At the recent Merritt Huntington Symposium in Virginia Beach last weekend,
they sold table space at $200 a table. The tables are like 2 x 6 feet.
They had seven vendors that each purchased between two and four tables.
They had an attendance of 55 people over the two day symposium, even though
110 had registered. That kind of success should weed out just about all the
vendors from next year's symposium...

"Pat Brennan" wrote in message
...
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.

When one of these shows is very successful, the 20% commission I pay is
much higher than what I would have paid at a flat fee show. On the other
hand, if people fail to show up for a show (a tropical storm the weekend
of the show) I end up paying less for my space than I would have if it had
been a flat fee show. Both risk and reward are shared by the society and
the vendors. As long as the show's sales increased over time, so did the
amount I paid to the society. It is not like my fees for these shows have
not increased, over the years the societies and their vendors have built
up some very successful shows. It is just the 20% commission rate that
has remained constant.

Pat