Trade Show Trades

For trade shows in the past, I have either been paid my hourly rate to be there, or (more often) we do a swap - they give me free space/table/advertising, and I am at their event at no cost to them, although I do charge the public PPF rates.

I got a call today for an event THIS Saturday (yes, they'd left face painting/balloons to the last minute to see how much money was left...makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, eh?) for a trade show. I quoted them $450 for face painting or balloons for 4 hours + travel/parking (this is to our downtown core). They said I was referred to them by someone who's birthday I did last year, and they wanted to use me but...they had quotes from other companies who were cheaper. "Great," I say, " may I ask who?" They got a quote from a girl who works for a company but freelances, who quoted them $200 for 5 hours, and she'd do both fp and balloons. "Excellent," I say, "and you're definitely welcome to book her if that's what you want" (they never quite know what to do if you tell them it's okay to book someone else ) then proceeded to tell her the going rates for pro fp's and twisters here, and why we charge what we do.

She asks if I'd consider a trade - space for service. Yes, I would have exclusivity, but when I ask, "so I'd be able to charge customers my PPF rates, right?" She says no - there are going to be mini facials and manicures etc there, and she doesn't want it to feel like a trade show. She would like to provide the space and have me work for free for 5 hours - but I could advertise!

It's this Sat, so I would not be able to get $450 worth of advertising etc going. When I told her I could not do that, she countered with the fact that the vendor fee is $500, and she got told that it costs me money to even leave my house. (This ends with her stating, again, that because I had such a great referral they really want to use me. She didn't know her budget and I told her I definitely couldn't do $200, but I took the space etc into consideration and told her I would do 4 hours for $300. She said she'd have to talk to the board, and I don't expect to hear back from her. Boards don't seem to care about quality; they're all about numbers)

My question, now, is, would their offer be something you would even consider? Trading space/waiving vendor fees, but having to work for free and not collecting money at all? I know many of you pay vendor fees at events, but would a waived fee be worth working for zilch? You know people who would never consider hiring you would be getting in line for a painting because it's free.

(Now I'm also not sure why she thought this freebie vendor trade would be more attractive than getting paid $40/hour...haha)

NO! My supplies, gas, time, advertising, etc, etc, etc cost money & I'm not going to give it to a trade show that's "not a trade show" for free. How will you feel when you're painting away for nothing or how will you feel when you are having a leisurely weekend that you rarely get(both are paying you nothing)?
This isn't even a not-for-profit or worthy cause....

no way!

Absolutely positively NO!

Well...I guess It would depend if i was busy on saturday or not...and definitly would have asked for at least $300...You ARE one of the best in the area that does both FP & BT so maybe you should have them see and compair both portfolios? If I did it for $200, I'd probably limit my stuff like either you get a balloon (1balloon designs) or fp (anything simple). But thats at your discretion cause maybe its really slow so you may get something out of it...How much does it cost to attend this show? Maybe these downtown clients COULD bring in something for ya in the future!

Also, I did a baby expo in Boston recently where they contacted me last minute since they had not been able to attract much children's entertainment with $500/day booth fees. The coordinator was very up front about not being able to get any entertainers at that price.

They gave me the booth for free for both days and asked only that I charge a "nominal" fee for services. We charged $5 and $10 and it worked out well.

The reason they contacted you is because they need you, not really the other way around and waiving the booth fee is not some special accomodation they are making for you no matter what they say, it's an effort to get needed entertainment.

I say do not lower your working standards that much even if it may hurt a little to lose the opportunity, it really sets a bad precedent.

Good Luck!

I would not do it for free without being able to collect any money. That's just silly. If I'm going to paint for free, I'll just invite some people over and do it my way!

There is no way I would turn down paying clients for someone who's trying to haggle with me, but if I had an absolutely empty weekend where I really needed to make some money, $300 is better than nothing.

In my experience, I get more future clients at ppf events than I do when it is free to the public. When they pay for it, it causes them to value it and therefore be willing to pay for another great experience. If they've gotten it free already, they expect it to be free ll the time.

I don't do things for free just for advertisement anymore unless I believe in the cause or happen to have nothing else to do and just want to do it for practice or better photos or just because it would be an event I would enjoy.

I've done a 1/2 hour stage show for advertising in their bags of stuff at the door, email newsletter and weblink from their site.... but that only cost me 1/2 and hour and getting into costume. Maybe, if they did call you back, you could tell them what you COULD do for $200 if that is their budget?

I'd do it for $300, but not for free. Thats crazy.

Oh, a trade to work for free was never going to happen; I just wanted to see what you all thought (though I knew already ). It's one thing to be a bigger company offering freebies, but another if you're a one woman show.

$300 was my last and final offer for 4 hours - honestly, I kind of hope they don't call back. $200 would be ridiculous. Along with being half of my regular rate for 4 hours, it's also downtown Vancouver, and I KNOW a day of parking there is about $16.

(Perry, for $200 I would go there for an hour and a half And that wouldn't work because I have a 2 hr min! Haha. People always ask if it's less if they only have one or the other - no, because it's still my time and I'm equally competent at both, so why should I compromise?)

Where for some events I do offer quicker options (IE I have a festival at the end of the month where there's a $5 cap - no busking fee. If I go over that I'd have to pay a $125 vendor fee - so I'm going to only offer my $5 faces - no full face tigers that day!), I don't see how doing only simple fp, and I refuse to do 1 balloon pieces (unless they insist on a sword - at which point I tell them my ray gun is way cooler) - so many people here do 1 balloon things that it's not memorable. If you do the same thing as everyone else, they won't remember you as well as if you're doing different things with oomph.

I have no idea how much they're charging for an entrance fee. It's called Creme de la Creme - you'd think they'd be all about quality then, right?! But, quality for free...

When it comes to comparing portfolios, I feel like that works best for private events and larger ones where the person who contacts you has a lot of pull. I feel that most boards/companies/etc don't particularly care who is working, but how much they charge. They're not doing the research, they just look at the facts. I offer either fp OR bt for $450 and the other person offers BOTH for $200 (holy severely underbid, batman!) - if you hadn't seen either person's work (or even if you had), who would you think to go with?

I've done trade show trades before and charged and it's always been fine...and no worries, I'm definitely not dropping to $200, nor will I call them to "beg" for the gig. If they want me, they know how to get a hold of me. If not, I can help my mom with a garage sale

Last night I happened to see 2 butterfly faces walk by. Turns out they are being done by the other entertainers at the restaurant chain I work with... They underbid me & I had to drop my price & make up the difference w/ tips to keep the gig. I was a little upset, but the original price they were paying me was my full price & now I'm at a normal restaurant price
With tips I'm making around $10-$15 less.
This to say... they were very yucky looking butterflies....

At the trade show, I'd also have to wonder the kid traffic, or willing adults who would get painted for PPF/ or want PPB. The point of having a painter at the booth is to attract attention to the booth... to their product. Yeah, you'll get something out of it too, but probably not as much as they would. If you don't demand your worth, you won't get it... Way to go Krystal.

It's a kid-targeted show - Dora and Diego will apparently be there, lol.

Willing adults are another thing altogether...90% of them suffer from That's-Only-For-Kids syndrome, and most who seem to shake that off do so 3 minutes before you're finished.

Aaaaand I didn't hear back from them. Am I surprised? Nope! And I'm not all that heartbroken, either, since two days ago I had nothing booked for tomorrow, anyway, haha. This just means I *finally* get to go to the Saturday morning classes at the gym!

Saturday morning classes at the gym? Woman, it IS Saturday morning! How about Saturday don't-have-to-wake-till-2pm! Oh yeeeahhh!

Haha it's JUST turned into Saturday morning over here

(I didn't wake up until 11:30 today...unless you count the 3 times I stumbled up to see who was calling me, ignored them and fell asleep again, haha)

Yes! They're good classes - Tush and Abs, and Sexy Flexy! I want to collapse partway through, but I feel good after

I cannot believe they wouldn't let you make any money after all that.....laughable.

It is hard to turn away money, but if you really sit down and think about your time, insurance, supplies, parking, gas and aggrivation, it is better to take the time for yourself than to work for peanuts.

When you are just starting out, you have to take the lumps like we all did to get the practice, bust a seasoned professional, NO WAY!

I love it when people act like they are doing YOU a favor when they called you because they need you. As if!

-Metina

Thanks, but no thanks....