Crafts Report: Public Opinion

I participated in an outdoor show last fall; at the last minute, the promoters decided that the vendors couldn’t park in the field near their tents. There was another field, over a mile away, where we had to park our vehicles. We were not even offered or given shuttle service. The problem was enhanced by some of the participating artists being disabled. Therefore, we had to park our vehicles, walk the distance to our tent, stand all day with our customers, and walk back to our vehicles after the show was over, let alone setting up and tearing down. When we asked one of the promoters about this change in policy, we were told to consider this for next year and to not come back.

The worst show policy we ever ran into was at [one] show [where] exhibitors were supposed to be in their booths a half hour before the show opened. If you drove up to the gate after that half hour mark, you were refused entry until the public came in, which meant your booth would not be opened until after the show opened. We did one show and never applied to another, in spite of good sales.
Other policies I consider anti-artist:
• No refunds for cancellation, no matter why. This prohibits [me] from applying to many shows.
• Artists must park far away from the exhibition area, making restocking difficult, if not impossible.
• Expecting applications and fees many months ahead of the show, which ties up funds.
• Shows that do not enforce their own rules, such as prohibiting buy-sell exhibitors.

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION?

Each month, The Crafts Report invites readers to respond to the Public Opinion question. Responses are published in the magazine.

This month’s question is: Which canopy do you use/recommend? (Please include the company name and contact information, if you know it.)

Please respond by Oct. 8, 2001. Responses to this question will appear in the December 2001 issue.

E-mail: publicopinion@craftsreport.com; or answer online at: www.craftsreport.com

Send responses to:
“Public Opinion,”
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Strictly enforcing the rule of staying within the booth [is a bad policy]. Another bad show rule is making people tear down completely assembled booths to move inches to comply with being totally inside the marked area — just because it is a rule.

Outdoor shows that give exactly 10 feet by 10 feet for setting up display canopies ... it defies any measure of logic. The tents themselves are made to be 10 feet by 10 feet, so when no extra space is allowed, it stuffs the exhibitors into the show layout like sardines in a tin can. Not only is there virtually no air movement — which is unbearable and unhealthy when the summer temperatures are in the 90s — but you can’t put your tent sides up or down because all the displays are jammed together.
Furthermore, if you arrive after the other exhibitors all around you on your row have begun to set up, and if each of them takes only 1 inch extra, then you may have to try to stuff a 10-foot-wide display into a 9-foot-wide opening.

Every outdoor show should allow at least 12 feet by 12 feet; the fact that so many do not is just one more example of how the people who run shows often have no clue about what exhibitors need.

Absolutely no one except the artist being allowed to man their booth; this means no family, employees and salespeople. Artists must remain in their booth at all times during the show. Okay, so how does one go [to the bathroom]? I haven’t learned an artistic way to accomplish that yet.

Shows that require artists to be in attendance and also take 50 percent of sales. … And advertising that a world-famous glass artist will exhibit and then only showing a video of the artist on a small TV screen.