Preparing for the Largest Craft Show In North America | My Market Prep Journey | Part Two

Hey Hey Hey! Better late than never right? I told myself I was going to be more consistent with my blog posts but things happen! Anyways let’s get back to where I left off last time!

So once I had my stock goals planned out, which I use google sheets for so that it can be in an organized spreadsheet that shows me totals and dollar values, I got to work! Preparation for this market varies from business to business, as a maker who creates every piece of their products by hand obviously my prep takes a bit longer!

I try to start preparing for OOAK in September. In order to stay on top of my goals I take my goal $$ amount and divide that by how many days I have until the show. Then I usually subtract 5-10 because there’s always going to be days that you can not prep because life just gets in the way. For example say you have 50 days until OOAK and you want to make $10,000 worth of product – 5,500 / (50-5) = 123 or $123 worth of product that you have to make each day to stick with you goal.

Now that we’ve got that part explained, there’s also the rest of OOAK to prep for. As this is such a large market, you want to have a booth that stands out and reflects your company and all the hard work that you’ve put into it. Being there for 11 days means that you can put a bit more into your display than other popup markets. Walls for instance, OOAK recommends its vendors build/purchase/rent hardwalls for their booth in order to make them feel more professional. By having walls you are able to hand shelving/products more securely and transform your space into your own personal store front.

In order to put my booth together I have hard walls made out of 1/2″ plywood and 2x2s framing on the back that get screwed together. Across the top of the walls I fasten 2x4s so that they are nice and sturdy. For the flooring I opt for a gym mat interlocking tile that has a woodgrain finish. Because the floors of the building are concrete you want something cushy under your feet after all those long days. I also recommend a checkout stand of some sort where you can station yourself instead of awkwardly standing in the corner to complete transactions!

Once I had all of that taken care of the only thing left to do was to promote the show and my booth number to help people find me. It’s a large show so by promoting your booth number, having it in your insta bio and on your business cards that your hand out, will all help potential customers find you!

This is just a glimpse into my OOAK prep. If you have any questions feel free to reach out, I’m happy to help!