Are you an artisan who sells your work at craft venues?

If so, then it’s highly likely that you already have booth equipment—furniture, fixtures, display stands, that you haul from one show to the next. You set up your booth and shoppers stroll in, browse what you have to offer, and if you’ve succeeded in capturing their attention and their desire, they likely buy what you are selling.

… or not. 

Are your sales slow? Getting slower? At a plateau? Not rising to the next level?

Do customers seem to pass you by at shows and not notice you?

Do you want to learn how to design a show-stopping craft booth?

17 Secrets of Creative Craft Booth Design is a must-have for all working artisans who sell in craft shows and exhibitions. It’s a manual, idea book, layout guide, and notes journal all wrapped up in one. It’s a convenient size to carry around and can hold all your important show booth information. Use it to:

That’s right! Are you surprised? It’s really not about you. The show itself is all about your customer.

Now I know what you’re thinking. You have spent years honing your techniques, hours upon hours creating your product, meticulous time rendering every small detail. You pay some considerable fees to participate in these venues to showcase and sell your wares and talk to people about your work … And now I’m telling you that it’s not about YOU?

Incredible! But, yes, you’ve heard me right. It’s really not about you.

It’s all about your customer. Let me explain.

Booth design is an art unto itself—but it has a purpose. A booth is not just a temporary place to lay out your work in public.

Here is its true purpose:  Your booth is a place in which you give your customer a memorable experience—hopefully a memorable buying experience. Your booth is a place where people come to learn about craft from you, the learned and experienced expert who provides the professionally guided tour into your little corner of the world of creativity. Your booth is a place where the customer comes to seek and find a treasure that speaks to them—a special memento of their learning experience that they can take home with them.

You see, the majority of people who come to craft shows do not consider themselves to be creative. How many times have you heard people say things like:

• “How did you even think of this?”
• “I could never design something like that!”
• “My brain just doesn’t work that way!”

But you know what? They do know creativity when they see it. They may not be able to do what you do—but they can certainly recognize the creative genius of your work. And they desire to possess just a little piece of your creative ability, even if the only way they can have it is to buy that piece and just look at it. That’s why they come to shows.

Your job then, as booth designer, is to create the perfect setting for that experience. As booth designer, you become a professional set director. Your booth becomes the stage where the magic happens. Where good positive energy exudes and the stimulation of learning takes place.

So take a look at your current setup now. Take a fresh perspective and an honest look around.

Your booth design is not something to be taken lightly. Ever heard the expression, “Form follows function.” Perhaps you got the function part down but didn’t take it to the next level:  Form.

Or perhaps because your booth pretty much serves its purpose. You’ve got some tables and shelves—places to display stuff. You’ve got some boxes and crates—places to store stuff. You’ve got some curtains or partitions—a way to hide other people’s stuff. You’ve got receipt books, a money box, your credit card machine, and some duct tape. So what’s wrong with that? It works for you.

But what about your customers? How do they feel in your space? When they walk away, will they remember anything? If they left the show and decided to come back later, could they find you by sight? Would they remember what your space looked like?

So many booths at shows look the same. Just tables and shelves and a low chair in the corner. Lacking color and landscape. Devoid of STYLE.

I’ve noticed over many years of doing shows that when customers first arrive, they like to walk the whole show first and see what’s there, see what’s new and exciting and worth going back for a second look. They mark their programs to note the booths they want to go back to and further explore.

Those are the booths that have succeeded in attracting their attention. Do you regularly make that first impression checklist? The booths they mark to return to are the ones that have made that all-important great first impression. Those booths have registered and resonated in the customers’ minds. Many times people put me on their come-back list because they were attracted by my booth. Some aren’t necessarily even shopping for jewelry—but they are intrigued. They believe a booth that looks like mine must hold some interesting treasures—and they want to come back to explore and find out.

Did you know that visual cues account for 70% of first impressions? You’ve only got a few seconds to grab attention as potential buyers pass your space. If your booth is drab, boring, cramped, poorly arranged, nondescript, colorless, flat, tacky, unplanned—you’ve lost 70% of your chance to make a great first impression in that one passing glance.

You can’t afford that.

In a show where there may be hundreds of other artisans, some of whom may be using the same media that you are using, you can not afford to be lost in the shuffle. You can not afford to go unnoticed.

Your objective should be to design a show-stopping booth! It doesn’t have to be expensive … but it does require a significant investment of time and consideration and innovation to develop a functional yet creative layout that works for your customers, entices them to cross your threshold, makes them remember you, invites them to invest in you, and leaves them wanting to return to you again and again, show after show, year after year.

That’s your goal.  How do you get there?

17 Secrets of Creative Craft Booth Design
includes a SPECIAL BONUS SECTION!

Perhaps when you first started out, you didn’t have much money but you had a couple of folding tables in your garage, some old tablecloths in the linen closet, and a couple of mismatched but functional shelves. So you would arrive at the show, load everything into your space, drag these pieces around for a while and try to come up with a decent configuration, throw on the tablecloths, and voila! You had a booth. Then you would lay out all your merchandise, take a seat in the chair provided, and wait for the customers to come. Maybe you even sprung for a pipe and drape system with curtains in some neutral color (that didn’t really appeal to you but you didn’t know what color to choose).

Do not tell me it has sentimental value! It’s time to make a change. Time to try something new.

Now I’ve made a broad assumption here … I’m assuming that you have a quality product to sell that people desire. I’m assuming that your technique is on point and your work impeccable. I’m assuming there is a realistic market demand for what you are creating.

Because the most outstanding booth design will be betrayed and left hanging by work that is shoddy and unprofessional.

A great booth design will not help you if what you’re selling is poorly constructed or there is no market for your product.

That having been said, we as artisans have a serious responsibility. In these times of fast food and mass production, we are the teachers and guardians of technique and things crafted by hand. We are the creative souls who toil over one small piece to bring it to a level of artistic perfection for the one buyer out there who will walk in and recognize it as his or her own. In coming years, when all of that cheap mass production finds itself in future landfills, our work will be the treasured collectibles and valuable antiques of tomorrow. Our booths represent the place where our hard work becomes evident. It’s a doorway that invites observers into our world so that they can experience it and perhaps even explore it … for themselves.

A woman came into my booth once and as we got to talking, I found out that she desired to be a jewelry artist … but she didn’t think she would be any good at it. I took that opportunity seriously and encouraged her to try. (It’s not about competition—it’s about encouraging, mentoring, sharing!) I didn’t know her, hadn’t seen anything she had made except maybe the piece she was wearing, didn’t know what her skillset included … but what I did see was passion in her eyes, what I heard was a certain tremble in her voice, a sincere desire to pursue that craft. So I tried to be as encouraging as I could be. She later joined my guild and is now developing her own style and selling her jewelry creations at shows. She shared with me that I was the one who really encouraged her to try and she loves what she is doing. She has found joy in craft.

But what started that conversation in the first place? It was that first impression. She was first attracted by my booth display and then she discovered my work, and then she met me, and the door was thus opened to new possibilities.

The same thing can happen for you. Some people will enter your booth because they want to learn to do what you are doing. Others enter because they just want to touch it and enjoy it, to somehow find a way to be a part of it.

Either way, it’s all about the customer.

This book will help you:

• Develop floor plans – Come up with functional, workable layouts for your booth.
• Experiment with layouts – Design alternative floor plans so that you are prepared for every size and space.
• Create checklists  - Make show supply lists so that you have everything you need when you get there.
• Create templates – Create scaled representations of your booth fixtures and experiment with them on paper—instead of waiting until you get to the show site and dragging pieces around your space until you find an arrangement that works!
• Jot down your thoughts – Use the notes pages for ideas or as a journal for thoughts about your craft..
• Note observations from other displays – Write down great ideas you see in others’ displays and adapt them for your own use.
• Compile all of your measurements – Use it as a place to write down the dimensions of all your booth fixtures. Then when you’re out shopping for display items, you’ll have your measurements handy.
• Explore your creativity – Write down innovations about new directions you would like to take with your work. Make sketches so you capture those brainstorms!
• Consider new options – Explore current and future design ideas and write them down so that you can revisit them and expand on them when you’re ready.
• Discover an important component of your booth that you may not have ever considered!

Published on Lulu.com by Roz Swartz Williams, the cost of this manual is only $24.95 plus shipping! Delivery will only take a few days!

Click here to buy it now and learn how to create a memorable craft booth experience for your customers!