July 13, 2023
Our booth evolution 🛠️
Our first booth was at an outdoor pin event in June 2021. Due to a late application and a late acceptance, we only had five days to prep. As a panicked perfectionist, this was very worrisome, but I still wanted to show up and deliver. Thanks to my Farmer'‘s Market experience with my mom and her bakery, we had our bare essentials down.
But that wasn’t enough. It still led to an underwhelming setup and a wicked sunburn for Stephen (poor bb). Tbh, I was so embarrassed of how this looked. Nonetheless, we still gained fans from that event, and that was enough motivation to do better and redeem myself.
Next stop: the craft fair circuit.
After binging Artist Alley vlogs, researching display ideas, and creeping on my favorite pin designers and their booth setups, I created PINBILL Booth v2. Elevated displays, pins you can pick up, plus a banner AND a backdrop?? It was a winning lewk. This was our go-to setup for several craft fairs until BroadwayCon 2022 happened.
Getting in to BroadwayCon was a huge deal and I wanted to come correct. With weeks of prep time, we sketched it out, redesigned all our displays, and practiced everythinggg. When it was all set up in the living room, my tita and lola pretended to be customers so Stephen and I could stress test our inventory setup too. My panicked perfectionist was out in full force and thankfully, it all paid off.
My favorite thing about PINBILL Booth v3 is the large product photos on the side our display boxes. Our products may be small, but those large photos made an impact especially in a convention marketplace. The goal was to turn some heads and it worked!
When we returned to the craft fair circuit, we used the same setup, but with minor tweaks. We configured our inventory setup, added a comfy foot mat behind the table, and brought a mini trash can. Plus we made our displays spin! Peep the baking pan and lazy susan at the bottom of each tower. Pretty clever, huh?
Then along came AwesomeCon. It was our first ever comic-con and official Artist Alley debut. So naturally, I wanted to re-do everything. Stephen pointed out that Artist Alley folks weren’t going to linger like our craft fair regulars so we had to catch their attention right away. So I doubled down on our large product photos for PINBILL Booth v4.
The modular setup allowed for an easier setup and breakdown and saved us luggage space too. She’s a cutie! I’m really proud of this setup because it feels much more elevated from our previous booths. We’ll use this one for BroadwayCon 2023 next week.
As we rack up event XP and keep creating new products, our booth will evolve even more. I can’t wait to see where it goes next! Thanks for reading and come visit us at the booth soon ❤️
