Good luck at it all. The other thing I forgot to say was to take pictures of your booth/table each show you do. It’s amazing to look back and see how far it — and you — have evolved. It’s also a good way to see what your booth/table looks like from the customer’s point of view, an effect you just cannot get by you looking at your own table. I’ve also started taking pictures from a distance, from the different angles a potential customer is likely to be walking from so that I can see what they see. Does your table blend in with everyone else? Does it have an instantly identifiable, easily remembered focal point, handy to have so repeat customers can find you? They may not remember your name, but they will remember a particular table cloth colour or layout. For example, I sell turquoise, and for the front table I have a vintage Southwestern/Mexican-style serape that I drape diagonally across the top and down the front of the table and I hang strings of turquoise at the top of my display grids with spotlights, both of which can be seen from any vantage point in a typical venue.

At a lot of venues you can’t count on being against a wall, so it’s almost impossible to put up a horizontal banner sign. One of the things on my wish list is one of those free-standing vertical banners (once I come up with a definitive logo/business card design).

That’s another thing that I do: each show I buy or otherwise acquire something “big” that I need. I finally bought a dolly for the last big show. I use it all the time now when I do the weekly market.

Years ago I was looking into selling at a particular show and I came across the show organisers’ recommendations in terms of how much to bring: 10 x the cost of the table/booth. If you pay $20 for a table, plan to have $200 worth of items; pay $800 for a booth, have a minimum of $8,000 worth of items to sell. Let the cost of the table or booth, its location and the season be your guide as to what type of customer you can expect and what colours/themes you should have represented in your jewellery.

Don’t be afraid to ask the show organisers who else will be there. How many jewellery vendors, what proportion jewellery vendors to the overall vendors? I’ve done so-called artisanal craft shows where they have importers who just dump cheap stuff — yeah, right, it’s handmade… in the Far East — and I’ve been stuck next to Avon and Pampered Chef, and/or worst of all — over 50% of the vendors were selling jewellery. Ask where and how they are advertising. You also need to help in that regard — via Facebook, your own website or blog, putting up posters, etc.

Let the type of show be your guide to pricing. Will there be kids there? Have some $2-$5-$10 items. Will there be a lot of jewellery vendors there? Figure out how to differentiate yourself from them. Someone suggested to me just recently when I was moaning about nobody buying my really expensive stuff, to show the expensive necklace, but have other items beside it using the same beads — earrings, for example, or bracelets — that I can sell for $15 to $30, so that people feel they can own at least a piece of that $200 or $500 or $1,000 showstopper.

Get Square or one of the other cell phone devices for taking credit cards, handy even if you have a home-based business.

As far as how much to put on your table, I’m becoming a little more of a minimalist in that regard, but if you put one example of a style out, definitely have more in reserve easily accessible in a bin to counter the “Oh, it’s perfect but it’s too small/large/short/long,” or, “Oh, this is perfect, but it’s green and I need something in yellow.” I’m also moving towards grouping things by colour, rather than style/theme or price. My table is instantly looking more organised!

When you’re doing a show, make a checklist — and use it! I just did a big 3-day bead show, zoned out and somehow managed to leave most of my finished jewellery at home: a five-hour round trip of hard highway driving.

There is a ton of good advice on Rena’s site here about setting up for shows: table and booth design, what to bring, etc. Most important I’ve found is bring lots of water, easily-eaten food (not messy or stinky) because just like in a restaurant, people inevitably will ask you a question just as you’ve taken a huge bite of food, and if at all possible bring an interested friend so you can take breaks. Make friends with the vendors on either side of you so they can keep half an eye on your booth for you when you need to dash to the bathroom and vice versa. Offer to do a coffee run while you’re away.

Do a dry run a couple of days before of your whole setup. Bring extra light bulbs and extra extension cords. Table risers, whether bed-risers or PVC pipes, are invaluable. The best thing is to go to any type of show before you do one yourself — and while you’re setting up at your first show — and look analytically at how people have set up their booths or tables, what works, what doesn’t, what attracts you, what repels you.

And oh, yeah. Have FUN. You might not sell a single thing — I sure haven’t many, many times — but you will meet the most wonderful people you never otherwise could.