Running Your Event

It's the time of year that most artists are ogranizing some type of an art event - open house, studio tour, show, etc. Whether you're 'running' it or simply 'walking' it, here are some things you should be thinking about:

1. What is the purpose?
a. Show & sell vs.
b. Show & tell
2. Who is the target market?
3. What are the details?
a. Date
b. Time
c. Refreshments
d. Location
i. Does it need to be altered?
ii. Signage
e. Budget
4. Who’s participating?
a. Invite only
b. Jury
5. Task list & Responsibilities
a. Staff / volunteers
b. Media
c. Security
d. Advertising
e. Cash handling
f. Cleaning
6. Timeline
7. Goals
8. Event Day Plan
9. Contingency Plans
10. Follow Up
a. From participants
b. From attendees
c. Your impressions

Work with what you've got

My studiomate, Cathie Hamilton, is so clever. She taught me a good lesson this week as we prepare our studio for the open house this Friday. She taught me (or at least reminded me), that sometimes you've got to work with what you've got instead of trying to fix it. In fact, sometimes it turns out even better.

This is a picture of our studio door that Cathie painted. Notice the mouth? Well, our door had a hole in it, so instead of repairing it, she simply worked into the design. So far it's received many compliments and I think it's so cool.

So next time you're dreading fixing something, maybe just consider working with you've got.

When things go bad, they usually come around

This past weekend I was finishing (and I mean finishing, the final 2 minutes of sanding / polishing) a newly designed flower pendant with white beach glass for petals and rare cobalt blue glass for the centre when I broke off one of the pieces. I tried to re-soldering, knowing that it wouldn't work because the precious glass wouldn't take the heat - here's proof of how it turned out... Over twenty-five hours done the drain, not to mention the glass :-(

So, after whining a little to my hubby, we headed down to the yacht club for some fresh air and to share a pint. Well, I was surprised to see the beach was snow free. Which is my world, means beach glass hunting season just opened! So, although my day started out bad, it sured ended on a high. Here is my find from the first day on the beach.

Carving out Time

Well, I just took stock and...

apparently I'm not an artist (very much that is). And not because I don't want to be, or that I don't have it in me. Because I don't have time to create. I've been so busy on the business of art, that I forgot about the art part.

I've been working with a client as a business coach. Every session for the past 4 months (and we meet weekly) the conversation, no matter where it starts, ends back at her timeline or so I call it. When she's weighing new opportunities, planning to take on something, etc, the first thing I do is remind her to pull out her timeline and goals and see if it fits and where. If it doesn't fit in the timeline, she doesn't do it. I think I need to heed my own advice.

TTYL - I have to go work on my timeline and then off to the studio (aka dining room table)!

First Day Jitters

Yesterday was my son's first day of school, JK. All summer both of us were looking forward to it so much. He was so excited about it until....the night before. That's when the nerves set in. "What if they make me play games I don't know?" What if no one wants to play with me?" "What if I can't reach the toilet paper?" (I know who knew he had so many worries?) So we talked them all through and other scenarios that might pop up too. We read the letter from the school and packed his backpack with everything on the list. We made up his lunch and labelled it all.

In the morning we went over the letter again, reviewed what was for snack and what was for lunch. We walked to school early so that it was less intimidating when we arrived and we could get the lay of the land first. He made friends instantly and all seemed to be good...until the bell rang and then the tears started. So we re-introduced in him to the teacher, went over his backpack and food again. Talked about what the day would be like and told him he could ask the teacher to call me at lunch if the day was still horrible. I never got the phone call, in fact when I picked him up at 330 he said he had a great day. It was harder than daycare because he had to learn more and play more, but he liked it.

This whole process reminds me of preparing for a new show. I am all excited leading up to and the night before I get nervous. "Do I have everything packed?" "Do I have enough stock?" "Do I have the right products for this show?" So I do the same things as I did with my son, review the confirmation letter, review what I packed and try and get a goodnight sleep.

The day of the show I try and go early to get the lay of the land. Introduce myself to the organizer. Give myself a time that I'm allowed to leave if I want (if this is possible with this kind of show).

The morale of the story is whether it's the first day of school or preparing for a show, preparation is key, but most important is to make sure you've packed some good snacks!

Just say 'NO'

Here I am, full-time artist (with a little goulash in there of course). And day 1 I am already being reminded about the importance of saying no. Not in the same context that my parents taught me when I was a little girl, but for when you get overwhelmed and swamped.

My task list is bigger now than last week in the corporate world! And new opportunities keep presenting themselves and I'm a sucker for peer pressure I guess because I keep saying yes. It's a hard gamble sometimes to say no, because what if you're turning down a good, really good thing? Leo Babauta talks about how to get out of this dilemma in his blog - The Gentle Art of Saying No, which when I came across it was a good reminder to me that I have the 'right' to say NO.

Practice saying this before sitting down at your bench, easel, desk or studio "My time is valuable and I've figured out my priorities (and sticking to them)".

The Rule of 7

Last night at the TIA workshop on Social Networking for business there was a general concern that between Facebook, youTube, mySpace, Blogging and your own website that you wouldn't have anytime to spend in your studio. That's when I mentioned my first rule of 7. I allow myself 7 minutes per day on Facebook because I know it could suck me in and never spit me out. The artists wondered why 7 minutes? Well, 5 is too little and therefore not effective, and 10 is too much and can easily be rounded up to 15 and then 20 and so on. I think I stole this concept from either Eat that Frog or The 4-hr Work Week. One of them states that by setting random times for tasks it forces you to pay attention to the clock and not allow 'creep' to happen. It's a really good concept in planning meetings, set them for 10 minutes after the hour instead of on the hour and you'll be amazed at how much you can get down in that first ten minutes.