Some of you may remember me trying to get a Train Show as a Fund Raiser for my local Fire Dept. I've been working on it for almost ten months. The show date is December 9th. I can only set up for 45 8' tables. As of today I have 8 tables sold. Is it normal for vendors to wait this long to respond. I sent out 25 announcements with registration letters. I also listed the event on Trains com. events calender, it is listed under Washington Township Vol. Fire Co. We are located in Eastern Pa. near what they call the Poconos. I will be sending reminder notices out this week. Is there anything else I can do or am I doing enough. Thanks for taking time to read and or respond.
Don
Some suggestions
1) Make a phone call to the clubs,then visit with prepared sales speal,how they will look like heroes,help the community.....
2)Have a contest with attandees voting on the layout,in other words make a game of it, make it fun
3)Have other activities for kids,bean toss with the bean bags that look like hoppers ,locomatives,balloons,clowns ....
4)Guess how many jelly beans the coal train hoppers carry ?
5)Engine pulling contest,fastest locomative,most realist,most detailed awards give ribbons and trophies for the contest
6)involve others in assisting you plan,implement,organize,inviting....
7)speak to local media,maybe they will do a cover story which helps motovating others to
volunteer and attend
8)invite paramedics to do CPR demostrations
9)Have the fire dept. give rides or let the kids sit in the fire engines and get there picture taken
10)Give out as part of the entrance fee locmative hats,engineer hats,fire engine hats,I have seen inexpensive plastic versions of the latter
11)Have the fire dept. display some of ther equipment with instructions on how to operate the equipment
12)The more impressive and well organized the easier it is to get people to help.
*These are just some of the idea's off the top of my head
Pastime,
There are a lot of train (and other) shows in your area of the country. You need to make sure that you are not too close to the other shows when you schedule yours. At some point the typical vendors get show "fatigue" and they need a break.
New shows can be tough to start as the vendors are looking for their best investment in time to get to a location with a proven record of "buyers." You might try calling some train collector folks in the area (are you a member of TCA?) and use the hobby shops in your area as a way to get the word out on your show.
As described above by yougaotta (some very good suggestions), you need some events to attract train "buyers" families and one thing that works is having an operating layout or two to give the kids something to watch and get excited about. This may mean giving up some tables, but you need something to draw a wide audience.
You may also wish to consider having some tables available to local crafts vendors to make sure the "wives" have something to look at also.
Have some food - hot dogs (easy) and sodas to sell and will also raise money for your fire dept.
I assume your way to raise your desired funds is via the door fees for attendees and table rental fees for vendors.
Regards, Roy
Some of the above observations are very good. Yougottawanta makes some good suggestions, and Roy is right on, that a first time train show has yet to have a track record of either attendance or sales which both help to entice dealers.
As Roy also said, it is essential that you have some operating layouts and at least a couple that are very kid/family oriented. As one who has done a good number of train shows with a family oriented layout, I cannot overstate how important this is. Especially for a fire department/union hall kind of show that will logically attract a good number of non-seasoned train buyers and curious onlookers.
When I stopped doing shows I was surprised how many comments I got, even from TCA guys who told me they missed my kid-aimed display layout. Despite the fact it was low-tech, I was amazed with how many told me mine was their favorite display. Even I realized by the numbers of people that stuck around and asked many questions, that I was on to something.
Some of the more successful train shows I've done have featured many of the above made suggestions: food, activities, large screen video displays (with kid friendly train videos), contests, demonstrations, a circus clown working the crowd, and show volunteers dressed in railroad attire. You may find yourself having to do a little more publicity to reach some of the non-established train sellers who might not have retail locations, but sell trains at shows.
It's a catch-22 situation today. I think train shows are an excellent tool for reaching newcomers and new customers, provided there are good operating displays. On the other hand, it's a tough retail business and many small shop dealers do not have the ability to match prices of the larger mail order places. Dealers have often used shows to help move out unsold inventory. but now many dealers have gotten far more selective as to what train items they decide to stock because they don't want to get stuck with items that end up as blowouts from the big boys.
It's not an impossible situation putting on a new show, but's it's certainly not as easy as it might have been a decade ago. You may have to cut some "quiet deals" with some dealers or vendors that you would like to have represented at your show. Offer space for display layouts at no charge (that's essential!). You'll have to settle with your money being made from public admissions and food sales instead of the vendor/table fees. But once you get the ball rolling, it'll be easier to attract the vendors and dealers the next year.
If you don't have vendors and display layouts, you won't have much of a show. And even if you get people to attend in droves, they won't be back the next year.
brianel, Agent 027
"Praise the Lord. I may not have everything I desire, but the Lord has come through for what I need."
Don U. TCA 73-5735
Hope that you don't schedual your show for the same weekend as the Hamburg Penn Dutch show or you will have too much compitition. Another show nearby is in Reading PA, the Greenberg Train show. Don't know the dates for theses shows.
Other things to consider are differant types of shows for the same weekend, like is there a Boat Show or R.V. show that same weekend? Are trying to schedual during a major vaction time?
Lee F.
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