A friend wanted some initial info on how to produce their own psychic fair. I emailed him:
Where would the readers be placed?
How many in each room?
Do they bring their own table and chairs?
How much to charge for table space?
First of all, a venue with walk in traffic is crucial. We used to do them at the Cocoa Beach Hilton during a holiday weekend, Labor Day or Memorial Day.
What works best at a fair is usually short readings, say $20 for 14 minutes.
TABLE AND 2 CHAIRS
Readers must have your own 36 x36 card table and your own chairs.
CHIME OR QUIET TIMER
At 14 minutes, someone can ring a chime, to give a minute to close the reading and seat the next person. No individual timers since readers sometimes bring those big loud oven timers that distract everyone else, 4 or 5 of those going off every 15 minutes would not be conducive to an optimum reading environment.
TICKETS
You should sell “tickets” at the door, $20 for 14 minutes. The sitter gets to take the ticket to the reader of their choice. You want to encourage everyone to try more than one reader. A sitter can get 4 readings from 4 different readers for just $80 – a real sampler’s bargain.
READER SIGN-UP SHEET.
You can have one master sign-up sheet for the readers (see attached). If the reader follows the schedule, they can have 4 reading per hour = $80. Times seven hours = $560 is what a reader can make if they stay on schedule.
Or they can take it easy and do just 3 readings per hour and take 15 minutes in between each = $60 per hour and take an hour for lunch = $360.
When I used to read at fairs, I’d do it straight thru, taking maybe 15 minutes for lunch, just long enough for some hot soup mid day. I like getting in the flow and staying there.
Since a reader can make $360-$560 during the day, their table fee should be at least $100. They get the added benefit of handing out their cards and flyers there, too. $100 is reasonable since they stand to get repeated business.
IMPORTANT: Are you allowed to put a stand up sign out front on US1 or AIA that says Psychic Fair Today – parking in back?
If you don’t know, find out.
SIGN:
If you can have a sign, get one made. The words have to be at least a foot tall, the lettering at least 2 inches wide or more to be seen from almost a block away – plenty of time to slow down and turn. See sample below. Make it say it on both sides. If the lettering is smaller than that, it’s wasted money. Remember the cars will be moving, so the lettering has to be twice as big as you think to see it from down the block. You’ve seen Garage Sale signs people make with markers and you can barely read them unless you’re sitting at a stop sign right next to them. Not what we want.
EMAIL NOTICE OF FAIR:
Everyone involved needs to send an email to their contact people (and reading clients) to let them know there is a fair. The email needs to be created by me since we have one shot to tell everyone everything and a reader might just email her people and say “this is where I’ll be” which is not good advertising for a fair. The email needs to say who all will be there and doing what, giving a short summary of what they do, and giving directions. The email can also have a $5 off coupon in it, so anyone who comes and brings the email, the entire email showing their name so we know it’s not been duplicated.
BUSINESS CARDS
Encourage readers to have business cards at their tables.
Encourage them to decorate their table and their space in their unique way.
Some bring big silk plants for privacy.
ADVERTISING
Of course we’ll advertise it in Horizons but it’s a good idea to also advertise it in whatever the free community papers are: Hometown News, Thrifty Nickel. Also to put flyers up locally