I am primarily a children's photographer and I'm giving some thought to doing a booth at the town fair this August. (I'm just thinking about this now because why plan ahead?) It's nothing like an expo...just a small town carnival/performance/business fair deal with about 35,000 attendants.

I know next to nothing about having a booth and that's being generous. Besides the obvious "I need stuff to hang and info to give away," what should I know? Hints, tips, tricks? Things that you wished you knew the first time?

I've also been told that it's beneficial (at this event at least) to have an activity in my booth in order to get people to stop. I'm not going to attempt photos of everyone, lest I go crazy, but do you have any other activity-like ideas?

Thanks for any help!

Are there carnival games and rides at this fair?

Im no pro and know nothing about booths, but for what its worth....Im not sure that the fair goers of this type of fair would be the market I would want to target or waste money on a booth to advertise to. Of course if you have the disposable income to do it, its worth a try!

I do know photographers that have had a good outcome from the smaller art/craft fairs. Ive been wanting to do one of these for a while! I just think it would be a fun way to get my name out there in the right part of town!

Since you are doing a service, you could do gift certificate specials like when they buy a gift cert over $100 you will double it for no charge or something like that. (make sure to advertise this one on your blog!)

As for an activity during, provide some sort of photo keepsake. take a quick portrait of them then do something fun with it (non cheesy) and give it away or charge a small fee like $2-3.

good luck! and be sure to take LOTS of photos and come back and share! I would LOVE to see what you do!

when dustin and I first started doing photography we had a booth at local fairs to generate business and we got business but it was the lower end business. We bought a large amrican flag and did pictures in our booth and printed them there. It was alot of work and we wouldnt have been able to do it without both of us. We generated a few weddings and many family/senior portraits.

I'm not sure what other type of activity there is that you could do at a photo booth. You could have a drawing. You could have gift certificates for a free session Or free 8x10s. Not sure. I just thought I would let you know.

Last year we did it and we decided that we no longer will be doing the fair as we dont need to generate leads anymore. We are definatly out of the price bracket now. And we dont want to be away from our family.

You'll be on your FEET a lot!

Have someone to cover you so you can POTTY and EAT!

Give some kind gimmick as a favor: I like tiny buttons (like flare).

Draw people in with a HUGE portrait then with something of interest.

I echo the previous suggestions about target market

Thanks for all the advice so far! In general, I agree with the carnival/target market sentiment. This is a fairly well-to-do town, though, and one that I'm definitely trying to target. In speaking with folks who have participated in the business fair before, they said it was an excellent way to meet a lot of people and since I'm relatively new to the business, I'm hoping it will be a good opportunity to get my name out there...and have people see my work BIG!

Love the suggestions for advertising on the blog, gift certificates and flair, though. (They'll each need at least 15 pieces, right?)