Learn from your challenges

The world of craft shows and cons is still pretty new to me. Early this year I signed up for a table at FaerieCon ( http://www.faeriecon.com/ ). The event is 3 days long, and there will be thousands of people who have a love of all things faerie attending workshops, balls and shopping. It seems to be my niche market. Nevertheless it's a big leap for me to take. Over the summer I succumbed to the persuasion of two ladies at my church to do the craft show being held in their retirement community. I decided the smaller show would be a good warm up for Faerie Con. From that perspective it was a very successful show, as I learned a lot that day.

I booked a 10x6 space, and was to bring my own table & chair. When I arrived I discovered my space was about 6 feet long and already had a 4x4foot table and a pair of wooden arm chairs with the table. They took away one of the chairs but the table and other chair remained.

Having practiced my set up for a 10foot long space this was an unexpected challenge. As I was running later than I’d planned, and nearly everyone was already setting up, there was nothing to be done but graciously deal with the space I had to work with. Luckily my table cloths covered the unexpected dimensions of the table. Once draped I had some quick thinking to place my props and set up my display, years of doing wedding flowers came in handy and I just made the best of it.

In the end the busy wallpaper was the only hurdle I could not overcome. During the course of the day I received many compliments on my set up. I did not make many sales but I did have many people return just to look. Some brought friends to stand and loose themselves in the faerie world I’d set up on my table.

As a “dress rehearsal” for FaerieCon I’d say it was a good day. FaerieCon here I come!