I wanted to create a specific thread for discussing attending markets and having your own stalls. I know we've touched on it briefly in the past, but it would be great to have a thread specifically for tips and hints.

At the upcoming local puppetry summit that I'll be attending there is a swap/sell market. The summit is specifically for puppeteers, so it's not like a normal market where you're selling to the general public (ie. parents). I only found out about this a couple of days ago, so there's not really time to do anything specific for it.

My questions are a bit general though so hopefully others will have some ideas/suggestions/thoughts.

As I'm redeveloping all of my designs, I may only be able to take a small selection of ready-made puppets (the character in my logo) to sell. They won't have the packaging or labelling, etc that I am planning on making in order to make the puppets look more professional in a market setting. I do however have stacks of paper bags I can use, and can at the very least have some puppets available. My question is two-fold: should I try to sell them? And/or should I take a small sample and have pre-orders available only? (Ok, 3 questions: would puppeteers be interested in pre-orders?)

I'm also thinking if I have time I can make my pin cushion things:
http://puppetsandstuff.com/community/index.php/topic,6931.msg61956.html#msg61956
But again, this will likely be pre-orders.

I am also wondering whether or not setting up such a stall or whatever would best be done with a screen so I could showcase the puppets in action... but I won't have time for it.

I'd love to hear ideas, but more specifically I'd love to know about how people present themselves at markets/stalls, what gets people the most interested, what methods are used to convert interest into sales, etc.

Is it worth just taking a puppet and wandering around with it (keep in mind I'm doing shadow puppets...) and inviting pre-orders, or is it better to have somewhere specific to set up and have a range of things to look at?

I think in the case of stalls at a market you need to have actual product to sell. It is that impulse buy you are going for especially in the climate of a convention. People are there and hyped up about puppetry.

I think that demonstration of the product can be pretty important but remember this does not have to be a live demonstration. Even a video demo can do the job.

I would agree with Shawn. If I am going to a craft fair,etc., and see something I want...I want it right then. However, if the stall is cheap enough, you could use it to gauge reactions to your wares for the next show. Either way, good luck!

I'm not aware of the finer details of the market - I just know there's a swap/buy meet/opportunity. I am hoping to find out more tomorrow when I email the organiser, but it's possible she won't know any more at this date either. It could be an extremely informal milling around, it could be actual stalls... I don't know just yet. It also shares the summit lunchtime, so I'm guessing less formal will be more likely. -- In this case I wouldn't think there's a stall fee involved.

As it happens, I may if I have time after 'finishing' my super secret project building, have enough time to make up some puppets. I do have 90% of the bodies done, which are the hardest parts to make. Because of the way I plan on packaging them in the future, I will not have them put together completely, but instead provide the puppet parts, joints and rods separately. This gives me an advantage for the summit because all I have to do is make up the heads and arms - I already have sets of rods made up from the past couple of years. (It really is helpful to make rods in batches)

So in that sense, I could quite possibly have something available - but it will only be one character. (In different colour options though!)

Pin cushions are tougher because I'd have to hand sew them and that takes time.

Video demos will be out simply because I won't have time to do it, and probably would only be able to screen it if I bring a laptop.

The other thought I had is that people may/not see my super-secret project at the summit. If they do see it, they'll get a chance to view another character I'll be making: but more importantly, they might be interested in ordering something made using my super-secret effect. This effect is something that needs to be custom-ordered purely because it's too expensive otherwise. So pre-orders would have to exist for that anyway...

However, none of this touches on the general: do you take pre-orders at markets? I mean, assuming you have a set of puppets/whatever available to buy then and there... what about commissioned items? Do you bring along something that's more 'high end' in order to showcase what you can do and get people to pay attention to the quality of your work? Or do you just bring along the 'low end' stuff?

I've always had high end examples available also to attract folks attention if nothing else. I've also normally had projects I am working on at the booth which seems to help attract attention.  These never particularly ended up in a whole lot of custom orders but did help increase traffic.

Ok, thanks. So it looks like the best thing to do at markets is to have 90% stuff to sell, and 10% or less stuff just for show/attraction.

I have come up with a temporary solution to doing a display for the market, as described here:
http://puppetsandstuff.com/community/index.php/topic,7150.msg67025.html#msg67025

Hopefully I'll have some things to show at the end of the month. If not, I have a larger screen that I can use for filming with, which can also double as a flat storage space for puppets.

I'll be asking for more info about the market, but for the time being, are there more tips out there?

Well I think this is obvious but just in case someone forgets about it. Always make sure you have your company name on display at the booth and that you have either biz cards or flyers with information on how they can contact you. Also have a sign up sheet for your mailing list... you do have a mailing list right?

Yeah, flyers and stuff go without saying
Business cards I've got plenty of and always carry with me, so that's no problem. I probably won't have time/money to print up anything else.

A sign-up sheet for mailing list is a good idea and one I'd forgotten about. I don't have snail mail outs, but I do have an RSS feed! I'll just collect email addresses.

My husband made a QR- code on our cards (the one you can read with an iPhone and maybe other smartphones), he has a program which can convert a link into one of these codes. They really make people curious, so they're great on business cards, flyers and the like. I think the program was for free, if you'd like me to I'd ask him for the link to get it.

That's an interesting idea - not sure if I will have time to do it, but I'd be curious to know what program he used just in case I do. Thanks!

That is a great idea Rikka! I did find one that is an on-line generator. It made this for the puppetsandstuff.com URL.

http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

And another one that lets you generate in color. http://www.qrstuff.com/

Ooh, thanks for those links Shawn. Don't you just love it when you find generators like that online?

I am way behind on reading posts.  In my experience, I do better having things in a booth ready to sell.  People say they will order, but they forget (or change their mind). People like to have things in hand to take with them.  Some come with a set amount of money to spend that day and are going to spend it somewhere.  It doesn't hurt to have a spot set up  to display items that can be ordered, especially if you can demo it (or have a presentation running to demo - people tend to flock to those). All the other things mentioned are important too.

That being said... I attended a .. hmmm not sure what to call it. Maybe a summit or forum.  It was a great idea, people involved in Children's Ministry gathered, were able to see lots of resources, they offered a few workshops from a couple of big names in C.M.
The entry cost was very minimal to attendees. I agreed to teach 2 demos in my booth to help promote my products.  However... I sold two puppets and a few other small things.  Not near enough to cover the cost of almost 2,000 mi round trip, hotel, food, booth cost, donation to the door prizes, prizes we gave away from our booth, etc. They also presented us (at tear down time) with a form saying we had to pay tax to that state (normally if you are from out of state you do not). They had not bothered to mention that in all the correspondence, contracts, etc., so no one had charged tax. 

No one made enough to cover expenses. It was a big disappointment to vendors. At tear down they  came around trying to get us to sign up for the next one. Needless to say all were hesitant.  Optimistically, we all hoped it would result in on line sales. The vendors I have talked to since then said it had not.

I said all that to say, some venues work and some do not. I don't really know how to tell which ones will or won't.  The ones that involve Children's Ministry have always worked for us, except that one.  We have done a couple of craft shows, street fairs, and will not do those again. They definitely do not work for us.

Glad you liked the idea! Great to have in in color, too!