For many years, A Step Ahead, Ltd/Events2000.com has been publishing listings for festivals and events that include arts & crafts booth space in them. And about once a month, we get some variation of this in the mail:

In the 30+ years we’ve been listing art/craft events, we’ve actually put together four or five shows, none of which have been in the recent past. So we’re always puzzled when someone takes time and forty five cents to send us something like this.

When I first pulled the lime green envelope out of the mailbox, I thought we were being invited to a party. Cautiously, because the envelope had no return address & I didn’t recognize the block letters as belonging to others who invite us to parties, I opened the envelope.

The back of a little card clipped to the bigger card indicated that the writer wants to participate in my events. I didn’t recognize the smiley face signature. Still no idea who he is…

Curious, now, since I knew he had absolutely no clue what we do, I flipped over the bigger card. A half-made-up performer was grinning at me with some pre-printed information about who he is. Finally, I’m getting a picture.

I skimmed the front and back of the bigger card, and the front of the little card. Contact info was actually there, if I didn’t mind only website & email addys and being puzzled by two different states’ phone numbers. Is this guy permanently on the road?

Dear readers, this is NOT the way to impress someone trying to put together a festival!

When you take time to, in essence, apply for a job, research the entities you want to contact. A quick zip around the internet, http://www.Events2000.com and http://www.Facebook.com/E2000 would show someone looking to get into festivals that we don’t produce any events. We just tell about them.

The more lucrative a show is for the majority of exhibitors, the more difficult it is to get into. Your best bet is to FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS the show sets forth on its website. If you get anxious and want to position yourself differently from others by writing to the show director, then here are some keys that may be useful.

Applying for space or to entertain at an event is just like applying for a 9-to-5 job.

• Start networking with the show director well before the deadline of the event.
• Tell the show director who you are, what you do, and how having you as a part of her show will make her show better.
• Tell about where you’ve shown, how visitors have enjoyed you, and what kind of space or entertainment time you need.
• Send the names of three festival directors you’ve recently worked with who can give you a good recommendation.
• Send photographs or web links to images/video of your work.
• Give complete contact information. Make sure you include your email address.
• Offer a time and date that you’ll call the show director in person.
• When that time/date rolls around, call the show director and talk to her directly.

Good Luck!