how do prep for a show, and how it really is!!

I have done 3 shows and a couple of pop up gigs since the end of February..that may not seem like a big number, but the amount of prepping that goes into a show is amazing.

Applications...usually done a few months to a year ahead of time. Remember dates, remember dates.

Photos...must have good photos to apply..this is where my skills are less than wonderful, however, I seem to get photos clear enough that people know what I am showing.

If the show is out of town (usually in a smallish town), ...book motel. This is often dicey...study reviews. I always check out if there is a Starbucks close, and mentally prepare myself if there is not one.

Where will FloraAdora go, since Steve will join me for the weekend?

Product...this is interesting for me. Demographics study involved. Past history of show, location, and target market.

My products range from very affordable art, to kind of spendy pieces. The bigger, spendier pieces are the draw, so you have to pack them, but know that the smaller pieces are what you will be selling more than the bigger ones (some I swaddle in layers of bubble wrap! they  can take up a half of a big plastic bin).

Display...and layout. I was used to flying by the seat of my pants...then Anne Davidson and I realized our work looked good together so we started sharing booth spaces. Anne is the organizer. She will sketch booth display, measure things, and have the layout planned. This is great, but it usually changes when we get there. I am a bit on the dyslexia side, and start setting up backwards from "the plan." Thankfully, Anne is patient.



I will use our last show, at THE OLDE DEPOST JUNCTION,  in Brainerd, Mn to share how we operate.

Once we decided to do this event, we started prepping.  I was in the middle of finalizing some new pieces, my sister and mom had just moved to town (maybe tomorrows blog), so I was running back and forth to St. Paul, and I was still recovering from surgery.

Anne and I met several times to go over things, booth set up, what displays to use, coffee, and traveling logistics. 

Day before loading, wrap and pack and hope you remembered to price things.Take Flora to St. Paul to stay with my sister and Nonnie. This involves dinner with my sister and mom (Nonnie), and cookie shopping at Whole Foods after that. They have a great new Whole Foods next to their townhouse with an amazing cookie bar. By the way, St Paul is not far from Minneapolis, but the amount of roadwork, makes this a full time job to get there.

The evening before we left, our friend came over to load some of the displays in his car,  he was working at the event. Time to pack my clothes, etc and put by the door and hope that Steve will remember to put in his car, since there will be no room in Annes' rig. (she even threw her overnight bag in Steves car).

Morning of departure. Load, even remembered our presentation boxes since we both we doing presentations.

Put traveling crown on dash. 1st stop, Starbucks drive thru.  Time to hit the road. Within 5 minutes, we took the wrong turn. Thankfully, we are amused with ourselves!

Anyway...as we are getting closer to our destination, we (Anne) realize that the address we have in the google map phone thing is for a different destination. We were warned, because our friend who had our displays, called because he ended up in a different town in a warehouse area. We found where we needed to be, and of course, as we arrived, rain. Thankfully we were setting up inside and had great help to haul. 

We get the basics up..table and coverings, and decide we needed lunch. Took the wrong turn out of the parking lot, ended up driving all over the place and at the point we didn't care what kind of food we were going to have. so.Hardees drive thru (weeping). The guy on the speaker said this...would you like *%&()%%$$ (in audible), and Anne said we cannot understand you, but no. We ended up with what we ordered...not so sure this was a good thing. Back to work.

Got lost.

Found it.

We start setting up, and all of the layout gets switched...I end up using Annes displays, she used mine. It worked.

By now, we are exhausted, hungry again and tired. Steve arrives, we go to eat...Anne and friend go out together.

Shower - sleep.

First day of show..Steve up early to take me...my heart starts pounding...there is a Starbucks!

Anne and i were busy all day...in between customers, the topic was...we need to find decent food. I kept saying, that i just  didn't want to eat food wrapped in paper for dinner.

Steve picks us up and we go to a restaurant...the first thing I do, is unwrapped my silverware from the polyester napkin and the silverware looked gross. The perky waitress comes to our table, and I said, "i think Ineed new silverware"..she just rubs her fingers over the fork and says," oh no, its ok...just waterspots" and hands me back the fork. As the meal progressed, we were feeling like everything was sticky in the place.The waitress came by and said, "wow, everything feels sticky."  Time to go.

Next day was a short day of selling, a tv interview (omg, looking so frazzled) then packing up and heading home. The packing up is always a challenge. Our work pieces are smaller, but our displays take up the whole car.  It is good to remember how you got everything in there to begin with, so you can repeat on the return. People kept walking by saying we would never get it all in. Ha, we did.

It was not pretty, and I spent the whole ride home with a huge tray poking me. This is because as we were leaving, we heard a thunk and Anne just said, "oh that is the tray I forgot on top of the car". Backed up and went down the road to get it, and found the only place it would fit.

We managed to get home in one piece, but our pitiful travel crown had seen better times! 

But, we had this amazing rainbow with us for miles!

Decided to wait to unpack the car for a day or two. 
Hot soak, dinner on real dishes, and sleep!! 

Not doing another show until september.