PA System/Hospitality/Blue Balloon Table

Your job will be twofold: During setup on Saturday morning, you will assist artists in signing up for special announcements (if we are offering them) or in locating their booth spaces. During the show itself you will need to see that specials and information are announced over the PA system, and helping with raffle ticket sales and hospitality between announcements.

Please note that you will have to learn how the PA system works! Contact the office sometime before the show and they can give you a crash course. If you will need any keys or codes, make sure you have them or can get them from a custodian on the day of the show. It is important as well, that the person making announcements have a clear, strong, and enthusiastic voice.

Familiarize yourself with the layout of the show, so that you’ll be able to direct artists to their booths as they check in (check-in itself is handled by management). Also, please be informed of raffle times and whatever else might need to be announced.

Each crafter may be offered the opportunity to have special deals announced during the show. Check with management to see what “rules” apply to this: how many times they can have an announcement made, etc. The artists will be asked to sign up, and a sign-up sheet will be provided. Ask them to write out what the deal is, and make sure you understand it. They may be given balloons or a sign to post in their booth. Balloons will be ordered and picked up by management. You do not need to do this.

If balloons are being used: The booths that will be having special sales will get 3 or 4 balloons in order for the shoppers to know there is a “blue balloon sale”. About 2 or 3 minutes prior to the top of the hour, take 3 or 4 balloons to the stand that is offering a special and tie the balloons so they can be seen by the shoppers. Then about 3 minutes before the end of the hour, pick up the balloons from the tables whose sales are ending.

Put the “specials” slips in order by times the sales will be taking place. After the announcement is made, mark the slips with some type of identifier so you know you made the announcement. Make sure to keep all slips, you may have a crafter complain that they didn’t hear their announcement so you may need to show them that it was made. If they do complain, make the announcement again.

If you have a lot of sales for a specific hour, announce 5 or 6 at the top of the hour then read a few every 5 minutes or so. At the ½ hour, you may want to read the booth numbers that are having the sales but don’t re-read all the descriptions. One of the complaints from this year was the annoyance of the constant announcements and the length of them. Make sure to use a happy and enthusiastic voice.

Check the operation of the PA system prior to the beginning of the show; preferably with enough time to spare so that problems can be addressed. The volume in the gym has been problematic in the past. It would be a good idea to have someone in the gym with a radio to let you know how things are sounding.

Make an announcement at 9:30 am, reminding artists that they should be parked off-site by then and that the show will begin in half an hour. Make a similar announcement at 9:45 am or 9:50 am. At 10 am, announce the opening of the show and welcome the shoppers. Every half-hour or so, announce specials. Be ready to make other announcements (of imminent raffle drawings and winners, etc) at various times if need be; in the meantime please just assist customers and artists as needed, making everyone feel welcome and comfortable.

With each announcement, you will probably want to remind everyone of 50/50 and other raffles, and the concession stand, and to thank them for their support of the band.

As the closing of the show draws near, remind shoppers that there are only X minutes left. Again, thank everyone for coming.

Thank you for volunteering for this important job!