You may have some difficulty getting your merchants to commit to your event any more than 3-4 months before the con. Many dealers only send their money in 2-3 months before the event. Some may even wait until the weekend before to inquire about space. While this may be a boon to a dealer who has to back out at the last minute, it can cause real problems for trying to assign space and keep the merchandise balanced.
CC16 writes:
A word on selling dealers tables: In retrospect, we believe it was a mistake to allow dealers to buy up to 3 tables for their space -- we should have limited them to two. We could have handled some of the last minute inquiries if we'd not had this policy. We had a total of 23 spaces plotted out for our dealers; 2-3 merchants took advantage of the 3 table limit.
Selection
A suggestion may be made by one or more of your committee members to not repeat the kinds of dealers, so that all the merchants can experience some business. This notion should be resisted to some extent. Competition is a good thing, and there's usually still enough to differentiate one dealers from another. Also, if one dealer sells out of an item, another may still have it in stock. The Dealers Rep can at least inform their prospective clients of who else has bought table space so far. That way, the prospect can judge for themselves whether to risk competing or bring different merchandise. In general, the Dealers Rep should try to get as wide a variety of sellers as possible, and not concentrate only on those who cater to people who sew.
CC16 writes:
Surprisingly, one of our more successful dealers was a general SF items merchant, who carried inexpensive costume jewelry and stuffed animal puppets. We wouldn't recommend more than one or two of this type, however. Note: The following year, Costume-Con17 had a corset dealer. Someone who sells historically accurate underwear would be a real boon to a novice costumer, or for someone who doesn't want to take the time to make his own.
Just by way of general observation, one secret to making dealers happy (beyond good sales) may be making sure that the conference is fun for them, too. After all, they spend most of their time tied to one location. We understand that most of our merchants didn't do too spectacularly well, sales-wise, but they had so much fun that they still felt it was worth the trip.
Membership Rates
What a Membership Includes
Room Layout/Considerations
Promotion
Merchants should be kept as up to date as possible before the conference. They'll be happier if contacted periodically to reconfirm dates, costs, and any restrictions by the hotel, etc.
If you have young people who have come with costuming parents, and who are looking for something to do at the conference, consider them for assignment as a Dealer's Room gopher. They can fetch food, sodas, coffee and sit at tables for bathroom breaks, etc. This can free up the Dealer's room rep for other important duties, and can help if the staff is shorthanded.
