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You cannot even imagine how right you are here!
So, all the best with LUCK and TIMING to you my friend...
All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
-
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Custom Knife Show, How-To
- Thread starter Lorien
- Start date
You cannot even imagine how right you are here!
So, all the best with LUCK and TIMING to you my friend...
All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
- Joined
- Apr 19, 1999
- Messages
- 3,560
When you put on a show you first have to consider the exhibitors.
Where will they stay? What will it cost?
How much will it cost to get them to the show?
Will there be a buying public with enough money to make the show commercially viable to the makers?
Kinda sounds like I am greedy but expenses are a major consideration for any knifemaker especially when you add on ferry costs and reservations on top of maybe 1000 miles of gas for the car.
If we look at flying in to the show the question then becomes, how far is the venue from the airport and do we have to rent a vehicle?
The venue should be indoors and well lit to show off the shiny blades.
Is there food available at the venue?
How far is the venue from hotels, or motels?
Once you have makers ready to make the trip you must decide if the show will be a one day or two day event.
Depending on the number of exhibitors you can consider holding the initial show in the basement of the local legion, the curling rink, community hall or union hall. The choice of venue will do two things, if it is the legion hall you will immediately have all of the legion members notified but if it is the community hall you will still have to spend money advertising because the people using the hall and likely to be in the know about the show are the wrong customer demographic.
What customer demographic will you need to inform of the event? The typical knife customer at the shows are male in the 40 to 65 year group.
You will have to have the local news on your side to get favourable press leading up to the show and during the event.
Now we come to the potential customers, is there a large enough local population to support the show or will they have to travel to the event?
If the customers have to travel where will they stay or where will they eat?
Our experience in Toronto is that the bulk of the customers come from an average of 60 to 90 miles away.
I would suggest finding a dozen or so local knifemakers to put on a mini show and see what level of interest develops. With this information you can decide whether to go larger or not.
When you try to decide on the date it would be prudent to avoid long weekends, mother's day, father's day and other family times. Try to set the date in a time of year when the weather is condusive to good driving.
Good luck .
George
Where will they stay? What will it cost?
How much will it cost to get them to the show?
Will there be a buying public with enough money to make the show commercially viable to the makers?
Kinda sounds like I am greedy but expenses are a major consideration for any knifemaker especially when you add on ferry costs and reservations on top of maybe 1000 miles of gas for the car.
If we look at flying in to the show the question then becomes, how far is the venue from the airport and do we have to rent a vehicle?
The venue should be indoors and well lit to show off the shiny blades.
Is there food available at the venue?
How far is the venue from hotels, or motels?
Once you have makers ready to make the trip you must decide if the show will be a one day or two day event.
Depending on the number of exhibitors you can consider holding the initial show in the basement of the local legion, the curling rink, community hall or union hall. The choice of venue will do two things, if it is the legion hall you will immediately have all of the legion members notified but if it is the community hall you will still have to spend money advertising because the people using the hall and likely to be in the know about the show are the wrong customer demographic.
What customer demographic will you need to inform of the event? The typical knife customer at the shows are male in the 40 to 65 year group.
You will have to have the local news on your side to get favourable press leading up to the show and during the event.
Now we come to the potential customers, is there a large enough local population to support the show or will they have to travel to the event?
If the customers have to travel where will they stay or where will they eat?
Our experience in Toronto is that the bulk of the customers come from an average of 60 to 90 miles away.
I would suggest finding a dozen or so local knifemakers to put on a mini show and see what level of interest develops. With this information you can decide whether to go larger or not.
When you try to decide on the date it would be prudent to avoid long weekends, mother's day, father's day and other family times. Try to set the date in a time of year when the weather is condusive to good driving.
Good luck .
George
- Joined
- Jan 19, 1999
- Messages
- 248
The first question anyone should ask before considering putting on a knife show is a single word.
WHY?
If there is a big, open, gap in the marketplace that is being ignored, it might work.
If it is for ego so you can say that you've run a show--you have failed before you ever started.
Second question: What is your experience in attending shows? Have you driven all day to arrive to a show and they can't find your packet and your room is overbooked and the bar is closed and there's not a restaurant nearby--and late that night in your frustration you declare to yourself, "If I ever put on a show I will do everything within my power to make sure a cluster-.... like this doesn't happen at my show." If you have a dozen incidents such as that under your belt you will at least know what you know you do NOT want to happen.
Third Question: What in your background or experience qualifies you to take someone else's money with the promise that you will put on a show that will make it worth their while to give up a weekend and come to your show? A background in publicity? Advertising? Promotion? Event management? Hotel arrangements? Rental equipment? Note I do not consider being a good knifemaker a qualification.
If being a good knifemaker qualifies you for positions in which you have no background or experience, I'd recommend going into brain surgery rather than show promotion--it will pay better.
The Blade Show succeeded because all the other shows wanted to exclude other groups--so a combined show was a vacant niche at the time it was founded. The Art Knife Invitational tapped into the small group of high end makers and collectors who wanted a two day cocktail party that also gave them the opportunity to put the finest knives for sale (on a limited basis) in a single room.
Neither show was started with the intention of making money but instead to promote and make the knife business grow. The audience to both shows could tell the motive, and rewarded both with their attendance.
If you can correctly answer the "WHY" without letting ego get involved I say go for it.
WHY?
If there is a big, open, gap in the marketplace that is being ignored, it might work.
If it is for ego so you can say that you've run a show--you have failed before you ever started.
Second question: What is your experience in attending shows? Have you driven all day to arrive to a show and they can't find your packet and your room is overbooked and the bar is closed and there's not a restaurant nearby--and late that night in your frustration you declare to yourself, "If I ever put on a show I will do everything within my power to make sure a cluster-.... like this doesn't happen at my show." If you have a dozen incidents such as that under your belt you will at least know what you know you do NOT want to happen.
Third Question: What in your background or experience qualifies you to take someone else's money with the promise that you will put on a show that will make it worth their while to give up a weekend and come to your show? A background in publicity? Advertising? Promotion? Event management? Hotel arrangements? Rental equipment? Note I do not consider being a good knifemaker a qualification.
If being a good knifemaker qualifies you for positions in which you have no background or experience, I'd recommend going into brain surgery rather than show promotion--it will pay better.
The Blade Show succeeded because all the other shows wanted to exclude other groups--so a combined show was a vacant niche at the time it was founded. The Art Knife Invitational tapped into the small group of high end makers and collectors who wanted a two day cocktail party that also gave them the opportunity to put the finest knives for sale (on a limited basis) in a single room.
Neither show was started with the intention of making money but instead to promote and make the knife business grow. The audience to both shows could tell the motive, and rewarded both with their attendance.
If you can correctly answer the "WHY" without letting ego get involved I say go for it.
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2005
- Messages
- 27,939
George and Bruce- those were fantastic posts
The question of 'why' is the best question.
I don't have a one answer for that, but here are some points that might lead to that answer, for my potential scenario at least;
-I think it could bring a good amount of commerce to Sooke, which by all accounts is actually pretty 'uppity', (read; a large, monied, demographic that fits the custom knife consumer pretty closely from what I can tell). One of the most dense populations of university educated people in Canada, per capita. Plus, there is a HUGE art community here, and perhaps a custom knife show could ride the coat tails of the big art show we have here every year
-I'm selfish and want to have a regular show in my town
-It would be cool and a great way to promote my town from a tourism perspective, (could get financial support from the town, business association etc for promotion). This would help my bicycle business, too by the way
-Sooke is a great venue for other events, (mostly mainstream events though) partly because the climate is so temperate and also because there is enough to do here, activity-wise, regardless of anything else going on
-I think there is a region of amazing knife makers who could make the show go off, (Pacific Northwest)
-Personally, I would like to see the Canadian cutlery industry grow, especially the custom side
-There are a lot of great Canadian knife makers who might make good use of the show and the town, (family vacation type thing, paid for with knife sales!)
-I love handmade custom knives, and really knives in general are just awesome, so the more surrounded I am by them, the happier I am, (unless they're being brandished by an angry mob
)
-The social aspect of the community is something that mobilizes my interest
I was talking with Ray Richard yesterday, and he pointed out the fact that the border might pose some problems for American makers. Great point!
The thought of teeing something up with an established organization, like the Canadian Knifemaker's Guild or whatnot crossed my mind as well, but I don't know. I kind of think it would be better to have an independent show. However, partnering up with someone who knows what they're doing would be something I'd want to explore.
Personally, the glory of having my name attached is not remotely as significant as actually having a show. If someone else made it happen, I'd be happier as an attendee and volunteer. But since nobody else around here has an interest in making it happen, I might end up being the guy. IF something ever comes of the idea...
As for size, I would think that a small show would be good. But going about gauging interest is probably a good start, once all of George's points have been ruminated on and addressed in some fashion.
Great timing with all these threads about shows. I've really learned a lot from them, but I've also been learning how little I know. Which is why it would be great to partner up with someone who knows what they are doing.
The question of 'why' is the best question.
I don't have a one answer for that, but here are some points that might lead to that answer, for my potential scenario at least;
-I think it could bring a good amount of commerce to Sooke, which by all accounts is actually pretty 'uppity', (read; a large, monied, demographic that fits the custom knife consumer pretty closely from what I can tell). One of the most dense populations of university educated people in Canada, per capita. Plus, there is a HUGE art community here, and perhaps a custom knife show could ride the coat tails of the big art show we have here every year
-I'm selfish and want to have a regular show in my town
-It would be cool and a great way to promote my town from a tourism perspective, (could get financial support from the town, business association etc for promotion). This would help my bicycle business, too by the way
-Sooke is a great venue for other events, (mostly mainstream events though) partly because the climate is so temperate and also because there is enough to do here, activity-wise, regardless of anything else going on
-I think there is a region of amazing knife makers who could make the show go off, (Pacific Northwest)
-Personally, I would like to see the Canadian cutlery industry grow, especially the custom side
-There are a lot of great Canadian knife makers who might make good use of the show and the town, (family vacation type thing, paid for with knife sales!)
-I love handmade custom knives, and really knives in general are just awesome, so the more surrounded I am by them, the happier I am, (unless they're being brandished by an angry mob
)-The social aspect of the community is something that mobilizes my interest
I was talking with Ray Richard yesterday, and he pointed out the fact that the border might pose some problems for American makers. Great point!
The thought of teeing something up with an established organization, like the Canadian Knifemaker's Guild or whatnot crossed my mind as well, but I don't know. I kind of think it would be better to have an independent show. However, partnering up with someone who knows what they're doing would be something I'd want to explore.
Personally, the glory of having my name attached is not remotely as significant as actually having a show. If someone else made it happen, I'd be happier as an attendee and volunteer. But since nobody else around here has an interest in making it happen, I might end up being the guy. IF something ever comes of the idea...
As for size, I would think that a small show would be good. But going about gauging interest is probably a good start, once all of George's points have been ruminated on and addressed in some fashion.
Great timing with all these threads about shows. I've really learned a lot from them, but I've also been learning how little I know. Which is why it would be great to partner up with someone who knows what they are doing.
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2007
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- 2,257
I had to google it to find out where Sooke, B.C. is. Wow, you aren't even in main land B.C., you are out on Vancouver Island. You had better count on this show being mostly Canadians. Inconveniently located for most everyone. Like Les said, it isn't any fun taking knives in and out of Canada. I've rode the ferry over from Wash enough times to know the drill, "Sir, do you have any weapons in this car?" Define weapons? I prefer to not go through that argument with Sergeant Preston or his dog King
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- 27,939
I had to google it to find out where Sooke, B.C. is. Wow, you aren't even in main land B.C., you are out on Vancouver Island. You had better count on this show being mostly Canadians. Inconveniently located for most everyone. Like Les said, it isn't any fun taking knives in and out of Canada. I've rode the ferry over from Wash enough times to know the drill, "Sir, do you have any weapons in this car?" Define weapons? I prefer to not go through that argument with Sergeant Preston or his dog King
You definitely have some good points there. How to take these apparent disadvantages and turn them into advantages?...
Lorien speaking as a maker, I don't care what the vacation potential is for an area. I go to shows to work and I would rather not have the distraction. It is nice to have a few good places to eat at night that are easy to get to. But if a vacation spot is what draws the customers in, then more power to you. I would not try to second guess that one. I am sure others that have experience in this area can address the advantages or disadvantages of that and it would be good information to hear.
As far as the border crossings I did cross into Canada one time with a "Guns and Ammo" magazine in the car. Just having that magazine was a BIG mistake. There was a maker at the Guild show from Canada that made it to the show, but his knives which he had shipped to himself at the hotel were hung up somewhere and he never got them. Hopefully he had them when he returned home. Crossing the border with a bunch of knives that I would really like to either keep or sell is not something I would be interested in trying.
As far as the border crossings I did cross into Canada one time with a "Guns and Ammo" magazine in the car. Just having that magazine was a BIG mistake. There was a maker at the Guild show from Canada that made it to the show, but his knives which he had shipped to himself at the hotel were hung up somewhere and he never got them. Hopefully he had them when he returned home. Crossing the border with a bunch of knives that I would really like to either keep or sell is not something I would be interested in trying.
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on the first point, that's kind of what I was thinking, in that there are many seasonal residents in the district who tend to have lots of money and vacation homes they stay in during certain months in the year.
It's an important point that knife makers see a show as a potential for making profit, networking and building their brand. Profit is probably #1 from what I can tell of what most makers seem to say about shows, so I think that it would be important to take a census of makers who can make the trip in an affordable manner and get a sense for expectations of expense.
On that point, figuring out how many makers are immediately local, at the largest scope nationally, who would be interested in taking part might be a first step. Keep the talent local at first.
If a show evidences strong attendance and brisk sales, then maybe the trouble and expense of crossing a border could be rationalized.
However, I would expect that having a trustworthy shipping address for sending knives ahead of time could prove advantageous. Do most shows facilitate the shipping and receiving of knives? Is there someone at the other end for a knife maker to trust who is provided by the show's promoter?
What's the deal with the Solvang show? It seems kind of like what I've been thinking about, although I must admit I haven't really researched it. I heard about it from Knives Illustrated I think
(that wink is for Les). I'd sure like to hear from anyone who's attended that show.
Ivan Campos
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Apr 4, 1999
- Messages
- 2,502
Having started a show in Brazil out of nothing in a time when there were only a handful of makers and a handful of almost equal small size of collectors, back in 2000, and being still running it enables me to give you some pointers so you can e-mail me at ivan@ivancampos.net, if you wish, Lorien.
And, by the way, the tenth edition of the São Paulo Knife Show will be held in March, 26, 27 and 28, 2010 - a great time in the year to visit Brazil!!!
And, by the way, the tenth edition of the São Paulo Knife Show will be held in March, 26, 27 and 28, 2010 - a great time in the year to visit Brazil!!!
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2005
- Messages
- 27,939
I got some good tips from Ivan. Here they are;
-secure a venue
-develop a 'brand' for the show, including website etc.
-focus on local makers, and maybe cap it around 30 or 40
Now, the thing is to make a list of makers who are proximal to this location, and then put the feelers out to see how many would be interested in attending the show.
Then, figure out a timeframe. Hopefully tee things up so that the knife show overlaps with another event, say the art show that happens here every year. It's a fairly prestigious art show and I'm sure there would be many husbands who'd be stoked to leave their wives at the art show while they head to the knife show. Or vice versa, as the case may be.
I think I'd also like to get a material supplier or two there, as an additional draw for the knife makers.
Ivan's point that a show here would have more in common with his show in Brazil than with a larger show in the US is a good one.
-secure a venue
-develop a 'brand' for the show, including website etc.
-focus on local makers, and maybe cap it around 30 or 40
Now, the thing is to make a list of makers who are proximal to this location, and then put the feelers out to see how many would be interested in attending the show.
Then, figure out a timeframe. Hopefully tee things up so that the knife show overlaps with another event, say the art show that happens here every year. It's a fairly prestigious art show and I'm sure there would be many husbands who'd be stoked to leave their wives at the art show while they head to the knife show. Or vice versa, as the case may be.
I think I'd also like to get a material supplier or two there, as an additional draw for the knife makers.
Ivan's point that a show here would have more in common with his show in Brazil than with a larger show in the US is a good one.