FIRST ART FAIR EVER: lessons learned and summed up in 10 points

Today was my first art fair, a small venue combined with indoor wintertime farmers' market. Moderately successful as I was, it was a great testing ground! Here are my observations on how to prepare to meet your shoppers in person:

1. Apply early enough to get a good spot. Together with 3 other vendors, I was tucked away in the entrance lobby, one of the last two spots I was able to choose. I saw more traffic strolling the main hallway and off to the other two exits than through mine.
2. Even though you would like to bring ALL your items with you, limit the number of the displayed ones to match the size of your display area and the visual capacity of your shoppers. I had a 3 foot by 3 foot table with some vertical display added and I made the mistake of showing basically my entire shop: a ton of shapes, colors and types. I noticed early on that shoppers just caught glimpses of what was right up front, and on the vertical display. The middle of the table remained unnoticed so I quickly uncluttered it: It helped, and people stopped by longer. Next time, I'll bring 3 lines of items, tops. Please note, this advice may not apply to everyone; especially jewelry vendors seem to have benefited from great variety on their tables.
   
3. To help you narrow down the number and type of items to bring, think of the shoppers who may show up. Who are they? Bozeman, Montana, where I had my show, is a trendy spot for laid back, sporty, hippie, nature oriented types. Lots of bicycling, skiing, hiking, dogs, and famously, Subaru as the most popular car. And shoppers seemed most interested in my Grizzly Mama frame, Woodland Animals, and Winter Bird line. Right next to me, a tie-dye vendor was very popular.
   
4. Bring stuff for kids. Most shoppers brought their kids for a Saturday morning outing. The kids were doing the most and boldest browsing. My items were especially appealing to early teen girls who managed to charm their dads into buying some.
   
5. I also had bookmarks with my promo information and cute images to distribute for free: those were successful! The bookmarks were simple to make (cardstock, hole punch, satin ribbon) and thanks to them some more shoppers took my contact information home.
   
6. Display a poster with your logo, name, and contact information for those too shy to come up and chat.
   
7. Get up and get around. Smile. I was walking around, tidying up, distributing my bookmarks. I managed to get some people from the hallway to notice that there are vendors in the front lobby, too!
8. Think of a nifty conversation starter. I saw too many people catch a brief glimpse of my display and move on. So, I added a sticky note on one of the items that read: "Ask me about decoupaging with paper napkins." And they did! "What is 'decoupage'?" "You do that with paper napkins!?!" It also helps you if you are on the shy side, like me, because it's the customer, not you, who gets the conversation started.
   
9. Give browsers breathing room. Don't hawk over them. I really don't like it myself when I shop, so I stayed on the sidelines, but when I saw somebody pick up an item or point to something specific. I was there to add an interesting detail about the piece.
10. Remember to bring at least $100 in change. If your pricing requires giving $1 bills as change, make at least half of that $100 "ones."

My table fee was just $15. My sales covered that, plus a bit more, but not enough to really celebrate. I noticed a slightly disturbing trend of "just lookers." But, I was able to chat up with fellow vendors and learn a lot from them about this venue and the other ones. And, I loved the experience!