Meeting Sept. 10th at Kari's Cafe

Welcome! Katie and I would like to thank all of you who came to the meeting today. We were thrilled by the enthusiastic turn out, Katie counted twenty-two. We have a very diverse and talented group and are excited to be working with you all.

The first order of business was to introduce ourselves to each other and to say a few words about our craft to the group.

The up coming shows on Springfield Avenue, both at Express Yourself Studios and at Kari's were discussed. We will be finalizing the list for the show on the 14th tonight. Katie will confirm with those of you who signed up for that event.

The Etsy only show set for Oct. 5th at Kari's was also discussed. Kari suggested that the artists leave their work out on the tables for a week and that her cafe handles the sales in return for a fee of 10% of the sale price.

The idea for a big winter / holiday show at The Ethical Culture Society was very popular so we will move ahead with that.

We discussed posting information about our group to this blog, so please become a follower and check in regularly.

Our Facebook page was also discussed, all members will be sent an invitation to be a friend. Hopefully that will be up and running very soon. Please post images of your work here with links to your sites. As this page will be a marketing page for us all feel free to post your latest line and prices, Etsy shop etc.

Down the line we will put up a web site. Jo has kindly offered to put this together for us, but we will need to raise funds to pay for a web address and hosting. In the meantime we will make Facebook and the blog work for us.

Issues that were raised were:
• How to show that we are members of the group
• How do we link our online presence with the rest of the group
• Will Springfield Avenue be enough exposure for the group or will it become saturated
• How will the Etsy team work, and how do members indicate that they are a team member

We will be looking in to all of these issues and will keep you posted.

Please support the group, we ask you to send out email flyers about the sales to all your friends. Talk the sales up whether you are in the show or not. We will be sending out a file for the first show, it will be a little last minute but please let people know about the shows so that we can increase traffic.

Katie and I were interviewed about the group for the Maplewood Patch. We will post a link when it comes out... or check the Patch over the next day or two.

The next meeting is Friday 25th Sept. at Kari's at 7:30pm for Etsy members only.

Thanks again for coming and we look forward to working as a group with you all.

Ann and Katie