Vendor events are a great way to network with people, and grab a sale or two. They can be a hectic time and you need to make sure you bring everything, but you’re not quite sure what to bring to really make your life easier at the vendor event. Here are five things you need to bring to a vendor event that will make your life SO much easier.
This article “5 Things You Need to Bring to a Vendor Event” is published in collaboration with Melodie Patton. She is the founder of MelodieFaery and is a store owner with Direct Creatives. She has many years in the direct sales industry and is helping moms keep their heads on straight in all aspects of life.
5 things you need to bring to a vendor event:
A Fully Charged Phone Battery Pack/Charging Cord
You use your phone for everything; from checking prices and using an invoicing system to scrolling social media on the down time and all that drains a phone battery in a matter of minutes. Having a battery pack will help keep your phone charged to keep your time at the vendor event going smoothly. No one wants the stress of a dead phone at hour five of an 8 hour event. Plus, many vendor spaces do not have electricity or they charge extra to have it in your space. Save that extra money and be prepared with your own battery pack.
It’s one important piece that is easy to forget, so make sure you charge it up the night before and put it in your bag or your purse ahead of time. Make sure you have your phone’s charging cord as well, as a battery pack is useless without it. Nothing worse having the battery pack but forgetting the cord.
A Canopy Tent and Weights
If your vendor event is outside, making sure you’re under shade is important. Ending the day with a severe sunburn is no fun for anyone. A canopy tent and tent weights to hold it down to the ground in case of wind will help you enjoy your vendor event in mild comfort. Watch the weather. Is it going to be windy? If so how windy?
In many windy situations simple tent weights aren’t enough. If you want to ensure your tent doesn’t take off like the house from Up, then make your own! Grab four 2 or 5 gallon buckets at your local home improvement store, a couple bags of cement, an eye anchor bolt, and paracord or other similar type of rope. Fill the buckets with cement and water and before it completely dries, put the anchor in the middle. This will allow you to tie your tent down to the anchor eye bolt with rope and give you more support against wind.
If you’re using your canopy tent for the first time, make sure you know how to put it up, and tear it down. There is nothing worse than getting to an event and having no idea how to put up your tent. Ask me how I know.
You can find an easily collapsible canopy tent on Amazon, along with the weights to keep it grounded for a relatively low price. These can also be found at a camping store, Costco, or a sports store if shopping in person is more your stride. Depending on the season, you may have more luck online.
Water Bottle and Snacks
One of the most missed things you need to bring to a vendor event is water and/or snacks. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can work up a thirst talking to people. Vendor events are all talk. And while there may be food vendors as well, you should always be prepared to bring your own water and snacks or a small meal. If you’re by yourself, getting away from your booth is almost impossible.
Bringing several bottles of water will help you more than you realize. Small snacks that are protein packed and a bit of sugar will help keep your blood sugar and energy going throughout the vendor event.
Change Box
If you’re selling physical products at your booth, having a way to make change for your customers is important. You can say that you only take cards in a pinch, but if you want a cash option, having a way to make change is needed.
You don’t need anything fancy, they make small lock boxes with keys that you can buy and keep locked under your table. Don’t forget to get actual change – coins and small bills to keep in your change box – and check it the day before or the last weekday in order to get to the bank. Even if your products are priced to round numbers, if you have to collect state sales tax, you’ll need the coin.
Clipboards and Pens
Rounding out the list of things you need to bring to a vendor event is something to write with and on. You’re talking to someone and they’re going to enter your giveaway. Yay! You hand them the slip of paper to fill out and that’s when you realize you don’t have anything for them to write with or on.
Having one or two clipboards and a few pens handy will make it easy for people to fill out anything that you need to fill out, including paper order forms.
Vendor events are a hectic time, and things can and will fall through the cracks. I’ve made a checklist to print to try and stop that from happening. Use code vendor at checkout to get it for free!
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