkevin]

On 4/30/2017 at 6:14 AM, Iguanadon said:

My first major event is now history and for me, it was one for the history books.  A little background first...

• This was the 24th year for the Cary Spring Daze Arts and Crafts Festival.  My first time as a vendor
• 170 vendors, food, music, kids activities, etc, etc
• Avg attendance 15,000

No rain in the forecast which was great.  But... forecast high of 91 degrees which would tie the record high set back in 1914... and it was rather toasty.  Not sure if it hit the record.  I saw it hit 90 on the weather app on my phone, so close enough.  Since it was my first time I couldn't tell if attendance was normal or low due to the heat

The good news though is that previously my best 1 day event record was 46 pieces sold and yesterday I sold 96 pieces!  Holy cow what a day.  I had set a goal of 75 with a stretch goal of 100 for myself.  During the 8 hours of the festival I sold 1 piece every 5 minutes when you do that math.  I chuckled and told my wife that when we stopped for dinner on the way home when I calculated that in my head.  It was a whirlwind day.

I had my usual "Oh my gosh, those are so cute", "These are amazing", comments with no purchase and I had to replenish my business card holders twice during the day.  Wait and see if I get any lingering sales.  I'm not counting on it, I rarely do.  Very much an impulse buy.

A little more info, I now have 3 price point items:

• My signature lettered puzzles - $25 - Sold 69
• Kid dinosaur puzzles painted - $15 - Sold 10
• Kid dinosaur puzzles unpainted - $10 - Sold 17

I just started selling the dino puzzles unpainted and they're a big hit.  While it brings my average sale price down, they're so simple to make I don't mind making them and having them on hand for folks that don't want to spend much money.

Overall I'm obviously thrilled with how the day went.  I must also add that the organizers of the event did an amazing job.  They have it down to a science as far as scheduling and choreography of getting 170 vendors setup, in place, then tearing down and loading.  Kudos to them.

I now have to review my list of sold items and start cutting.  I have another big event in 3 weeks, fortunately it's just 4 blocks down the road.  Another potential 75 puzzle day if the weather cooperates.

Pictures attached of my new "U" shaped setup that I used for the first time.  Using two 6' tables and one 4' table.  I was very pleased with the look.  Let me know what you think. I was able to spread things out a bit more than usual and I liked it.

Thanks for the continued support by all of my friends here at SSV.  I seriously wouldn't be as successful as I am without you guys and gals.

Iggy

so what kind of problems do you have with folks picking up the puzzles and having them fall apart ?

Edited May 2, 2017 by amazingkevin

[Iguanadon]

4 hours ago, amazingkevin said:

so what kind of problems do you have with folks picking up the puzzles and having them fall apart ?

Great question Kevin,

Folks walk up all the time, try to pick one up and realize "YIKES IT'S A PUZZLE!" They didn't notice the big signs hanging up saying ANIMAL PUZZLES.  LOL  But as soon as they realize it's wiggling they either let it back down or they become very careful. I then stroll over and show them how to pick it up properly and I stand it up on the table as I'm giving my sales pitch. (Hi, everything you see are puzzles, they stand upright on their own, they're all hand cut, each one takes me about an hour to make...) 

I have not had any breakage (knock on puzzle) but I do have to keep an eye on children who will automatically want to start playing with them.  Depending on their age, and which puzzle they head towards, I allow them to play.  I set the PUG up spread out, apart, enticing people to put it together.  I spend half my day separating it again, it works great for getting folks to touch and play and with it being only 5 pieces, it's durable and quick to assemble.

Edited May 2, 2017 by Iguanadon

[Rolf]

Congratulations on a great event, Nice display. With the Square do you need a WIFI connection or just a cell conection?

 

 

[Iguanadon]

30 minutes ago, Rolf said:

Congratulations on a great event, Nice display. With the Square do you need a WIFI connection or just a cell conection?

 

 

Thanks Rolf.  Square works with either WIFI or cell.  My personal experience, I have found that if my phone is picking up a WIFI signal but it's not a strong connection it can cause issues, so I generally turn my WIFI off when I'm at an event in order to avoid any technical difficulties.

[crupiea]

Those are some great numbers!!.  very nice display as well.  nicely done, real pro.

[amazingkevin]

21 hours ago, Iguanadon said:

Great question Kevin,

Folks walk up all the time, try to pick one up and realize "YIKES IT'S A PUZZLE!" They didn't notice the big signs hanging up saying ANIMAL PUZZLES.  LOL  But as soon as they realize it's wiggling they either let it back down or they become very careful. I then stroll over and show them how to pick it up properly and I stand it up on the table as I'm giving my sales pitch. (Hi, everything you see are puzzles, they stand upright on their own, they're all hand cut, each one takes me about an hour to make...) 

I have not had any breakage (knock on puzzle) but I do have to keep an eye on children who will automatically want to start playing with them.  Depending on their age, and which puzzle they head towards, I allow them to play.  I set the PUG up spread out, apart, enticing people to put it together.  I spend half my day separating it again, it works great for getting folks to touch and play and with it being only 5 pieces, it's durable and quick to assemble.

This is exciting to see ,tons of puzzles .that's a lot of $$$$$$

[Sparkey]

Wow Iggy. Sounds like it turned out to be a great day.

[fastfreddy]

Love that u took some pictures of your display. Excellent setup looks well planned no wonder u made money.

[Iguanadon]

22 minutes ago, fastfreddy said:

Love that u took some pictures of your display. Excellent setup looks well planned no wonder u made money.

Thanks Freddy, I appreciate it.  I've put a decent amount of thought and work into my overall layout, including building the 3 large display stands as well as the smaller ones to showcase 1 to 4 items.  We'll see if my display is truly stellar as my show coming up on May 20th includes a prize for best display by an artist.  ;-)

 

Edited May 8, 2017 by Iguanadon