As women, as entrepreneurs, as RVers, we are always on the lookout for sources of income to help keep us on the road, in a lifestyle we enjoy. So I have to share with you my recent adventure to a Pinners Conference. So you ask, what is a Pinners Conference. I wondered that myself and did not fully understand until I ventured to Arlington, Texas to attend one.
Although I had looked at the schedule of about 100 classes, and they primarily appeared to be crafting instructions, I still had it in my mind that a Pinners Conference would be about social media and Pinterest. After attending, I now understand that it is about Entrepreneurship, with crafting as a central focus for income. But it does not stop there, with around 200 vendors there were booths for crafts, yes, but also people selling their creations, direct marketing opportunities, craft supplies, people traveling with corporations to present such things as creams and hair styling products. The convention center in Arlington was packed with people, it was amazing! And the ticket prices were very, very reasonable.
So how could a Pinners Conference benefit you? Ideas, a building full of ideas. I took the time to approach every single booth, look around, pick up a business card or brochure, and ask questions if the people manning the booth were not too busy. I learned a bunch, I can tell you that.
There were around a hundred instructional classes to pick from, there were craft suppliers with ideas for crafting, there were direct marketing booths, there were people selling so many different things, from their own creations to items they were re-selling. There were people who had jobs traveling the country just going to shows working for corporations to show their products. I was impressed by the ideas I discovered, like direct marketing people who had combined forces and several people shared a booth to make the booth cost more affordable.
I am not a crafter, but I went two instructional classes, and throughly enjoyed them. Each speaker tried to help people understand the profit potential of that craft subject.
Why go? Because it is fun, it is interesting, it is educational, it is informative, it is amazing. While you are there – Watch and learn. Watch what people are buying. See which booths are getting the most traffic and try to figure out why those booths are popular. Is it because of their product, their display layout, it is hard to go “into” a tiny booth area, is it because they have done something to intrigue people, like having an area to take a selfie with a sign that you are at Mary’s booth at the Pinners Conference. (I didn’t see that at any booth, by the way, and some people had huge wasted space in their booths.) And for those of you that go to events, like craft fairs, look around for ideas to help you when going to event fairs to display your own products.
One of the biggest “lackings” I noticed were business cards and brochures were hard to spot, it was as though the vendors really did not want to part with their cards and brochures. I saw one booth with a nice, long gold tray with business cards nicely laid out, it was refreshing to see.
Perhaps you are lucky enough to be in the area of an upcoming Pinners Conference, here is a list of the states: AZ – CA – GA – MN – UT – TX. I believe that Arizona and Utah are the only two states which still have events scheduled for the remainder of this year. – https://az.pinnersconference.com