Booth At Roller Derby Bout

[mshockley]

Hello everyone,

Okay, Saturday night will be the first home event of my Roller Derby Team I just became a sponsor of, and all sponsors are delegated a booth space to display their service/product, etc.

So far I have the following:
2 large framed collage style prints, as in like poster sized
Several 5x7's matte/framed
a senior folio of 8 3x5's
2 8x10's matte/framed
a boatload of postcards I have printed through supplier that I use for advertising
of course a ton of business cards
100 4x6 giveaway prints of "skates on fire" that I created solely for the purpose of having something crazy to give-away/draw attention to the booth. That thread is here if you want to see the design.
Some display props/tablecloths, etc to set this all up nice, and maybe will take a couple spotlights or something to highlight the big posters?

Can you think of anything obvious that I'm forgetting?
Anything else that you think will help?

Thanks!!

[karen_s]

Sounds like you have it pretty much covered, but then I have never had a booth so I might be missing something too. I would just make sure all your walk away stuff has some obvious contact info prominently displayed.

I'll add this too as far as having a booth. I was at an art fair a few years ago and had nothing to do for about 20 minutes except watch people. I sat near a guy selling his hand made glass pieces in one booth and a guy selling, wow, I don't even remember what he was selling, in another. Anyway, the guy in the glass booth was really interacting with everyone that walked by and making people smile. He was quite the character, in a good way (he was not pushy). The other guy sat in his chair at the back of his booth and rarely even made eye contact. Hardly anyone stopped to look, much less buy. The glass guy managed to connect with his humor and I honestly think some people bought his product just because he was so entertaining. It was very good glass yes, but the connection he made I think convinced people to buy.

Anyway hope you find that helpful in some way.

Good luck with your booth!

[Jim Poor]

What are you trying to promote?

I'm curious about why you have senior folios going to a roller derby event.

You will sell what you show, so if you're hoping for large print sales, I'd ditch the 5x7s, but if you're happy selling them, then keep them.

Have you tested your posters under the spotlights? There is a reason that labs offer "competition prints" and that's because competitions are judged under bright lights which make "normal" prints look like crap - milky blacks etc.

Things you may or may not be forgetting:

Order forms,
A way to collect emails (newsletter sign-up, etc)
Change for orders
CC processing ability
Extension cords
Clamps

[mshockley]

Thanks Jim for all the good ideas.

The senior folio I'm sorry that was misleading, I just meant it was one of those "types" of folios you see senior pic's in, and it actually just has an assortment of portraits from a variety of sessions. That's what everything I've put together is about at this time. I was not intending to sell anything except my services, so just thought putting together some examples of my work. Also, as this is the first event since I became a sponsor, I don't know about space, lighting, etc. I'm trying to keep it pretty simple until I can get in there and see what I'm dealing with. The team only has Saturday and one Home event in April to finish out the season. Then I have all summer to plan how I want to really utilize that booth space all next season. My goal for this weekend is to get some sessions booked.

[mshockley]

Originally Posted by karen_s

Sounds like you have it pretty much covered, but then I have never had a booth so I might be missing something too. I would just make sure all your walk away stuff has some obvious contact info prominently displayed.

I'll add this too as far as having a booth. I was at an art fair a few years ago and had nothing to do for about 20 minutes except watch people. I sat near a guy selling his hand made glass pieces in one booth and a guy selling, wow, I don't even remember what he was selling, in another. Anyway, the guy in the glass booth was really interacting with everyone that walked by and making people smile. He was quite the character, in a good way (he was not pushy). The other guy sat in his chair at the back of his booth and rarely even made eye contact. Hardly anyone stopped to look, much less buy. The glass guy managed to connect with his humor and I honestly think some people bought his product just because he was so entertaining. It was very good glass yes, but the connection he made I think convinced people to buy.

Anyway hope you find that helpful in some way.

Good luck with your booth!

Karen you make a great point! Years ago I made Mohair Teddy Bears, so am all too familiar with the "craft show scene". I agree 100% that you have got to interact and engange with the people in attendance, and it certainly affects your sales!

[GTAltman]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

....You will sell what you show, so if you're hoping for large print sales...

Have you tested your posters under the spotlights? There is a reason that labs offer "competition prints" and that's because competitions are judged under bright lights which make "normal" prints look like crap - milky blacks etc.....

Then....

Originally Posted by mshockley

...I'm trying to keep it pretty simple until I can get in there and see what I'm dealing with. The team only has Saturday and one Home event in April to finish out the season. Then I have all summer to plan how I want to really utilize that booth space all next season. My goal for this weekend is to get some sessions booked.

Which lead me to start thinking about another "angle".
Are you authorized to take pics of the roller derby participants and THEN blow them up to poster size(s). You can sell your posters of the players which WILL generate a lot of interest and then can maybe parlay that into personal 1-on-1 time for portraits, seniors, weddings, etc.

Again, just an idea or thought.

Gary

[mshockley]

Originally Posted by GTAltman

Then....


Which lead me to start thinking about another "angle".
Are you authorized to take pics of the roller derby participants and THEN blow them up to poster size(s). You can sell your posters of the players which WILL generate a lot of interest and then can maybe parlay that into personal 1-on-1 time for portraits, seniors, weddings, etc.

Again, just an idea or thought.

Gary

Oh yes Gary, I am the "team photographer" effective now course that's the sponsorship angle for them, but yes I will be taking all team photo's, and individual head shots of 22 players, and individual full body shots of them "in costume" They just aproached me about this sponsorship, and as I mentioned have only these last 2 events in this year's season, I haven't even had a chance to get with any of the girls to take pic's! And we are on the same path with the posters, the only reason I have the 2 I made for tomorrow night is because this is exactly what I was thinking for next year and wanted to check on quality of the work so I had my supplier lined up.

I will certainly have my camera with tomorrow night! My poor husband already has gotten the feeling that he will be the one stuck in the booth all night

[GTAltman]

Originally Posted by mshockley

Oh yes Gary, I am the "team photographer" effective now course that's the sponsorship angle for them, but yes I will be taking all team photo's, and individual head shots of 22 players, and individual full body shots of them "in costume" They just aproached me about this sponsorship, and as I mentioned have only these last 2 events in this year's season, I haven't even had a chance to get with any of the girls to take pic's! And we are on the same path with the posters, the only reason I have the 2 I made for tomorrow night is because this is exactly what I was thinking for next year and wanted to check on quality of the work so I had my supplier lined up.

I will certainly have my camera with tomorrow night! My poor husband already has gotten the feeling that he will be the one stuck in the booth all night

I was thinking POSTERS. Portrait posters of the girls. Get them autographed and sell them to the kiddies and/or Groupies!!! Heck, they might even buy one for themselves for a basement or rec room.

Wish your husband the best for me! ;-) HAHAHA

Good luck,
Gary

[mshockley]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped me think things through here with this event. It went pretty well, gave out a pile of post-cards/biz cards, and 100 of those "skates on fire" pic's are long gone now.
I checked my web stats a bit ago and quite a bit of traffic today as a result. We donated 2 framed 8x10's of that skates picture. One for the 50/50 and One will go directly to the charity recipiant, a 13 year old girl fighting cancer who loves roller derby, which just makes me feel good about being involved. And while I was off taking pictures my husband sold one of my Fine Art Prints! Cool
There was a "zombie" type of theme going on as a result of another sponsor, here's a couple I "captured".

Again, Thanks for everyone's input! All in all it was a good night and I feel time well spent marketing my business.

[Jim Poor]

Sounds like it was fun!

Do you have a way to track how much business comes from the effort?