I have been invited to be a vendor at one of these Kansas City Barbecue Cook-Offs.

Even though it seems to be a fairly high-end event, my initial reaction is that it would probably not be great for a Svengali Pitch. My thought is that most people would be there primarily for the food, and it would likely be an adult crowd -- not the prime customers for Svengali Decks and Magic Worms.

Has anybody ever pitched at one of these events, and what was your experience with it? SETH

Invited? Is it a free pitch?

If it's free, and there's drink around.. well.. take it!

Seems to me with mey very limited experience, (6 sessions) that the best age group for turning over Svengalis seems to be from 10 to about mid twenties. Of course, the 10 yo's rarely have the cash and have to raise it from the parents.

Alcohol is a great sales lubricant.

And besides - what else will all these rib-munchers be doing? There must be a limit to how much you'd want to eat, surely, before you get bored and look around?
I've done markets and shows for years and years, (not pitching), and it took a while to find the right ones for my products. I'm at the same stage again now - trying to find the balance between cost/distance/types of punter, but most of all, I'm aiming for events where there will be the age group I mentioned. I think that's the most important thing - along with the weather, of course!

Regards,

DCB

I guess "invited" isn't the right word -- "offered" would be more like it, since I would have to pay for a spot, just like all the other vendors. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

And it would be a bit pricey, at least by my standards. While I don't mind paying for primo locations at primo events, I have nothing to gauge this by, so I'm a little leery of laying out my hard-earned cash! SETH

Seth,
If you have to pay and pay a "pricey amount" I say don't go.It dosen't sound like that great of an envent for pitching magic.

Just my two cents...
Don

Yeah, I didn't like the idea of getting BBQ sauce all over the Svengali Decks! <grin> SETH