Hello Imaginary Friends, Coffee Drinkers, Crochet lovers, and all around awesome fans,
At Comiccon I told a lot of you that we were going to be a Geek Market in the fall. I lied, or better, I was a little arrogant. You see, we weren’t accepted at the time, but I felt that the strength, and uniqueness of our product was enough to guarantee us a spot.
Like I said, it was arrogant and I must apologize because JenEric Designs and Gourmet Coffee will not be attending. This Fall’s event is a juried event. They, from what I’ve been told, judged quality of product, uniqueness of product, and visual appeal of tables/booths.
We were told that we scored well in the first two, but for vendors in our category we scored poorly on visual appeal. We’re on the wait list but I’m not expecting to be going.
My first reaction was anger (rejection hurts) and then I took a long hard look at our booth and I realized that I’ve been neglecting evolving the outside look. I’ve concentrated really hard on storage in the booth to make sales go faster and on coffee products.
My second reaction was confusion. I had no idea what to do to improve. So I contacted Geek Market and asked to know the criteria, our scores, and what category we are considered. (Being both coffee and crochet can put us into multiple categories.) We received a reply on May 19th saying that they’d get back to us in a couple of days.
It’s humbling to be told that your table isn’t visually appealing, but we’ve taken steps to try and make it better. We’ve ordered custom printed table cloths, and I’m working on a way of adding levels to our display.
I hope that we’ll be able to get back into Geek Market in the future. Sales are good and I know there are certain fans that we only get to see at that event.
Once again, I’m sorry,
Éric
That bites. I’m sorry.
I was rejected as well, for the same reason. My booth. Rejection really sucks. Though, I do agree, my booth wasn’t all it could be.
I had a bad taste in my mouth about them the last time I was there, but for other reasons. Anyway, being a crafter, I’ve seen other great little grassroots craft fairs turn all fancy-pants-like, and it’s a shame that happens. Fees go up, and they expect everyone to have a storefront quality display. I’m sorry they rejected you. You’re awesome!
Custom tablecloths are a good start. A couple of friendly suggestions for your display:
There is a LOT of stuff on each table. On the table with coffee, I counted 39 bags/pouches of coffee. You might use that table better by placing two or three of your more popular coffees with a product list that lists the others. You can then use that space to spread everything else out a bit.
If you have power available, maybe bring a coffee machine and sell samples for a dollar (or whatever price you decide). The aim isn’t to make money selling coffee, but to get people to stand in front of your table (which may draw more people)
Those are good ideas.
I’m not sure about less items. I’ve found people are less likely to approach a table that has to few items on it and even less likely to purchase from a booth with too few things in site. I certainly don’t want to sacrifice sales to be accepted to a show.
We normally have samples to give away but this event’s venue doesn’t allow us to give out samples. Since they sell coffee.
Aww, I’m sorry Eric.
That said, you have a great set of products that people really love. By Geek Market letting you know what needed to be improved, has led to valuable business feedback. I wish you the best and I’m excited to see what you come up with!
<3
That’s sad news, Eric. I can only imagine what would happen if Bundoran tried to get in, given our tatty sign and old table cloths! That being said, I noticed an uptick of interest when I added podium-style layers at either end of our six-foot table and placed on top a couple of our awards with a sign indicating what it was and the nominated and winning books clustered around the core display. The layers were easy to create from the plastic storage bins (dollar store shoe boxes, in fact) placed under the table cloths once I’d removed what we needed from them. To make sure it would work, I laid it out at home on the dining room table, measuring carefully to ensure everything would drape properly, etc. I’m sure Keladry would be a huge help with this…:). Good signage, roll-ups, etc. can be obtained fairly economically to boost the professionalism and visibility of your booth and enclose/isolate it from others. Good luck next time. You do good products.
Thank you. These are really good ideas.