How to organize an exhibition fair in a shopping center. Participation in hand made fairs

I will break this post into 2 or 3 parts.
a really long story, but I tried, suddenly my experience is useful to someone

Quite a while ago, I began to have an obsessive thought about the need to participate in an exhibition of needlework) Naturally, the nearest ones are in Moscow, BUT it’s a little expensive for me to be honest. The cheapest (I met) 2-4 thousand .. And another moment. I live in the suburbs, in principle, it’s not very long and far for me to get to the capital, but if you collect all the traffic jams on the Moscow Ring Road, it will be 1.5 hours. I have a 1.5 year old daughter. Anyway, if pah pah something happens, I won’t have time to arrive quickly.
In general, this thought about the exhibition periodically visited me, but I pushed it away) to the farthest shelf in the brain)
And then I suddenly remembered that I had seen some post on the BB .. about an exhibition that interested me .. about the organization .. I began to look. http://www.babyblog.ru/community/post/rukodelie/1928057. In diaries like you can give links to third-party sites?

And then I thought - why not really try ?? Organize an exhibition in your city! I began to look for more detailed information, but alas, there is not much of it, here on BB, on YM, in social networks .. Information - the cat cried. No clear answers to questions. But nevertheless, I decided, I gathered my courage and away we go…..

Naturally, I decided to time the exhibition for NG. And it was in October.
For starters, of course, it was worth deciding on the venue.
We don't have many "cultural" places, like DK, only 4. Two of them are quite far from the center, I'm talking about a children's art school, to be honest. At that time, I forgot, and eventually settled on our Youth Center "LEADER". It is not very far from the center, or rather very close, BUT there is a very inconspicuous entrance ... And this later played a role ...

I signed up with the director of this MC, he turned out to be a young man, my age, and this was a plus. Young people will quickly find a common language with young people than with a 70-year-old director. Yes, and it was possible to communicate through social networks, which is easy and convenient.
The LEADER requested a small lease, with all this there were still many poles:

1) there were tables and chairs, which greatly facilitates the “work” of the masters, you don’t have to drag everything on yourself
2) New Year's entourage (decorations, garlands, music, Santa Claus) was, as it were, by default, because there are New Year's performances for children
3) they had titanium, (an analogy to a cooler), and accordingly hot tea was provided (and oh, how important it is in winter)).
Okay, the situation was sorted out with the place, the dates were also decided quickly.

Then I began to look for masters, in social networks - this is a disastrous business. I realized that the best place is YM. There, the craftsmen are already aiming to sell their products. But I was lucky, I met a very wonderful family on VKontakte, Alexei and Nastya. Nastya is engaged in felting, and Alexey is engaged in our city forum and website. This is a significant plus and a real help!
At first, things didn’t go well.. There were barely 5-7 pieces of craftswomen. But then, suddenly, things started to go, and the craftsmen began to agree to participate. They even found me)) By the way, Aleksey and his website helped a lot with this.
and then good luck! Here on BB I just met an awesome girl Sveta.
She's a soapmaker and she helped me with the layouts for the ads. What would I do without her!!!
Advertising was planned as follows - a large pylon on the main street of the city, posters on pedestals, flyers, from the leader - advertising in the newspaper and on TV. In principle, it was relatively easy, all I had to do was print it out, and, well, agree on a pylon. (this was the main money from the contributions of craftswomen).

I will also say this - at the very beginning, when I was looking for masters, I came across a bunch of misunderstanding and even negativity. Like, what the hell is this? why waste your time? or "Who? Am I??? at a fair in some Dzerzhinsky??? but what are you, girl, I'm such a master felt-tip pen that uhhhh, I won't participate for anything." Such a reaction was unsettling, but it also gave some kind of correct anger and confidence or something!

When there were 2 weeks left before the exhibition, I began to put up posters on poles and pedestals in the city. It is worth saying that I did all this with my daughter, which people looked at simply indignantly. As if I sent her money to beg ((
In general, I stuck it for several days and caught a cold .. (which was to be expected. The law of meanness is in action.) And that means I'm sitting at home, the temperature is 38. The director of the Leader is calling. And from him I learn that unexpectedly, the governor of the region is coming to the city, and, accordingly, everyone fussed, began to prepare the city and saw our poster. They told him everything that I pasted posters in the wrong place. I had to take the baby and stomp to take off posters ... (I will say that I have a husband, but he is at work from 7 am to 9 pm) ..
Okay, then I pasted everything only on the pedestals, and then when the governor left.

For the last week I have been handing out flyers, in principle, myself too. I delivered it wherever possible - all our hospitals, including the nursery, shops where it is not prohibited, handicrafts in the first place, banks, pharmacies. On the streets as much as you can.

To be continued...

The formation of public space in the mall leads to a rethinking of most short-term entertainment programs and events taking place in mall galleries. About product fairs handmade, their meaning, dangers and prospects will be told by the founder management company public spaces Pavel Mazhorov and CEO management company SEC "Reutov Park" Dmitry Karavaev.

In the past six months, we have had to closely encounter such a phenomenon as the handicraft fair in mall. Work on the formation of the public zone of the shopping and entertainment center cannot do without the inclusion of various hobbies and hobbies in it. And the fair is an event that gathers around itself just enthusiastic, caring and active people.

Oddly enough, among all options events, the topic of fairs turned out to be one of the most interesting and confusing. On the one hand, what could be easier? Stylized, festive tables or carts with souvenirs and accessories, decorations and sweets, handicrafts and small-scale work, gifts for every taste. You can always find an organizer of fairs who are ready to hold their event in the gallery of the mall.

Fair for the shopping center, with proper organization and informational support, is not so much a source of additional income, but a good information occasion and social activity - it allows local craftsmen (district, regional) to attract new customers without spending on advertising, that is, to earn money and introduce their product to their audience. But not everything is so simple. For the simple-hearted and broken appearance Fairs lurk serious problems.

We had to go quite a long way. Talk to dozens of craftsmen and entrepreneurs, sellers and resellers, until a real picture of the state of affairs has formed. Despite the incredible number and apparent diversity, fairs or, as they are also called, markets, have a fairly clear division into groups.

"Closed" fairs for their

The first and main group are handmade fairs, working for a permanent target audience of amateurs and fans. These are events for true fans of manual creativity. They are held quite often and gather thousands of audiences. These are Lambada Market, Dunyasha, Art-Flection, Ladya and several other similar events. These markets are distinguished by a rather strict selection of participants and large investments in advertising in the central city media. At these events, master class zones, food courts, concerts and performances are organized. Separate exhibition spaces are selected for these markets, such as Trekhgornaya Manufactory, Artplay, Central Telegraph, Exhibition Center on Krasnaya Presnya and others. Each of them attracts tens of thousands of visitors who come purposefully. It is sad to say that shopping centers are not used for these events, the organizers prefer not to scatter the attention of the target audience. We communicated with several fair organizers of the target audience, trying to lure them to the mall, but their answers were negative and categorical.

The composition of the participants of this group of fairs is formed in advance and mainly consists of regular participants. These are highly qualified craftsmen, for whom manual work, production and sale are the main profession and earnings. The organizers of the fairs are professional teams consisting of experienced employees.

In the mall, we have an absolutely opposite picture. Under the guise of a fair or a handmade goods market, a certain special format of events is held, which has absolutely nothing to do with the fairs described above. Fairs in the mall can be divided into two types: markets announced as an event for young designers of clothing and accessories, and a market for handmade goods. Let's dwell on each of them.

fashion fairs

Fashion market for young designers: outwardly, it looks like an island of rails, standing in the middle shopping gallery with several prefabricated cloth fitting rooms. They sell clothes made for small industries, on affordable prices. These are clothes for a narrow segment of the consumer. Sharply fashionable, sometimes defiant, almost always bright and not always practical. Such fairs can enliven the mall space. Sometimes they are accompanied by fashion shows, staging a full event with a guest host, review in life-style blogs and criticism in the press. Or they simply build a palisade of rails, and are more like a “fishing net”, into which a visitor to the shopping center accidentally comes across to be torn to pieces by smiling and annoying sellers.

For the shopping and entertainment center, the role of such events is ambiguous. Among the advantages, one can note the creation of a certain zone of interest with unusual clothes that cannot be bought in mall stores, one of the options for attracting traffic to the “dead” zone of the mall, or an additional informational occasion when the marketing budget is reduced. Also, the additional rental income cannot be discounted. However, there are also disadvantages. Direct competition with permanent tenants of the shopping and entertainment center, which may present well-founded claims to the intersection of the assortment.

The problem can be the unprofessionalism of the organizers, who sometimes use different-sized, unsuitable commercial equipment, on which clothes resemble the collapse of a junk shop. And also, the proposed range of products, which may not correspond to the price segment of the target audience of the mall. Fashion events are quite acceptable in the mall, but for them to be held, the organizers of fashion fairs must be given clear rules and restrictions governing the assortment, design and form of the event, and, of course, the event script is needed.

Handicraft fairs

And if everything is more or less clear with fashion markets, then something unimaginable is happening with handmade goods fairs in the mall. These activities raise questions. More precisely one - why is it needed? Under the guise of craftsmen selling handmade goods, often in the mall there are sellers with goods purchased at clothing market. Chinese scarves, backpacks, leather goods and accessories, jewelry and honey by weight, cookies in boxes and everything that cunning sellers could think of. Low quality goods and market pricing. Do you think this can't be? Maybe. Moscow hosts at least a dozen such events every weekend. We can provide a list to everyone (upon request through the editors - editorial note). We have long tried to determine why such events became possible. How does this phenomenon penetrate into a modern shopping center. We settled on the fact that there are several main reasons - this is the lack of control by the shopping center, a decrease in the level of impulse purchases, as well as interest in unique goods due to their higher cost.

A lot has been written about the drop in demand. Handmade product, designed for a narrow segment of lovers of a particular topic, is very vulnerable to all manifestations of the economic crisis. Teddy bears and dolls, jewelry and handmade souvenirs are expensive and do not find sufficient demand among the visitors of the shopping center so that the master can recoup the rather high rent of the place. The organizers of fairs in the mall are not shy about inflating their prices. For them, these are one-time events, the main purpose of which is to collect rent from the participants. In such conditions, only resellers can work with profit. They buy goods at the clothing market and calmly sell them at fairs. They do not need cash registers and checks, certificates and invoices. Cash only. And the buyer is on it. He's in the mall. That is, the mall covers these entrepreneurs with its reputation.

As for the lack of control, it is most likely due to the fact that the employees of the management company do not have the opportunity for direct interaction with the fair participants. All questions are resolved through the representative of the organizer. And also, as a rule, it is possible to see clearly the work of the participants only on the first day of the fair directly in your mall.

Fairs in the shopping malls of Moscow have turned into parodies of themselves. Their huge social potential was lost. And most of the blame lies with the organizers of such fairs, who, with their irrepressible greed, unwillingness to develop and see the future, turned a bright, fun, exciting event into a boring melancholy of low-quality consumer goods.

Organization rules

In our opinion, fairs and markets in the mall can be held. With the right organization, fairs and markets not only become additional income, but also significant savings in the marketing budget.

1. First of all, a handicraft fair or a fashion market is an event that should attract visitors and arouse their interest. Therefore, it is important to choose market organizers carefully. The size of the mall's income from the fair is important, but it is not the only selection criterion.

2. Beyond design commercial equipment and design of the fair area, the organizers of the market must submit a scenario for the event. Performances, master classes, concerts are a must! This is the most important part of the market.

3. Market participants must be approved by name, indicating the goods they produce. This list should be checked by the employees of the management company. The contract must clearly state the restrictions on the sale of factory-made goods. Control of this part of the contract should be carried out by the management company of the mall.

Found an error in the text! Select it and press Ctrl + Enter.

Fairs, make an event plan. You will need it to apply for permission from the authorities and when looking for sponsors.

With a plan and an approximate budget, go to the government of the area of interest for permission to hold an event. Write a letter to the head of the municipality in advance and wait for an invitation. Usually approval is issued without problems. The authorities are interested in consumer promotions, which are the attention of residents. Especially if they are timed to the day of the city or district.

Place the modules inviting participation in the exhibition-fair in specialized publications. This must be done at least three months before the event. This will allow all companies interested in participating to contact you in time to discuss the details.

Pay special attention to the organization of the exhibition-fair. Arrange with decorators to decorate the venue. Invite animators and promoters. Prepare competitions for visitors. Invite journalists and famous people. Organize the work so that by the time of the opening all the exhibitors are in place and ready to receive visitors.

Features of exhibition activity

Every entrepreneur is concerned about creating positive image for your company, attracting attention potential clients and buyers, sales promotion. From this point of view, the exhibition is excellent marketing tool allowing direct contact with target audience.

However, one should not forget that an exhibition is, first of all, a show, a demonstration of all kinds of achievements of mankind in various areas of its activity, whether it be art, economics, production or something else.

Only at a superficial examination it may seem that it is not difficult to arrange an exhibition. In fact, such an event is an important event that requires serious comprehensive preparation. For example, before organizing an art exhibition, a number of actions should be performed:

choose an interesting topic;
develop a program that can deliver aesthetic pleasure to visitors;
find exhibitors;
create an exposure;
make an attractive presentation, etc.

This is all that relates to the ideological side of exhibition activities. In addition, there are also a lot of organizational issues. Therefore, in order to create an effective exhibition business, it is recommended to initially draw up a detailed business plan.

The World of Business website team recommends that all readers take the Lazy Investor Course, where you will learn how to put your personal finances in order and learn how to earn passive income. No enticements, only high-quality information from a practicing investor (from real estate to cryptocurrency). The first week of training is free! Register for a free week of training

How to write a business plan for an exhibition center

A business plan is the starting point for any entrepreneurial activity. Under the current conditions, it is indispensable. To succeed in business, an entrepreneur needs to act according to a pre-planned scheme, having initially calculated each step. In addition, a well-written business plan will help attract investors, which will be very appropriate when opening an exhibition business due to large initial costs.

Exhibition center and what should it include? These are the main sections of a business plan with brief description what needs to be reflected in them:

introduction - here is a summary general information about the project, indicate its cost, the need for additional sources of funding and economic efficiency- compiled upon completion of work on the business plan and summarizes the findings in other sections;
market overview - in this part, you need to provide information on the main competitors and the economic feasibility and relevance of your own project;
investment plan - describe in detail all possible one-time and ongoing expenses for opening an exhibition center and withdraw the total amount;
production plan- reflect the main business operations and business processes, the implementation of which is necessary for the implementation of the project;
marketing part - should contain the principles of pricing, schemes for promoting the services of the exhibition center, advertising, etc.;
financial plan– provide a calculation of the projected profit, reflect all the financial data of the project and, as a result, an indicator of the expected profitability of the business;
risks and guarantees - in this section, you need to analyze the existing risks and propose a scheme for minimizing them.

This is approximate for the opening of the exhibition center. You can use it when drawing up your own project or entrust the writing of a business plan to professionals.

What you need to open an exhibition center

The exhibition business, like any business activity, for its legal existence must pass state registration. the organizer decides, there are no requirements in the law regarding the form of the enterprise.

Important! Despite the absence of legal restrictions when choosing a legal form, registration is recommended for the exhibition business legal entity, which has more opportunities than IP. The advantage of an LLC in this case is the possibility of the participation of several founders at once and the formation of a larger authorized capital.

In addition to registration with the tax authority, the organizer of the exhibition center will have to go through an equally important and, perhaps, the most difficult stage of all - the preparation of the premises. The area of the complex in which the exhibitions will be held must be at least 2 thousand square meters. m. The room should have high ceilings, spacious halls and pavilions and be very well lit. Is it worth saying that the external and internal decoration of the center must be impeccable? Indeed, the number of visitors and the desire of exhibitors to take part in exhibitions depend on how beautiful, comfortable and fashionable the premises will be arranged.

The premises can be rented or built specifically for this purpose. The second option seems to be more appropriate, since the lease of such large area will be very expensive, and the payback of the project may be delayed for a long time. The construction of the exhibition center is associated with large one-time costs, but in the future it will significantly save on current costs.

In addition to the premises for the center, you will need special equipment for organizing exhibitions: demonstration tables, racks, stands, showcases, podiums, stands, etc.

One of the components of success in the exhibition business is the quality work of the staff. If you intend to open a full-scale exhibition center, it makes sense to assemble a close-knit team of employees (organizers, designers, advertising specialists, etc.) who work for the result.

Exhibition organization

When organizing an exhibition, the first thing to do is to choose a direction and determine the scale of the event.

Depending on the subject of the exhibition, there may be:

artistic;
scientific;
technical;
trade (this also includes exhibitions-sales and exhibitions-fairs), etc.

For the business community, exhibition-sales and exhibition-fairs are of the greatest interest. Participants of such events within the framework of the exhibition demonstrate to consumers their best achievements, advanced developments, technological innovations, etc. What distinguishes them from a regular exhibition is that the visitor can purchase the exhibited products in order to try them out before they go into mass production.

How to organize an exhibition-fair or exhibition-sale? To do this, you need to determine in advance the date of the event (preferably 2-3 months in advance), the subject and criteria for selecting exhibitors.

The next stage is the dissemination of information about the upcoming exhibition among potential participants. For this, the media, advertising on local radio and television, Internet communications, etc. are used. When inviting organizations to take part in an exhibition-sale or fair, one should specify the date by which it is possible to submit an application for participation.

When all the exhibitors of the exhibition-sale are determined, you need to perform the following actions:

develop an exposition project;
compose interesting program holding an exhibition-sale (introduce an element of a holiday, include master classes);
to interest the client audience (to conduct an advertising campaign);
organize the work of service personnel;
make a spending plan.

Costs of organizing an exhibition and ways to make a profit

How much it costs to organize an exhibition depends on what material and labor resources necessary for its implementation. All costs can be conditionally divided into 4 groups:

for the operation of the exhibition-sale (rent of premises, if it is not owned, utility bills, organization of fire safety, etc.);
for creative training (script development, artistic design, etc.);
for the technical equipment and implementation of the exhibition (preparation of equipment, purchase of necessary materials, transportation of exhibits, wage staff, );
for advertising.

The minimum value of the cost of an exhibition event is approximately 300 thousand rubles. It is difficult to determine the maximum, since everything depends on the number of exhibitors, on the need to create additional conditions for the exhibited exhibits.

The income of the organizer, which can be gained from one exhibition-sale (exhibition-fair), exceeds the cost by several times. The price for the participation of an organization in such an event varies from 120 to 500 thousand rubles. depending on the scale of the exhibition itself and the number and area of exhibition stands.

Important! An exhibition center can generate considerable income if additional services are provided on its basis, for example, the design of exclusive materials for demonstration stands or training seminars. In addition, on days free from exhibitions, part of the center's premises can be rented out for conferences, negotiations, etc.

Organization of a traveling exhibition

On the basis of the existing exhibition center, it is possible to implement many interesting ideas. One of them is the organization of a traveling exhibition. What is so attractive about this idea? The fact that the organizer does not need to create a project, arrange exhibits, but simply rent a ready-made package of a traveling exhibition and place it on the territory of the center. You can exhibit antiques, decorative butterflies, photographic materials, elements of modern design.

How to organize a traveling exhibition? Everything is quite simple. You need to find an interesting offer. Many museums now rent out finished exhibits. Details of the organization of the exhibition are agreed directly with representatives of museums and foundations. Pre-training includes:

selection of the exhibition placement period (duration is on average 7-10 days);
conducting advertising campaign(it is desirable to start actively advertising the exposition 1-1.5 months in advance);
conclusion of an agreement on holding an exhibition;
insurance of exhibits (if necessary);
transportation of exhibition materials and their placement in the exhibition center.

The profitable part of such a project is formed by selling entrance tickets and providing additional services(sale of memorable souvenirs and postcards, photography, etc.).