No two shows are the same. Even with the same people and the same organizer, one show will differ from another. You have to be adaptable.

It’s been incredibly busy over the past few weeks as Monica has bounced me from one show to another. Between now and the end of the year, it’s only going to get busier!

Recently we were at an indoor show. We checked in early and was assigned a booth space in a corner. We love corners. Since the show didn’t start for a few hours after we got everything all set up, we went to our hotel to change clothes and freshen up.

When we came back, we noticed that the two booths on either side of us (next to us and behind us) were empty. The vendors were no-shows. That left our immaculately organized and perfect display on an island of sorts and very out of place. Our 10×10 booth became more of a barrier than an inviting place to shop. It was awkward.

What did we do? We had the option of moving our entire display to another booth to make it blend with the other booths. That was too much work in the 30 minutes we had until the show started.

Instead, we opted to spread out and integrate into the environment that we had. We re-aligned our booth to follow the natural flow of the corner that we had. We were able to turn our 10×10 booth into an almost 30×10 booth and create a natural funnel for people to walk through. We turned a bad situation into a great situation and as a result had our best sales day to date.

The next show we did was exactly opposite. Instead of a 10×10, we were provided an 8×8 booth. That meant that we had to pare down our display to fit that space. While it was difficult, we were able to do it by eliminating some of the products that we normally display and eliminating a table.

At this show, we topped the previous best sales day by a few dollars even with a smaller booth.

When you consider your perfect display, remember that your space will rarely be perfect. Consider how you will adapt in different situations and to different markets. Small changes can make a huge difference in your display and its attractiveness to potential customers.

Also, a bigger display does not automatically mean more sales. It all depends on how you adapt to the situation you are provided. Make sure adaptability is your superpower too!

See you at market!