Make Your Booth Sizzle with a Savvy Setup
irst impressions are everything … in business, in society, in life. For craft artists, nothing makes a better first impression than a professional booth display. Before anyone really has a chance to zero in on what’s in your booth, the overall layout, design and merchandising scheme is what will, hopefully, attract the attention of buyers. So if these things aren’t done correctly, you’ll have little opportunity to lure shoppers into your space to see what your work is all about.
The basics of creating a booth
For outdoor shows, invest in a good canopy or tent that can be easily set up and taken down. You’ll want to make sure that this is something you can do on your own if you frequently travel solo to shows.
Jacob Stout’s booth is well lit and features good use of pedestals that showcase the work at several different, but easily viewed, levels.
Photo by Jerry Anthony Photography.For indoor shows, you can typically rent drapes, which create the walls of the booths, and panels that give you a hard surface from which to display items. To these basic elements, you’ll want to add the appropriate display accessories, lighting, and other personal touches.
Display accessories
Shelving, pedestals, and cases are all good ways to display your work. For example, if you’re a jewelry artist with small-sized merchandise that can be easily stolen, use display cases that allow customers to effortlessly see the work, but not easily access the work. For clay or glass artists, consider shelving that is deep enough to securely hold the pieces, but not too deep as to make the work difficult to reach.
Also, use these display pieces to create several levels of merchandise in your booth, but keep everything from waist to eye level so nothing is placed too high or too low for the average customer. Multi-levels create visual interest and keep the flow of the booth moving instead of creating stagnant areas.
When looking for display pieces, you can be creative, as long as the pieces match the style of your work. Meaning, if your work is more traditional or you use recycled elements, you could use wooden crates or trunks for your pedestals, as long as they’re in good condition. But if your work is contemporary to modern, consider something sleeker and minimal in which to display your work.
Jack and Alice McLean’s booth features clean and simple displays that highlight the work without clutter or overcrowding.
Photo by Jerry Anthony Photography.When it comes to adding your merchandise to the display accessories, avoid the temptation to overcrowd the booth. A crowded booth says, “Look, but don’t touch,” to potential customers. In addition, consider grouping like items and separating work that doesn’t match in style. Buyers respond to vignettes of merchandise that seem to tell a story, so make your displays “readable.”
Proper lighting is crucial
According to booth expert Bruce Baker, one of TCR’s columnists, less than 10 percent of exhibitors at shows use lighting that achieves the maximum effect. For craft booths, consider track lighting, which can be manipulated to highlight particular areas of your booth. Track fixtures require flood or spot lights to project the light away from the bulb and onto your work. Some high-tech flood and spot bulbs are engineered so the light is directed down onto the craftwork and the heat directed up and away from the customer.
Another lighting issue that craftspeople need to tackle is placement — where you put the lights in your booth dictates how they will showcase your work. One specific placement matter concerns distance. Since light doesn’t want to travel very far, placing it all on one side of your booth expecting it to illuminate work on the other side will result in a poorly-lit booth. The light will lose its punch by traveling this distance and your artwork will not have the dazzle it deserves.
Another common lighting placement error is putting the light directly over the work. When this is done, the work is illuminated only on the top and the sides of the piece are in shadow. This also causes shadow pools around the base of your work.
Floor coverings provide added comfort to tired feet
When you’re shopping a wholesale or retail show, or manning your booth for eight hours a day, your feet will undoubtedly let you know when they’ve had enough. Most indoor shows are held in convention centers or schools where the floors are made of concrete or something comparable. At outdoor shows, mud and dirt can become a problem if a nice field of grass isn’t available.
In both of these cases, finding a comfortable floor covering that complements your display will only add to your customers’ overall impression of your booth. When selling indoors, consider a foam pad, which can come in a variety of colors, or carpeting to add cushion to your booth and help better define the space. When outdoors, pick a material that can stand up to the elements without becoming too dirty. Again, foam padding works well because it can be washed down easily and comes in pieces that can be attached together like a puzzle.
Personal touches can add flair to your booth
With the basics in place, you can now focus on those extras that can really put your display ahead of the competition. If you imagine your booth to be a free-standing store, what would you add to it to make it more personal to your customers? Color comes to mind. You can paint your display pieces to highlight your work and create added interest to your booth.
When appropriate, you can provide some soft background music or even a demonstration video so buyers can see you at work. If a video isn’t feasible, consider large photos of you at work or of your production process. Some artists like to provide little snacks for their customers and will fill bowls with candies to encourage people to stop and take notice. Whatever you decide to add to your booth, make sure it doesn’t detract from your work, which should be the center of attention.
The information in this article was adapted from previous issues of The Crafts Report.
