I'm relatively new to doing shows and am curious. How do all of you evaluate whether or not a show is a 'good' show for you? Some of the books I've looked at have said that you should get a minimum of 8-10 times the cost of the show. Is this a good guideline to go by?
I ask because right now, I'm actively looking to add more shows to my show schedule and can use all the information I can about recognizing a good show. I know there will always be some shows that you do that you know pretty quickly whether or not it is a show to do again. However, there are also those shows that seem right on the edge. The shows that you don't do terribly in, yet don't do great in either and keep doing becasue you hope they will get better each year. These are the shows I'm having trouble figuring out whether I should try them again or replace them with a different show.
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Really nice information in this thread. Especially considering that I decided to stop doing shows for now to re-evaluate potential shows next season or the year after.
I have no urge to pack up my life and hit the road so to speak, would have an interest in shows within New England especially since my Fine Art photography business leans heavily towards New England scenic landscapes and Lighthouse art/ seascapes.
I'm getting feedback from other fine art photographers, and some painters alike that generally Fine Art and Fine crafts/jewelry don't make for a good mix. Not meaning republican vs democrat..LOL, just that customers looking for Fine Art tend to not attend Craft events. Wife and I just took in 2 shows this weekend, Guilford Ct and Old Saybrook. Out of 175 vendors in Guilford, only 3 of them Fine Artist photographers. The work was excellent too, very inspiring and marketable. Hardly a sale! To think they choked up between $625 to $1300.00 for the weekend space. Old Saybrook had a slightly higher pct of those selling Fine Art. I spoke with several of them selling high end quality, sales were spaced apart.
Photographer friend of mine, Dave Anderson (we do similar work) was also telling me the shows have been far less lucrative for him recent years. A small venue, the Warren Fall Festival which we both did 2 yrs ago Dave told me he would take in thousands of dollars on framed and matted prints there. We both barely made $300.00 on sales each and promiced we would never return. Definitely want to hear evaluations on the shows from other fine art photographers. The artshowreviews wbsite sounds good!
other competing shows. Marginal shows are replaced with new shows if they have the potential to measure up. I will continue to do a marginal show if the " fun factor" is high for show and activities after show etc. Another factor I look at is my net profit for a show greater than the income I would have made staying home and doing studio orders?
Laura, have you taken a look at www.artshowreviews.com? It is a website where artists evaluate shows that they have done. It is a really good tool for artists and it is FREE! There are many shows already added and the nice thing about the site is that you can also add your own show reviews. Plus, it is FREE! There are no subcription rates or charges. Check it out and see if the shows you are interested in are listed.
Jacki B
Thanks again for all the advice!
AFSB sounds like a useful resource. How much is a subscription to AFSB?
Depends on what editions you buy. It's all electronic now, and there are different levels that you can purchase, from the basic data to a full historical listing of sales reports for the past five years. Best thing to do is go to the site, and look at the various options. You can buy a regional edition, or the top 300 shows. You can also buy the next tier shows, plus a bunch of unlisted shows. If you subscribe to the whole deal, it runs about $450, when discounted, otherwise it's about $700. You can purchase a regional edition for $179. Greg just got done offering a CyberMonday special and a Black Friday deal.
I try to stay in a range of 5 hours from home. I'll go a little further for a known good show. That limits me to 4 states. I avoid Sat. morning setup unless it is a known good show. I go to AFSB and look at the average sales column and start from there. I read all the comments on shows I'm thinking of doing. Then it becomes a balancing act. Basically how much money does a show bring in on average vs. how difficult it is to do. If I go too far away from home I'm doing setup and breakdown on my own. Then again, there is a certain enjoyment of getting away from the leaves that need to be raked and the kitchen that needs to be cleaned and concentrating entirely on the show. I'll do a local show when I can because, as Jim said, it's good cheap advertising. This year I plan on doing a local show that might make me money vs. a further away show that is more likely to make me money because I'm in a gallery in the area and I would like to increase sales there.
The comments in AFSB tell a lot but they have to be taken with a grain of salt. Many times I will read two sets of comments from the same show, same year and one will say it was great and the other will say it was horrible. If the jewelry person loved it but the photographer hated it, I'm going to give the photographer comments more weight because they are in my category.
All of the other postings are excellent ways to evaluate a show. I also keep records of my daily sales, the weather, and the volume of customers, and whether or not they were carrying bags.
But one thing I consider is whether or not I enjoyed doing that particular show. A show can be a moneymaker, but if the promoter is nasty, or the customers are rude, or my fellow exhibitors are all Prima Donnas and believe they are better than others, and constantly complain and whine about things like the space fees being too high, or their placement at the show, I won't go back. Those types of exhibitors are just plain toxic. After all, somebody's got to be at the end of the row!
The "enjoyment factor" is just as important to me as the money.
Thanks everyone!! I really appreciate all the information and advice you've given.
I've been trying to keep careful show records by writing down, as they occur, every sale at each show and how much it was, what it was, and which day of the show it sold. One show I did this year I made just under 8x the booth fee and, as that was my first time at that show, I'm excited to do it again. It's shows like the one I just had that I have trouble knowing whether to try it again or not. The show I just had I've done three times now and have only this year managed to make 4x booth cost. I'm hoping that since I'll be set-up for accepting credit/debit cards next year that this will help that show do better, but I'm still on the fence about continuing to do this show. Especially when a lot of the feedback I get from both patron and vendor at that show is that I need the higher end art shows, rather than the mid-range arts/crafts show that that one is.
Accepting credit cards will make a huge difference in your sales. Empirically, I've deduced that people will spend small amounts of cash on items under $100. It's rare that people use cash for purchases over $100, although I had a couple of very large cash sales this year ($2K +). When money is tight, people spend less, they bring a set amount of cash, that's what they spend.
Your assessment of the show you're evaluating seems sound. Multiplying boothX to get at profit doesn't mean a whole lot if the booth is $50. A better metric might be booth fee divided by patrons, or average sales. Keeping track of your average customer transaction by show, and how many customers you had is useful. Dividing your customers into the total customer pool is another useful metric, when you link that to average transaction. It's a retail business. Retail metrics are useful.
I think one MUST accept credit cards. Typically, my average sale is $180.00. And, roughly 85% of my sales are via credit cards!
We need to redo our spreadsheet for tracking shows. So far, we track the jury and booth fee, gas/mileage, food, and hotel versus gross sales. I have an idea that I need to break this down further to completely get the picture!
I need to know exactly how many items in each category that I sold per show per customer......useful info.
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