What is an Online Vendor Fair? Info 4 You!

[ravish30]

What is a Online Vendor Fair?

An Online Vendor Fair is an Event held online to showcase those who have a Home Business. A Vendor Fair can be about product sales, business networking or recruiting others who might be interested in getting started in a home business.

Online Vendor Fairs are held in a online live chat room. The chat room can hold many guests at one time and is a fun and interactive way for the guests and vendors to communicate with one another.

For an Online Vendor Fair Event to be successful, it needs to be advertised by the host website and by the vendors who will be attending. Reputable vendor fair hosts will charge a small fee to the vendor for participating and this fee is used to help advertise the event and to pay for the chat room.

A vendor fair spot should never be less than 30 minutes in duration and never more than 60 minutes to be effective. The most effective vendor fairs will have vendors pre-assigned a time slot and this information will be posted online, this is known as the Vendor Fair Schedule.

Vendors who participate in Online Vendor Fairs are usually involved in Home Party Plans, Direct Sales or Self-Owned home based businesses. Vendors who showcase their businesses are looking for an avenue to expose their businesses to people they normally would not come in contact with.

For those in Home Party Plans and Direct Sales, a Online Vendor Fair is like a mini home party but held online in a live chat room. It is important to make your vendor fair spot fun and interactive for the guests who are attending. You want the attendees full attention when its your time to shine!

The majority of vendors will pre-type up what they want to say during their presentation ahead of time that way it will be easier for them during the presentation to copy and paste their text into the chat room. This can be done in Microsoft Word or in a Email and then saved for later use. It's always best to proofread it and to spell check it for accuracy.

Brief Overview of a Online Vendor Fair Spot:

Vendor Introduction ~ Let the guests and fellow vendors know who you are, what company or business you are with and a brief overview of your business. During this introduction, make sure you post the website address to your website.

Vendor Business Policy ~ Let the guests know what forms of payment you accept, how they are place to their orders (website, private message or via email), and about your shipping policy. Let them know up front when you will be submitting orders, when will payment be due and how long it will take for them to receive their orders.

Vendor Presentation ~ Depending on the length of time of your vendor fair spot, you will want to talk about 5-12 products. These can be your best sellers, your favorite products or products that you have on sale right now. Try to offer a variety of price points. I have noticed that most guests like to hear about products that cost less than $50.00 so keep that in mind during your presentation. Direct the guests to view the products on your website while you are talking about them by opening up a new browser window. You will also find that the majority of vendors will play a game during their vendor presentation to keep the presentation fun and active for the chat room guests, as a prize you could offer a $5.00 gift certificate or an inexpensive prize. Vendors are responsible for shipping costs of the prize to the prize winner (in most cases).

Vendor Q& A Time ~ Allow a few minutes for guests to ask you questions about the products and your business.

Vendor Closing Time ~ This is when you will repost your website link, ordering instructions and your contact information. Make sure you thank the guests for attending your Vendor Fair Spot!

As you can see, its a great interactive way to expose your business to others online. Just think of it as a mini home party but held online!

Written By: Shelly L. Hill
copyright 2007

[taraburner]

your info ROCKS Shelly
my consultants enjoy your articles all the time!
and I personally use it especially when doing your vendor fairs! can't wait til May!
Tara

[ravish30]

Thanks Tara!

I thought it was time I briefly do up some tidbits about a Vendor Fair because I get asked that question a few times a week!

I am looking forward to the vendor fair too!

[AvParties4u]

Shelly, as always Awesome Information..
Thank you so much for sharing

[earth gifts]

Great info! Thanks for posting that Shelly!

[ravish30]

your welcome ladies!