Quilt Show Final Report

Quilt Show Final report

Committee – Merchant Mall

1. List all specific duties and responsibilities:

Merchant Mall Chair needs to mail letters to potential vendors six months ahead of show. The letter should include a contract for participation, information about the show and the facility, and prices for various options. A deadline should be set for returning the forms.

There are 320’ of rental space in the facility. If the Chair is successful in securing enough vendors to rent the space, then little to no action is required until three months before the show.

If there is need to solicit further vendors, Chair should brainstorm with Quilt Show Committee to determine what types of vendors should be solicited. A mailing should be sent to the additional choices. This process continues until all spaces are filled.

Three months before the show the vendors should be contacted with information for advertising the show in their area, a copy of the floor plan with their space indicated, area accommodations, specific times the facility will be open, and show hours.

At the show, the Chair is in attendance at setup time for the vendors and stays until the vendors are done setting up or the facility closing time. During that time, the Chair marks the space for each booth space and then facilitates any questions or problems the vendors have as they arrive and set up. It takes two people to measure space for booths.

On the day of the show, the Chair arrives when the facility opens to help with any last minute problems or questions. The Chair collects door prizes from each of the vendors and gives the vendors receipts for their charitable contribution to the guild. Once the door prizes are collected, the Chair divides the prizes into three days worth of drawings and sets them aside for the hourly drawings. The Chair works with the Quilt Show Chair to draw numbers and award prizes each of the three days of the quilt show. During the show the Chair talks with vendors for feedback and also gives breaks to vendors that are working alone in their booth.

At the end of the show the Chair remains at take down to help the vendors with questions or problems that arise.

The Merchant Mall Chair works with the Program Chair to provide information on where each vendor is located in the facility. Chair also works with Quilt Show Chair to coordinate drawings. In addition, the Chair works with Program Advertising Chair to provide any ads the vendors are placing in the program. Finally, Chair works with Facility personnel on various needs and issues as they arise.

Currently, the letters and spreadsheets are set up in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. It would be good if the Chair understands how to use these programs or other software programs to accomplish letter writing tasks and compilation of participating vendors and requirements such as table rental and electricity.

In 2007 vendors were provided lunch as part of their entrance fee. If this is a feature in 2008, meals should be mentioned in the first letter to the vendors. Vendors should pay a small fee per meal for this service. Merchant Mall Chair or the Food Chair should arrange for meals and have them delivered to individual booths each day during the show. If students will be used to help load and unload vendor merchandise, vendor should help defray this cost as well. This option should be included in the initial letter if it is provided in 2008.

1. Explain in detail your procedures and recommendations:

A six month timeline seems to be sufficient to arrange for vendors. A letter is prepared with current show information and mailed to vendors. Eventually we should be able to send this by e-mail and save costs.

The Program Chair needs to define up front what file format they are able to work with for the advertising in the program. The formats need to be in the initial letter to the vendors.

If food is to be provided, it should be decided which Chair provides the food. If it is the Food Chair, then that person should coordinate with the Merchant Mall Chair for quantity of meals and selection options each day. If it is the Merchant Mall Chair, then that person should research menus and costs and determine the budget. A figure per meal needs to be included in the initial invitation letter. Whichever chair is responsible will need a few volunteers to pick up the food and distribute it to the vendors. Water should also be provided periodically to the vendors.

If help for setup and takedown are provided, this cost should be included in the initial letter.

A list of possible vendors to solicit needs to be provided to chair. The current list needs to be reviewed and reduced. A review of the current Shop Hop guide or quilt directory for the area are good sources. Also, the chair should receive a copy of the last invitation letter, floor plan, and spreadsheet of vendors that participated. An indication of which vendors are interesting in returning and which vendors will not be included next year should be provided.

As the vendors return the forms with payment, a record is kept and the funds forwarded to the treasurer. Space is available on a first come, first served basis. If demand exceeds supply, Chair notifies vendors that are not accepted.

Chair notifies Guild Website Chair of the final vendor selection so the names of vendors participating may be included on website.

An addition for next year might be a description of what products or services are available in each vendor booth and placed in the program.

1. Budget Considerations:

No records were kept on money spent on mailings. Costs would include stationary, envelopes, toner, and postage. The initial mailing went to approximately 75 vendors. There was an additional mailing to approximately 20 vendors and then a follow up letter to 22 participants. Postage was approximately $55.00 and stationary $25.00. Next year postage will be more expensive and additional bookmarks for advertising were requested, increasing mailing costs. Some long distance phone charges were incurred. A budget of $100 should be adequate for next year.

A budget for food, water, setup/takedown helpers should be established.

If unlimited funds were available, it should be spent on better and more advertising.

If there is a price increase in rental space, this fee should be passed on to the vendors and included in the initial letter.

1. Other Areas to Improve:

Advertising was a common concern among the vendors. A review of current advertising methods and brainstorming for new methods should occur in the not too distant future. For example, KUOW has a deadline of June 10th for next year. Quilters Newsletter also has a quick deadline for a free ad in the magazine.

Current floor plan of facility is inaccurate and should be redrawn.

BPQ volunteers or committee chairs that are at the facility all day during the show should be provided with lunches. This could be soup in crock-pots, or food brought in, but it should be provided. Maybe volunteers that are unable to help at the show for various reasons could provide this service.