Contact
Room Primer
for Artists
ABCs of Attracting Presenters:
A booth doesn’t have to be expensive or sophisticated to be
effective. It should be friendly, clearly yours, and memorable.
A welcoming, relaxed atmosphere
in your booth is the best attraction you can have. It’s a
great skill, and an important one for performers: to be able to
engage presenters quickly and deftly, without pressure, and to sort
out the serious inquirers from the mere flattery of those who loved
your show but could never book you in their community.
Presenter Roping:
Don’t be discouraged if one presenter walks away—the
next presenter along may have been looking for you all evening!
Keep track of presenters who have shown interest in
you. Start a mailing or e-mail list, get a business card—find
out who they are.
Reflecting Your Work:
Whether you’re an
old Showcase hand or new to Alberta, presenters will be looking
for a clear idea of what your group does, a taste of what you will
be like to deal with, and some easy-to-digest information they can
take away with them to convince their selection committees.
Unless your Showcase is first up, the presenters’
first impression will come from what they see in your booth. The
booth is a reflection of you and what you do. You can be a better
promoter of your artistic product than any printed materials.
Booth rules:
Contact Room set-up and strike times are crucial. We have a limited
time to get a complicated room ready. Set-up runs from 8 am to noon
on Friday. The strike goes faster, but make sure you’re there
and ready to pack at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday so we can all get out of
there by 3:30 p.m.
Booths must
be manned whenever the Contact Room is open. It’s in your
best interest to have someone knowledgeable on duty to answer any
casual question that might occur to a presenter, not just immediately
following your own Showcase or Take 5, but two days later when your
sign happens to catch their eye, and they remember to ask if you
are available over Christmas at twice the usual rate.
More questions? Call us
at 780-420-0604, or e-mail
info@artstouring.com
