Preparing for Events and Shows

Today we spent the majority of the day preparing for our first major show of 2010. It is amazing how much work is needed to prepare for a large show. As you are aware, we have been doing Outdoor Festivals at the various Bashas' stores around Arizona. This upcoming show will be our first multi-day event this fiscal year.

Even though this show, the Good Guys 1st Spring Nationals will be held in Scottsdale, AZ March 12-14th, we are preparing as if we were going to be on the road for the next six months. The reason we prepare so much is similar to why Olympic athletes prepare so hard for their competition. It is always better to plan and practice, and practice and plan before the event. That way, when you get there, you are ready for anything that may come your way. We need to be sure we have everything for the show, so that we don't have to keep running back to the house to pick up the items we forgot. We are expecting a fairly large attendance, and again, sales are based on numbers.

Preparing for a car show, motorcycle rally, or RV rally is almost the same type of work. For each event, you need to have an estimate of the attendees. Once you have an idea of how many people will be there, then you can begin to estimate how much product you need to bring to the event. One of the worst things that can happen to a vendor is to not have brought enough product for sale. Some may look on that as a good thing, but if you left product at home, then selling out at a show is a bad thing because the remainder of your inventory is sitting at home.

Inventory is money that has yet to be converted. The real trick is to figure out how much inventory you need for a show and to sell almost all of that inventory. Otherwise, you have an investment of money sitting on a shelf until the next show comes along. You can't spend inventory, you can only spend money. In this economy, it has been very difficult to predict the purchasing patterns of event attendees. It used to be that you can look at the prior year and predict a modest increase in sales for the current year. Now, it is a lot more difficult to predict any increase in sales over the prior year. It becomes especially difficult when this may be the first time you attend an event.

This blog is not intended to frighten new business owners from participating in events, but it is intended to show that you really have to plan prior to larger events. It is a very fine line we all walk when we attend multi-day events, you have to balance the quantity of inventory to the anticipated sales. With luck this event with the Good Guys will be a very exciting and busy event. We will keep you posted as the event progresses.

Until tomorrow...