How To Leave a Craft Show Early (without burning bridges)
There are situations, out of our control, that get in the way of us sticking to our commitments. Although leaving a craft show early or cancelling last minute is frowned upon, if you find a way to do it properly, you can leave your good reputation intact.
Below are some ideas to make the most of the situation and respectfully leave early.
Why you shouldn’t leave a craft show early
- It reflects badly on the organizer – Organizers have put a lot of work into the event and putting accurate information out there such as start and end times. It reflects badly on them if shoppers show up before the event is over and there are empty tables or vendors already packing up. It makes it look like the event wasn’t well-organized and/or that the vendors don’t respect the shoppers.
- You’ll burn bridges with organizers – If you hope to be accepted to any of their future events, it’s important to show up on time and stay until the end. You may even burn your bridges with other event organizers. The crafting community is tight-knit and if you leave a bad impression with one organizer, they may be inclined to let fellow organizers know.
- You’ll disrupt sales for other vendors – It’s not fair to the vendors who do stick it out until the end to cause a commotion by leaving early. Your packing up can be a distraction to remaining shoppers and make them feel rushed to the point that they don’t take their time with the other vendors.
- It creates an unwelcoming atmosphere – If you’ve ever been in a store before closing and the staff is busy with their closing tasks, you know how unwelcomed you feel. It doesn’t make you want to take your time to browse and may even prevent you from buying. This is the same feeling craft show shoppers get when they’re browsing the aisle during shopping hours and a vendor is packing up their display.
What to do if you must leave a craft show early
If you need to leave a craft show early, following these tips may help you stay in the organizer’s good books:
1) Explain to the organizer
Let them know you are extremely sorry and this isn’t the norm for you. If you want to be invited back to another one of their shows, you need them to understand that this isn’t typical for you.
2) Explain to your neighbours
It may be a good idea to let your craft show neighbours know that you need to leave, you know it’s not ideal and you wouldn’t normally do so but it’s an emergency. This way they may be able to explain to shoppers why there’s an empty table and to other vendors that you’re not being irresponsible.
3) Pack up quietly
If you need to leave while the event is still open, be sure you do it as discretely as possible. It’s not a good look for the organizers to have vendors packing up early and you don’t want to cause a commotion.
4) Offer to help shuffle
An empty table may stand out like a sore thumb so it may be helpful to the organizer if you helped them take down your table and (if possible) shuffle your neighbours closer together. This may not be an option if it’s busy in which case, leave your space as tidy as possible.
Other options
Although it’s less likely, there may be an option for you to keep your stock at the event for the day:
- Call in help – See if there’s a friend or family member who can come in and be a salesperson in your booth for the rest of the show or at least for the rest of the day. That way you’re not creating a scene in the middle of the event and distracting shoppers.
- Ask your craft show neighbour for help – Depending on how busy the event is and how well you know your booth neighbour, it may be an option to ask them if they would consider helping you out by completing sales for you. You could offer them a generous commission on those sales. You would need to make it back to the event to pack up your display or ask a family member to do it for you after the event ends.
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Hey, I’m Erin 🙂 I write about small business and craft show techniques I’ve learned from being a small business owner for almost 2 decades, selling at dozens of craft shows, and earning a diploma in Visual Communication Design. I hope you find my advice helpful!
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