I've been following this thread with great interest, but I haven't chimed in
yet. Here goes.

This I can tell you all: our society is constantly looking for ways to
increase attendance, and it's not all self serving. We recognize that if the
Vendors don't do well, they won't want to return. As it stands, we have a
waiting list of Vendors who wish to participate.

Last year we did some market research at the entry desk to determine which
of our advertising efforts were most successful, and we will use that to
better focus our ad dollars. For this coming year, we intend to offer some
incentives to other societies, in the form of free admission to groups, for
example. This will not increase our net gate, naturally, but it should be of
value to our Vendors. Hopefully, we will recoup a few $$$ due to increased
raffle sales. In any event, more foot traffic is good for everyone in the
long run.

As Kenni knows, we charge a flat fee for a fairly substantial booth set up.
Our flat fee is in keeping with the surrounding societies (including some
which have far more limited facility space), and in fact we were lower for a
good while. That doesn't mean that our own costs have stayed static. They
have not. We try to make things a bit easier for our Vendors by providing a
paid cleaning crew after the show breaks down. For the next show, we want to
provide light refreshments on the show floor during set up. We can't do
alcohol due to venue regulations that would make it prohibitively costly.

Bottom line: we know our Vendors work hard for their money, and we value
them greatly. As to displays, we have found through informal surveys that
they bring people in. Once in, they become potential purchasers. And it is
rare when I see someone leave our shows empty handed.

Just my two cents.

Diana

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
Pat: Thanks for the info. Around here, the second type of show you
mention simply would not work. Or at least, no professional grower would
participate. They might be able to fill it with backyard growers.
Professional growers already have sales tax accounts, credit card
processors, etc., etc. [that we already pay for, every month]. And I, at
least, have my own culture sheets to hand out -- the ones from AOS are
not real accurate for the So. Fla. environment, so I'd rather any
purchasers use mine.

At the better OS shows, we do still have member volunteers asking to help
us with set-up and break-down. These offers are much appreciated
(sometimes I get stuck or stranded), but I prefer to bring my own help,
when at all possible, even tho I have to pay for it -- the OS volunteers,
despite their best intentions, tend to do as much damage as good. At my
last OS show, I just barely managed to keep some of my equipment from
being broken by one of those eager volunteers ... No way I'd let them
handle the $$. And even if I relented on that, 20% would definitely _not_
work. I don't have enough margin in the plants to pay that kind of
commission, and I can't raise prices to cover it (as you've mentioned),
because the plants just won't sell at prices raised to cover that.

I do understand the risk/reward aspect. Even tried it once or twice,
years back. Never again. I agree with you that it SHOULD give the show
sponsor an incentive to advertise, etc., but it has never seemed to work
out that way, down here. Hope that your luck with it continues. Kenni


"Pat Brennan" wrote in message
...

Around here we have two types of shows. The first is much like yours in
that the society sells sales tables. The cost of tables at these shows
have risen like every thing else over the years.

In the Mid Atlantic area we also have a second type of show, the
commission show. They are part of the legacy left by Merit Huntington.
Instead of vendors taking money, the society runs a central checkout.
The society collects money, handles sales tax, processes credit cards,
packs the purchases, and provides culture info (thus the booklet Al was
talking about for the DC show). Instead of receiving a fixed table fee,
the society takes a percent of the sales (20% in most cases). These
shows are cool in that a society's financial success in not measured by
the number of tables they sell and the amount they charged for them,
instead the society's financial success is measured by how successful the
show was for its vendors. The society is directly rewarded for
advertising the show and getting out the people.