need Ideas on coin shows

JoeHolt

Ok I need help here I am thinking about putting on a local coin show every month and want ideas this would be a small show with 20-25 dealers with 8 ft tables for $30-40 ea so small with no admission

where to advertise?

area for food or drink such as chips and soda or water (mainley for the dealers set up)
prices to charge for 12oz cans of soda or water and the such

security?

any Ideas would be helpful

thankyou
Joe Holt

Murfreesboro TN

ar18

I would get some fliers made up at kinkos and put them in the coin shops, local newspaper ad never hurts and maybe Numismatic or coin world.

1.25 on the soda or water

security, contact the local PD and see if you can get an off duty officer, they will usually do this for extra cash.

Also try to get a local coin club or coin shop to sponsor it.

My 2 cents

Jeff

coinguy89

<< <i>I would get some fliers made up at kinkos and put them in the coin shops, local newspaper ad never hurts and maybe Numismatic or coin world.

1.25 on the soda or water

security, contact the local PD and see if you can get an off duty officer, they will usually do this for extra cash.

Also try to get a local coin club or coin shop to sponsor it.

My 2 cents

Jeff >>



Thats about right. I was going to say something similar, I want to do one of these myself when I get older, I think it would be total fun.

lordmarcovan

I would be most concerned about security. What about location? Do you already have something in mind?

JoeHolt

Yes i have a location or two in two towns about 20-30 miles from Nashville and would want to in the future hold one each month in each of the two locations they would be in hotels in meeting rooms

coinbuf

There is a monthly coin show here about that size held at the Elks Lodge. Try and look for a similar type of location, easy set up, food and drinks, everything you need to set it up. The guy that runs it here charges $50 for a table in the big room and $30 in the small room.

Chris

ar18

also, you may want to try a local diner or something and get some menus, have the dealers pick what they want and have the diner deliver, call it in at 10:30 or so. I see dealers all the time closing tables for lunch at the smaller shows, have the food delivered from the diner for a small fee to you and use the money for a give away at the show. No dealers leave, they get good food and you get a give away.

Good Luck

Jeff

foodude

You may also want to get input from local dealers and collectors that may attend the show. The trick here is to get useful input without setting any unrealistic expectations.

In addition, it would be helpful to talk to others that have set up shows to help minimize surprise (i.e., things you didn't think of).

jdimmick

Joe,

Murpheesboro is about a similar size town to mine and in the approximate same area of the country. First, I would probably go to quarterly shows at best vs every month. With that frequent of an event, many people will eventually get tired of coming and looking at the same material. This will give a chance for the dealers to get fresher material. Too many shows in the same local, dont work, they didnt here.

We have changed to a one day show and IMO, it was not a good move. Several of the regional dealers no longer bother to come becuase the time it takes to get set up and break down is not worth only 1 day's business.

Try and find a convienient location that is easy to find for out of towners, good accesible parking, yet a secure place. Dealers like to feel secure while they are at a show and especially when loading and unloading. I here this complaint many times when security is lax?

I am not sure how the food serving laws are in Tn, but here in NC you need to have special permits and inspections if you serve food/beverage's. So you might want to go with a small vending type set-up just enough to keep the dealers happy and snacks fr the public.

The local coin club(word of mouth) is a good advertisement, then the surrounding newspaper's as well as the major publications such as coin world , numismatic news, etc.

One thing we have always done at our club shows is to have a drawing, We start selling raffle tickets for a $10 gold piece well in advance of the show. One it gets people intrested, secondly is great advertisement and has actually introduced several new collectors. We usually sell about 800-900 tickets at each show and have the drawing at the end of the show. Generates money for the coin club.

hope this helps!

jim d

foodude

Delete the double post.

nwcs

Sounds like our local shows. They don't provide food areas. Generally the dealers just go when they need something. They also don't charge admission. About the only advertising I'm aware of is a small classified ad and a banner outside the hotel where they set up at.

JoeHolt

i cant really disclose much but ther is a following of dealers that would be atending allready as for food I was thinking of just soda water chips and candy bars and mayby a table for people to sit at to eat these or do trading at. just depends on room the room is 85X25 that it would be held in and be using 8 ft tables and also a table behind for dealers to use for storage behind them against the wall. This is all comming about due to I want a place to sell supplies at.

Geoman

I have been planning to same thing here for 6 months. I live in a smaller town and we do not have any coin shows here. So our coin club is planning a show, and I am in charge of it. I pretty much had everything set (ie: place, security, hours, and all the other little details worked out) but I just could not get enough dealers to commit to make it worth while. Many of the dealers I contacted down in Mpls. said they would be willing to come up, but they needed more notice. I gave them only 4-5 months. So my one suggestion, is to get dealers lined-up first, start early, and once you have deposits from the dealers, then start advertizing it.

JoeHolt

any other ideas? I know you all have things you would like to see a show do

Cameonut

I have never organized a show, but I can help you a bit from the customer perspective.

I find out about local shows from listings in Coin World and the local newspapers. If you live near Nashville, then place a small ad in the newspaper - here in Detrioit, they have a section in the Sports section for card, stamp, and coin shows. I rarely find out about shows by using flyers. I think you will be surprised at how many people will drive an hour or more to look at new material.

Neptune

interesting - Are dealers generally responsible for the tables, are are they provided/already there? This would be a good thing for me to do since we don't have any coin shows here either. How to get started ? How to sign up dealers?

I think $1 for drinks is plenty high enough. You can get security info by talking with local PD. Raffle good idea. You may could get a local food vendor to supply some hot dogs, etc.......... they generally already have a food license.

I think the flyers are important as well as 'plenty' of time to advertise.

PhillyJoe

Check to see if the location will be able to supply tables and chairs or if you need to rent these. You may have to sign a contract for the location. Check on insurance, also. If you are renting a public hall, who is responsible if someone slips and falls? Insurance companies sell event insurance for a one or two day period. Hotels may have an advantage here as the insurance is probably included for the meeting room.

Joe

ScarsdaleCoin

you must have the show regular....making sure that it is going to be say 1st sun each month...if you mess with the schedule...it throws dealers and visitors off....I have done many shows....next thing is loading and unloading.....you dont want 30 dealers starting off with hassle when they unload their cars early in the morning make sure the spot is easy and safe....you should have at least 1 off duty policeman and if you have an extra 1 or 2 people that can be security and help that would be better....food is important...I know that on one very small show...the only reason the dealers went was because the promoter was a cook who would go in the back at lunch and make them great burgers etc....the price for the dealers was always the same...no matter what they ate they only coughed up $2.....dealers always like it and it made them want to come back.....treating dealers fairly for table position is important.....on show in NJ the promoter beg me to come for months....finally I told him I would.....after a very long trip the promoter put me in the garage of the fire house with 2 or 3 other dealers away from the other dealers who were inside....folks I brought another dealer with me as well we had more coin in value than all the other dealers combined...only about 10% of the people even found us in back in this garage...needless to say we never went back to his show......good luck its a lot of work to promote a show and very little profit for the promoter but it is great for the hobby...

jhar

Please oh Please make sure you find out about and take care of any local taxes and fees before the show.

UncleJoe

As a resource for info I would look at the show listings in Coin World. A lot of the show listings have contact info and the promoters may share info on what makes their show successful and other concerns to think about when setting-up a show.

I'm in Orlando and there are several successful shows in the area that advertise in Coin World. A lot are monthly while others are at various intervals like the semi-annual show in Orlando.

Good luck. I think it is a great idea.

Joe.

cdwegner

I don't think anyone has mentioned it, but when I go I usually take my YN along. He loves if there is something special for the kids. I don't know your focus or demographics, but I love it when people take time to remember the future collectors.

c