Taking the opportunity of the upcoming Spring Art Fair in Neilson Park I have decided to list some tips which you may find useful while working on setting up your own future booth.

I did some research on the net obviously and then created my own extended list of points which could be considered.

1.       Find out if the Fair organizer provides table, chair, easels or outlet hanger. It is very likely the Fair will not allow you to use walls so you have to make sure all necessary equipment is provided or you will have to arrange it yourself.

2.       If the Fair is going to last longer than 1 day I strongly recommend to use foam panels for floor coverage (like those which you would buy for your kids in the big puzzle shape). This will make it easier to stand for several hours and your knees and back will not ache so much in the evening.

3.       Make sure all your artwork is labeled. You should put up title, name of the author, medium, size and price.

4.       Make good use of your booth space. I’m going to have only 1 table and allow customers to access artwork and have a close look but many artists would prefer to have a full table across and show only those pieces which potential customers are interested in. All depends where are you in your development cycle. If you are a beginner artist like me, you may like to think more about collecting feedback from potential customers or other artist more than selling itself.

5.       Going in this direction I have decided to prepare a survey. Very short, so nobody will feel pressured because of it. I have it in paper format and on the iPad. I used QuickTapSurvey to design it.

6.       I have also an e-mailing list with short terms and conditions on top. This way I will not miss out on potential e-mail addresses from people who don’t want to do the survey but still would like to be included on my distribution list.

7.       In order to reward people who will spend those couple of minutes to fill out the survey I have prepared book marks. Own design and handmade, hopefully this is will be sufficient.

8.       Another thing which you need is business cards and flyers! Both home designed and homemade. There are a lot of services out there but why would you spend money on it if you have the tools available at home? I used the Microsoft Word cards template. Various shops with office and school supplies provide business card white paper. Then you only need a printer with color ink and your business cards are ready in minutes. I printed on A4 paper and used a special paper knife to cut it but sharp scissors will do as well.

9.       My flyer was designed in Photoshop. It took a bit more of my time but it was worth it! I must stress that I didn’t do any course for Photoshop users. However, the options are straight forward and it took only a few attempts to make it happen. I used photo paper 6×4 inches which we can get in any printing store and my lovely printer did the rest of the work. The biggest advantage of homemade things is that you can print extra copies or make changes in the design any time you want and you don’t pay a penny for it.

10.   Now you need to display all those lovely items we made, so I have invested in the stands.

11.   Also I will have a table cloth as we don’t know the quality of equipment provided and in addition we will gain some covered storage space underneath, and flowers on the table just to draw more attention.

12.   A bowl with sweets will bring kids closer and obviously their parents!

13. I have also registered for Square which will allow me to accept card payments on my iPhone. This is such a great invention!

14.   Additional items which are very important too: packing paper and/or paper bags, scissors, sticky tape, napkins, water bottle, snack or sandwiches (as you may get hungry), you need plasters for paper cuts and headache pills. Please remember to bring garbage bags too.

15.   You may like to add some other features which will bring viewers’ attention like posters or even balloons.

I think it is going to be a very successful Art Fair and I will tell you all about it in my next post. Take care for now.