Set Up/Guidelines for County Fairs

DISPLAY SET-UP

Place 4 tables that you will use for your display along the inside wall of your booth. 

By setting up your tables this way, people can only see and walk on one side of your display specimens which is much easier for you. 

Take your DINOSAURS ROCKvinyl banners and hang them along the top post of your booth.  Use rope or hooks thru the holes in the banner top that you can purchase at Home Depot  If this doesn't work, use tape and adhere them to the front of the tables.

Place larger items like the Ceolophysis in the middle with your smaller pieces spreading out on either side. 

Place small lucite ID signs next to your specimens.  Gives more of an exhibit feel...

Don't be surprised if your are asked 1/2 milllion times "Are These Real?" Obviously, there are some that are. Otherwise tell them they are cast from original fossils and we supply these replicas to many museums around the world.

My suggestion is to have someone take your genuine Dinosaur Egg and ask as people walk by "Have You Ever Touched A Real Dinosaur Egg?"  Then invite them into the booth.

FOSSIL DIG & GEODE SET-UP

We are counting on doing lots of hands-on activities to generate retail $'s.  Please try to sell the heck out of the  digs/geodes/retail items - the Fair is an expensive endeavor for us and we really have to recoup staff/booth costs thru the retail part of the program!

Use 2 black bins for your fossil dig and 1 black bin for Geode opening.  That should fit  on one table... you may want to consider setting the Dig up on the ground to save table space for displays/retail items to sell. 

In San Diego, the Fossil Dig MUST BE ON THE GROUND   DUE TO LACK OF TABLES (you have 6 tables).  San Mateo Fair has 9.

Please make sure that everyone leaves with a green insert in their zip lock bag from the dig - the more our name is out there, the better.  You may also want to tell each person that they can identify their piece on our fossil mineral ID Chart on the web.

Remember to break your geode on top of a harder rock (granite) and to use your rock hammer.  Please keep the hammer out of sight and away from clients for safety reasons.  Staff does the cracking (not clients) for safety reasons). Pricing is $5 for each activity (Dig - take home  3 Fossils or Minerals),  Geodes are $5.00 each.  PLEASE DON'T LET PEOPLE PUT SAND IN THEIR BAGS - THIS IS USUALLY A SIGN THAT THEY TOOK AN EXTRA SPECIMEN!! 

OTHER RETAIL

Retail items should fit on 2 tables (we tried to keep the variety narrow and keep pricing very simple - with most items $5, $10, $15 or $20 to reduce time needed to make change.  These can be placed either in the center of your booth. This will require some policeing.   Please make sure to handwrite prices on stickers sent to you on the items.  The smaller dinosaur teeth and any genuine items that can be easily stolen must be placed in the "Top Opening" plexiglass container you should have recieved already.  Make sure when you set this up that it opens only on your side - not the cuttomers side.

We have provided both small zip lock bags (4" x 6") for the dig and small retail items as well as larger black plastic bags for larger items such as amethyst chunks or excavation kits/replicas.

Please make sure that everyone leaves with a green insert in their zip lock bag from the dig - the more our name is out there, the better.  You may also want to tell each person that they can identify their piece on our fossil mineral ID Chart on the web.

You need to keep track of sales as they happen - you have been asked to purchase the blank/carboned receipt books from Staples, this makes a good record.

The goal for these events is mass exposure, so please try to mention to every "guest"  that we also do parties, school programs, fund-raisers, scout events, corporate events, etc.

Please place brochures throughout the booth. This is a real chance for us to get the business off the ground in your area and to get you a lot of additional work. 

Prices include CA sales tax if asked.
The Fair has our Seller Permit on file.

DRESS CODE

Please wear your DINOSAURS ROCK T-SHIRTS (sent to you).  Usually khaki pants or nice shorts are OK - please be presentable.  We were told that the FAIRS have people walking around who "secret shop" and check on all of the booths for neatness and conduct of employees.

NIGHT TIME CLOSING

Any retail item that is small and can be easily stolen must be placed in either one of the large storage boxes you received.  YOU MUST LOCK THESE BEFORE YOU LEAVE FOR THE EVENING (padlocks from U-line).  Please keep these under your table covered. MONEY MUST BE TAKEN HOME, ACOUNTED FOR AND E-MAILED $$ AMOUNT TO LESLIE EACH DAY.

PLEASE GO TO HOME DEPOT OR LOWES AND GET A LARGE BLUE TARP ($45 IS THE COST I BELIEVE).  USE IT TO COVER YOUR BOOTH THE BEST YOU CAN AT NIGHT. In San Diego, you are supposed to cover the front of the booth with the tarp.

Sales & Inventory management.   We have attached a price list & Daily Inventory list.

Keep a list of # items sold each day by type by doing an opening inventory count & closing inventory count (it should be fairly slow at the end of the day, so you should still be able to leave by closing hour). By sending us this, we can see if you need any replenishments and act quickly.

Dig – you can easily figure out how many digs you did by the number of plastic 4x6 bags used – each larger bag contains 100 4 x 6 bags

Geodes – Put out 25 at a time from the geode bag to make it easier to keep count of those sold.

Pricing – The Daily Inventory List has the pricing by item on it.

We will be accepting cash only --- if someone is looking to purchase over $50 in retail and doesn’t have the cash, you can try to reach us by phone and we can try to put their credit card through – most people should have cash on hand if they are going to the fair.... this should be a rare occurrence as we are not selling high end items at this event.

You should send us the retail report with number of items sold by type (see attached form) by e-mail daily with $ total.   If you plug it directly into the Excel file it will calculate automatically, so you can simply take a count at the fair and not spend time calculating.

Please mail us retail $’s each time $1000 is taken in so there is not a lot of cash laying around. You can forward by check (if you are comfortable involving your bank account) or by money order made out to Leslie Freund.

The Post Office is an inexpensive place to get a money order (unless you have a no fee arrangement with your bank) – the post office charges $1.50 fee for a $1000 money order.

Nourishment – Our experience at these fairs is that they sell a lot of really unhealthy junk food like “bloomin onions” and the like, which people start eating at 8AM!

Anyway, bring lots of snacks/water with you to keep your energy up!