The Booth Strategy, or Lack Thereof

I'm sure many of you are bead/jewelry show veterans, and have a great strategy for your booth.  Me, not so much.  I was an art bead vendor at Bead Fest Philly last year, and that was my first big bead show.  In fact, I hadn't even attended Bead Fest before last year!  Needless to say, my booth was somewhat pitiful compared to some of the other artists who were there.

Plenty of merchandise, but clearly lacking in many areas.  This year, I set out to change what my table is going to look like, but I'm not holding my breath that it's going to be amazing.  I am just not that person.  I am not a decorator, and I feel that you need those skills to have a great booth as well!

First, lights.  I went to IKEA on Sunday and purchased these great LED crane lights to attach to either side of my booth.

HUH????  I need to figure this out before I go!

Last year I had all my beads in these compartmentalized trays.

I'm still going to have these trays, because I just did not have time to do anything else, but I am adding these pretty black trays with velvet inserts for some of the beads, to make them stand out more!

Also, last year I displayed my egg-y beads in a crystal bowl that my boyfriend thankfully threw in the car at the last minute.  This year, I am putting them (and my new bird beads) in this slighter larger, plain clear bowl from IKEA.  I think it shows them off better (they aren't fighting with the faceted crystal) and it is slightly larger so you can run your fingers through the pile of beads!

And finally (for this post) I decided to use my cute little wasabi dishes I got in Japan for my key charms. 

I also got a new 4' x 2' banner from Vista Print!  At the last minute of course, and had to pay rush printing, but it just wouldn't be me if I did it ahead of time!  I hope it looks ok.  Cuz everyone including me is going to be looking at it for the better part of three days!

Things that are still on my list - a tablecloth other than white, a table runner, wood wine boxes to put under said tablecloth to raise the back portion of the display, and bring some jewelry and magazines I have been in.  Wish me luck!  I'll send a photo of the booth from Bead Fest!