On 24 Feb 2005, at 11:09, Carol Adkinson wrote:
arranging these has got to be more complex, as lots of the 'accepted' andI used to organise at least one lace day a year and they were sell-outs but gradually the demand for tickets dropped and the last one relied heavily on the raffle proceeds to pay for the hire of the hall - nothing left over to donate to any good cause, but what I felt worst about was that I'd invited four traders plus a speaker in the expectation of selling 100+ tickets. About two weeks before the event I contacted them all and explained that I'd only been able to sell about half the tickets but they all agreed to come anyway and it seems that the lacemakers who did go were each spending quite a lot of money - maybe they all had shopping lists from absent friends!
long-term suppliers are retiring, and giving up or working from home. I
have been arranging a day for June 2006, and am finding that several of the
suppliers won't commit to so far in aadvance - and several years ago, one
had to start arranging Lace Days, particularly the really good speakers, at
least three years ahead! - because they don't know what their circumstances
will be in the next couple of years, or they are saying that they are
stopping travelling, as a lot of lace days have too many suppliers, so it
isn't viable going to a Lace Day where there are less than a hundred
attenders, but where there are six or seven bobbin suppliers, and two or
three general suppliers. I have always worked on the Lace Guild
recommendations (from may years ago, I must admit) of one supplier to each
25 Lacemakers - this seems quite a reasonable ratio, which appeals to a lot
of the suppliers!
I do agree with the Lace Guild guidelines of 1:25 and for a lace day with 100 lacemakers the 4 traders should include at least one general supplier with a good range of threads, someone with pillows, someone with a good range of books and only one specialist bobbin maker. Bigger events of course will have more traders but there should still be a balance between what is on offer and the ratio of traders:attendees.
Brenda http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/paternoster/
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