I had intended posting pictures to the blog every day of Showcase, poor Internet connectivity coupled with tiredness in the evenings unfortunately made this an impossibility. Instead, I'm going to reflect on how everything went and give you a peek into my thoughts as I debrief, if I get it all written down now then I can move on and make some new felt. I'd especially like to say a massive thank you to everybody who supported and encouraged me in advance of the show and over the five days of the event itself, the Showcase and Crafts Council teams who did an incredible job, the electrician who changed the wiring on my stand with such good humor, twice, all of you both here and on Facebook who blew me away with your good wishes and finally, my buddies in crime at the neighbouring stands, thanks for being such a pleasure to spend time with! Obviously it's impossible to name everybody (and I don't want to leave anyone out inadvertently!) but a special thanks go to Ariane Tobin, Cornelia McCarthy, Roisin Markham, Kate Ramsey, Emma Jane Champley, Lesley Round, George Stafford, Anita Marnell, Niki Collier, Mary Whelan, Nicola Doran and to Lorraine Bowen who gave me great advice about agents and JobBridge.
Now for those reflections, it paid to……….
- Have clear signs (thanks Ger and Joe from Carlow Sign Management)
- Have good photography (thanks Greg Dorney)
- Send out email invitations to prospective stockists letting them know which stand I was on and what my collection consisted of
- Keep the display very simple
- Pay for additional lighting
- Offer a show special
- Ask for a sale
- Have a slide show of images looping on the MacBook meaning whenever I got a confirmed order or a lead I could quickly update my notes by typing them up
- Be on the stand myself as much as possible but have good knowledgeable friends to help me too, thanks a million George and Anita!
- Wear one of my scarves
- Eat!!! The first day I didn't eat any lunch, bad move! From then on I tried to get a hot meal or snack regularly on dates and fruit, one needs ones energy at these shows.
Posted by Nicola Brown – I feel, I find, I felt
Nicola Brown Fine Art Textiles 
Congratulations on your success! Your display looked beautiful! Less is more, indeed 🙂
It’s interesting to hear about the experience of showcasing handcrafted wearables in another country, as my own experience has been here in the US.
Great to hear it went so well for you, and the year is only just beginning!
Great to get the update Nicola and happy for you that it went well, onwards and upwards from here.
You deserve it Nicola. The reflections are good for reference. Great congratulations are in order !
Sounds like it went very well, Nicola, and your reflections will be useful–to you and to others…I have one question: when you say “ask for a sale” do you mean you asked/closed the sale when someone was interested but not committed yet? or did you mean something else?
Lots of good advice here. Happy to hear that the Showcase was such a success….Your space looked beautiful and it sounds like you had the best help and neighbors.
Glad it went so well! Congrats on all your orders and upcoming events it has led to. Sounds like it’s gonna be a busy year for you 🙂
x