ARC Annual Swap Meet
- Thread starter cameron
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Decisions to be made early on:
<ul>
<li>Rules of the swap meet as in do we want to allow people to free wheel their goods or should we stick with the vendor system? I think if we go with the vendor system, admittance should be free and vendors pay for table space say $25 for a full table and $15 for a half. If we are going to allow people to openly sell, we should have a door fee of say $3 per individual $5 for the family as well as a more modest table fee say $20 for a table and $10 for a half.</li>
<li>ARC sponsership... when is the next board meeting? If ARC is going to be sponsering this gig, they should appoint a comittee to run this thing. If not, we need to get a comittee going ourselves</li>
<li>We need to estimate how many people minimum we think we are going to get as well as how many vendors</li>
<li>What kind of marketing are we going to do, what is our budget?</li>
<li>Establish rules of the venue for vendors, staff and attendees</li>
</ul>Once the above is settled:
<ul>
<li>We need a date. I am guessing two months is the minimum and probably three a good max. So sometime in July or August would likely be best.</li>
<li>Lock down a venue preferably one with tables ready. Hotels, churches and meeting halls are all prime locations</li>
<li>We probably need to talk Mojo into building or installing us a system for tracking all this. I know the group I posted above uses a PHP app written by http://www.bosdev.com">www.bosdev.com</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Rules of the swap meet as in do we want to allow people to free wheel their goods or should we stick with the vendor system? I think if we go with the vendor system, admittance should be free and vendors pay for table space say $25 for a full table and $15 for a half. If we are going to allow people to openly sell, we should have a door fee of say $3 per individual $5 for the family as well as a more modest table fee say $20 for a table and $10 for a half.</li>
<li>ARC sponsership... when is the next board meeting? If ARC is going to be sponsering this gig, they should appoint a comittee to run this thing. If not, we need to get a comittee going ourselves</li>
<li>We need to estimate how many people minimum we think we are going to get as well as how many vendors</li>
<li>What kind of marketing are we going to do, what is our budget?</li>
<li>Establish rules of the venue for vendors, staff and attendees</li>
</ul>Once the above is settled:
<ul>
<li>We need a date. I am guessing two months is the minimum and probably three a good max. So sometime in July or August would likely be best.</li>
<li>Lock down a venue preferably one with tables ready. Hotels, churches and meeting halls are all prime locations</li>
<li>We probably need to talk Mojo into building or installing us a system for tracking all this. I know the group I posted above uses a PHP app written by http://www.bosdev.com">www.bosdev.com</a></li>
</ul>
You have to keep <u>any cost</u> down to a bare minimum. Need to cover the rental or lease cost. Not looking to add to the ARC kiddie pool.
Can't make this too complicated. Cameron, when you first brought this up I envisioned a "community yard sale". People selling frags, equipment etc. Maybe a few stores selling some "garage sales" items. Nothin complicated.
Post some fliers at LFS around GA, SC, TN, AL, FL. Post on the boards. Invite regional clubs etc. I don't think you have to spend a whole lot of $. Unless you are thinking World Congress Center type venue!!!!
I vote with Sam. Maybe early fallish. September. Vacation is over, kids are back in school. People are thinking about their tanks again.
Can't make this too complicated. Cameron, when you first brought this up I envisioned a "community yard sale". People selling frags, equipment etc. Maybe a few stores selling some "garage sales" items. Nothin complicated.
Post some fliers at LFS around GA, SC, TN, AL, FL. Post on the boards. Invite regional clubs etc. I don't think you have to spend a whole lot of $. Unless you are thinking World Congress Center type venue!!!!
I vote with Sam. Maybe early fallish. September. Vacation is over, kids are back in school. People are thinking about their tanks again.
I'll help out where I can. I plan on being a "vendor" so I will be busy when just before, during and after the event so I can't help out there as much. I can help organize though. I think we need to figure out where ARC sits in all this and if they are in, have them appoint a comittee and if not we appoint one.
Agreed but we should still advertise. The first event needs to be considered successful to make subsequent events possible. I think we should cover costs as a bare minimum. What makes these events work is butts through the door and vendor turn out. I used to help plan and setup a flea market back home and while this is different the goals and styles are very similar. Long term success is getting vendors to come back and that happens when people show up.
We can go that route. I envisioned a bit more with vendors showing up selling corals and goods as well as us little guys in the mix. I was thinking more flea market less garage sale.
The ad stuff sounds like what I was thinking. Venue I was thinking a meeting hall/rec center. They usually have good parking and are equipped for this kind of thing. Basically check out where the local gun and knife shows are held and see what the rate is unless somebody has a good hookup.
Sept works. I would like something sooner, but avoiding a rush is going to be important so we can stay well organized throughout the process.
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Other things that generate revenue: raffle tickets and concessions (especially bottled water). Might even be able to get vendor supplied prizes.
Depending on the size, you may even get a large non-local vendor to show and show off their latest gadgets.
Given I don't have anything to sell, I'm up for helping during the event.
Depending on the size, you may even get a large non-local vendor to show and show off their latest gadgets.
Given I don't have anything to sell, I'm up for helping during the event.
I don't think it will push the price of tables. If we get 20 people and average out a table at $25 that is $500 which is in the ballpark of what a small venue would run us. Plus we already have several ARC sponsers interested in showing up so it looks like selling 20 tables won't be too hard as we have interest from at least 5 parties already. If we go indoors, we don't have to worry about weather either which can be a huge PIA for these types of events.
I guess what I am saying is why should we throw something together when it could be a well organized affair that in the end won't require as much effort as flying by the seat of our pants. I don't think anyone is talking about a MACNA-esk sponser type affair. I think on the elaborate side of this event we are talking about a room with tables that anyone can rent for a reasonable amount of money ($30 or less for a full table with the option to buy a half table)... much like a flea market.
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Someone should look into the locations that the Atlanta Area Aquarium Association uses for their swap meets and auctions.
I second that. Also, outside the weather is too unpredictable. Why don't we do it at Steve Shindell's office building? Great venue, perfect size, great location, I don't think it would be expensive, and most folks know where it is already. He has already said OK, we just need to make arrangements with facilities. Any strong objections?
Will this be open for all, or just ARC members. The only thing that worries me about a table fee is, several years ago I went to the chat. frag swap with the intent on selling frags, the only problem was everyone else there was selling also, not many buyers. I would hate to take a loss, (not very local) and the interest for my frags the last I came up to sale was down.
Jerry
Jerry
