Archive for November, 2010

Fun for the Whole Family

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

Last weekend I was at the 2010 Grad and Wedding Expo at Rotary Centre for the Arts in Kelowna, BC. There were hundreds of booths and a big fashion show, but the most memorable and fun part of the show were the interactive booths by Voth Photography and Okanagan Digital Media Productions. (Oh and I also loved the booth by Cupcasions where we got to try two kinds of cupcakes. Yum!)



Okanagan Digital Media Productions
and Okanagan Photo Booths are owned by videographer/editor/producer John Thiessen. To attract a crowd to his display, he brought a portable photo booth with him to the show. It worked! Moms, daughters, brides, grooms, best friends, all were lining up to take photos in his photo booth. I didn’t even realize how much fun it would be until I was given our photos. They are so cool. This was definitely a highlight of the show.

The brilliant part about his marketing plan is that every single person who visited his booth and got their pictures taken went home with photo-strips with his website and phone number on them! I’m sure I’m not the only one who looked up his website and posted my photo-strip on facebook.

I’m especially pleased to announce that an Okanagan Photo Booth is going to be at the public viewing of our Gingerbread House Building Competition at Parkinson Rec Centre in Kelowna, BC from 5-7pm on Sunday, November 21st! John is donating the booth and his time to our event. This will be so much fun for the whole family! Be sure to come on out to see the Gingerbread Houses and to get your pictures taken in the photo booth. For a small (optional) donation of your choice you can get your pictures taken and you get to take home the photo-strip! Partial proceeds will be donated to the Okanagan Boys and Girls Clubs.

okanaganphotobooths.com


The other booth at the trade show which ties for the most fun, in my opinion, was Voth Photography. Sean and Melissa are a husband and wife photography team based out of Penticton. They do professional photo shoots from the Okanagan Valley to Vancouver. In their booth they had a basket of props and a big art deco backdrop to take people’s pictures for a facebook contest. They also had black on white signs which you could hold up for effect which said things such as “Where’s the cake?”, “Wedding Crasher” or “Off the Market”.

The brilliant part about their marketing plan is that their facebook contest not only gains them lots of exposure from contestants sharing and tagging the photos, but it also generates likes on their facebook fan page from the contestants and their friends. Expanding your network is a key strategy in any marketing plan but especially important with social media.

Contestants are likely to promote this contest not only on facebook, but on their blogs too as I’m doing here…

The prize for the facebook contest is not one but TWO photo sessions. I would LOVE to win this. It would be so much fun! If you are on facebook and you would like to help me win all you have to do is go to the Voth Photography Facebook Fan Page, “like” their page and then tag yourself in our photo. Please let me know if you do these steps so that I can keep track of our ‘votes’. Thank you! :)

Click this picture to see my photo on the fan page:

Voth Photography


Have you ever had a booth at a trade show or art fair? What have you done to gain exposure at your booth?

If you’d like to read a story about what I did to draw attention to my booth at the Sun Peaks Arts and Culture Festival last winter, you might be interested in these blog posts:

“Attracting People with Watercolour Magic”
“Unveiling the Magic of Watercolour”

Gingerbread Competition

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

I love it when people prove to me that dreams can come true. My fiancé has been dreaming of a Gingerbread House Building Competition for the last 4 years and this year he is making it happen.

Our vision is for this  premier event to begin a Kelowna tradition and annual competition to support the Okanagan Boys and Girls Club and the local community. With the support from local chefs, we aim to display some of the amazing talent found in the Okanagan Valley.

Our event takes place on Sunday, November 21st at Parkinson Recreation Centre in Kelowna, BC. The packaged kit category commences at 10am and at the same time people can start dropping off their open category creations. The public viewing will take place from 5-8pm. See the full schedule…

If you’d like to participate in this event, please visit the Registration page of our site. Sponsorship and donation opportunities are also available. Partial proceeds from this event will be donated to the Okanagan Boys and Girls Clubs and all of the non-perishable food donations we receive will go towards their Christmas hampers.

All of the information you need to become a sponsor, a participant or a spectator can be found on our website at: gingerbreadcompetition.ca.

Gingerbread House Building Competition

Let us know if you have any questions by emailing Clinton at chairman at gingerbreadcompetition dot ca.

We would be pleased to hear any feedback you have including where you first heard of this event. If you live in the Okanagan you may have heard ads on the radio from our media sponsors at SilkFM, SunFM and AM1150! Have you seen our website, our twitter page, posters, facebook page, flyers, or facebook event? Or is this the first place you are reading about it?

facebook eventAre you on Facebook? Visit our facebook page!

Hope to see you there!

Open Studio Show

Monday, November 8th, 2010

When I moved into my art studio in August 2007 it was like a dream come true, and about 10 years earlier than expected. It was one of those things where I couldn’t really afford it, but I couldn’t afford not to either. The amazing part was that I did not seek this studio out, the opportunity presented itself to me almost like a gift from the Universe.

When I first moved into my studio I sent out an email inviting people to a watercolour workshop.

Shots of the studio before I moved in and after I set it up for my workshop.

I received an email back from Carrie Harper, an artist who I had never met but who was on my mailing list from a mutual contact a few years back. Her email was short and sweet: “Any advice on Studio hunting in Kelowna… I have been looking for a while and finding spaces very expensive. Thanks.” I wrote back to her saying that I didn’t really know of any studios for rent.

Then only a couple of weeks later my studio partner told me that she was going to have to move out. I called Carrie up and asked her if she was still looking for a studio space. She came to see the studio and she couldn’t have been more excited or a more perfect partner for me. We get along so great, it’s like we are soul sisters.

Every November Carrie and I put together a Christmas Studio Show so that our friends and family can see what we have been creating throughout the year. It has been a joy to have our neighbour Nikki Balfour open her doors and join in on the events. We love the atmosphere of having both studios open where the guests can flow through from one room to the other.

We are thrilled to announce that our show has expanded. This year Nikki, Carrie and I have organized a studio show with SEVEN artists displaying and selling their work ranging from mixed media and photography to jewelry, ceramics and felted Christmas tree decorations! Carrie and I are currently sharing our studio space with another talented artist, Tina Schnellert, and it’s been so exciting seeing all of her new encaustics going up on the walls. You have got to come and see these pieces in person to appreciate their rich texture.

Open Studio Show November 26-27, 2010

We invite you to our 4th annual Christmas Art Show!
Studios 4 & 5, 375 Bernard Avenue, Kelowna, BC
Friday, November 26th 5-9pm
Saturday, November 27th, from 11am to 4pm

(Sunday by appointment)

Get to know the 7 artists displaying and selling their work:

We would love for you to come by.

facebook eventAre you on Facebook? Visit our event page!