The Vendor Coordinator is responsible for everything that involves the dealers and the Dealer’s’ Room. This includes:
| 1 – Contact potential dealers. Job may require traveling to other conventions. Act as liaison to dealers before and during the convention.
2 – (Work with Chair) Devise a floor plan for the Dealers’ Room. Resolve conflicts. 3 – (Work with Chair) Devise and enforce rules for the dealers. 4 – (Work with Chair, work with Registrar) Devise rates for dealers tables, benefits that go along with the tables (ie, free membership), etc. 5 – (Work with Chair) Make a schedule for Dealers’ room hours. 6 – (Work with Chair) During the convention, make sure that the Dealer’s’ room is set up according to plan and/or modified as necessary. Make sure that the necessities are there (ie, tables, tablecloths, chairs, wastebaskets, etc). 7 – Coordinate with Security to make sure that the room is patrolled. Write instructions for the security people. 8 – Make sure that the room is locked or guarded when not open. 9 – Be visible arid available to the dealer’s during the convention. 10 – Make your department’s budget. |
What this entails:
Room Location
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Table Cost/Memberships (and Conversion)
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Vendor Contact/Selection
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Set-up (Room Configuration)
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Electricity and Food
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Load In/Load Out
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Security
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You may have some difficulty getting your merchants to commit to your event any more than 3-4 months before the con. Most of our dealers only sent their money in 2-3 months before CC16. We even had inquiries practically up to the day of the con, long after we’d sold all our tables.
A word on selling dealers tables: In retrospect, we believe it was a mistake to allow dealers to buy up to 3 tables for their space — we should have limited them to two. We could have handled some of the last minute inquiries if we’d not had this policy. We had a total of 23 spaces plotted out for our dealers; 2-3 merchants took advantage of the 3 table limit.
A suggestion may be made by one or more of your committee members to not repeat the kinds of dealers, so that all the merchants can experience some business. This notion should be resisted to some extent. Competition is a good thing, and there’s usually still enough to differentiate one dealers from another. Also, if one dealer sells out of an item, another may still have it in stock. The Dealers Rep can at least inform their prospective clients of who else has bought table space so far. That way, the prospect can judge for themselves whether to risk competing or bring different merchandise.
By the same token, the Dealers Rep should try to get as wide a variety of sellers as possible, and not concentrate only on those who cater to people who sew. Surprisingly, one of our more successful dealers was a general SF items merchant, who carried inexpensive costume jewelry and stuffed animal puppets. We wouldn’t recommend more than one or two of this type, however. Note: the following year, CC17 had a corset dealer. Someone who sells historically accurate underwear would be a real boon to a novice costumer, or for someone who doesn’t want to take the time to make their own.
Just by way of general observation, one secret to making dealers happy (beyond good sales) may be making sure that the convention is fun for them, too. After all, they spend most of their time tied to one location. We understand that most of our merchants didn’t do too spectacularly well, sales-wise, but they had so much fun that they still felt it was worth the trip.
A Dealer’s Room rep should be sure to keep the merchants as up to date as possible, before the convention. They’ll be happier if contacted periodically to reconfirm dates, costs, and any restrictions by the hotel, etc.
If you have a young person with a costuming parent that’s looking for something to do at the convention, consider them for being a Dealer’s Room gopher. They can fetch food, sodas, coffee and sit at tables for bathroom breaks, etc. This can free up a Dealer’s room rep for other important duties, if they’re shorthanded.
–Bruce Mai, CC16