Help! I'm Organizing a Vendor Fair...

[manderyoder]

I'm organizing a vendor fair for this summer as a Summer Open House. I've contacted many consultants in the are from various companies and have had a lot of positive feedback. Nobody else wanted to organize it all themselves, but I am a teacher and summer is my time off to do other things like this!

So I have my vendors, a location (cheap!!), and am working on a date(s) and time. My questions are:

-Has anyone else ever organized one of these? Do you have a contract or list of requirements, etc. that you made up for all vendors?

-Do you recommend an all day Saturday event, or Friday night/Saturday morning type of thing?

-Is it okay to charge a bit extra from each vendor to cover the costs of bottled water for attendees? (The cost of the space is barely over $100 total and I can fit at least 20 vendors).

I've already read so many comments on here about advertising, what to do/not to do with door prizes & cash&carry, etc. These are just the last few questions to wrap up as I start getting info out to people.

Thanks!!

 

[Shell Northway]

I charege $50 for an 8 foot table that pays for the space and advertising. I know that is will hold 24 vendor's. The only thing I made up for the vendor's was a registration form that they completed and returned with their payment. Contact information, business information, if they need electricty so you can place near electrical sockets. If they need extra tables that is up to them to supply. I supply nothing else for them. Most who do booth's know what they need to get through the day. Also provide information about when setup begin's and when they need to tear down by.

 

[almondfarm]

I have done these as well I charge enough to cover all the expenses and what would be my share of the cost, I figure for organizing it my booth should be paid for. I also have vendors sign a liability waiver that names myself as not liable for injury/accident and also the location venue not liable.

Good Luck!

I have done evenings and also Saturdays, but think I get more VENDORS on a saturday.

 

[Chef Niki]

I have organized a few of these events. I am currently the coordinator of an event we are doing next weekend for Relay for Life. I have attached the vendor contract that I used.

I have also attached the vendor shopping guide that I designed. We are using these as invites to the event and also every attendee will receive a shopping guide.

I have asked local business for a donation - either coupons, business flyers, logo'd items, etc. We are putting together goody bags for all of the attendees also. The local hospital has donated the bags and some awesome can coozies.
A couple of the Relay for Life teams are sponsoring a bake sale for that day too.
We are donating all the money charged for the table space to The American Cancer Society along with any raffle ticket money.

Please let me know if you have any questions, and I hope the info I attached is helpful.

 

[Sheila]

We charge less out here ... $8 per table and $2 per chair. I've learned that if it's a 2 day event it takes the "urgency" out of getting there for the customers. They will make a mental note to get by Sat or Sun, then life gets in the way & they don't come. If it's just a 3-4 hour event on one day, they will actually write it on their calendars to attend and we get a bigger turnout. Weird, but true!Saturdays prove to be better here than Friday nights because some of the vendors have full time jobs & can't get off work in time to get there & set up before the event.Advertise, Advertise, ADVERTISE!!! If no one knows you are having it, you've wasted your time!!! You have to get the word out! We will all put it in our monthly newsletters so all of our customers see it. But if you have another way of advertising, do it! When I do bazaars for the high school fund raisers, the groups always have it advertised on local radio which really helps to bring in the crowds! We don't do that on our private events, but it works really well on the non-profit fundraisers. On the private events, we will often do a ticket thing in lieu of charging the vendors. 1 ticket if you RSVP, another one if you bring a guest, so many for every $25 in orders placed, so many if you book a show with one of the vendors and so many if you sign up with one of the vendors to be a consultant. They can also buy tickets for $1 each. Then each vendor donates a big door prize (usually $50 retail value or higher - my first one it was $100 or higher). We all donate a few small items too. Then do drawings during the whole event. They must be present to win! And they stay too! It's funny watching them see other people win, so they will come buy something to get more tickets while they are waiting for the "big" prizes! LOL If you have a sign in sheet at the front door, you now have the names, addresses, phone # & e-mail address of all the attendees and the list is shared with all the vendors at the end of the event. It can add a BUNCH of names to your contact list. We do and Excel form that asks all the contact info & then gives them columns to check if they would like more info from the various vendors present. If they check marked PC I know to call or e-mail. If not, I just add them to my newsletter. So far, the ticket purchases have helped to pay for the food/drinks that we provide (we have a snack table). If there's any money left over, we split it between the vendors.

 

[Chef Bobby]

If your place is near offices, I would have it open during the week.