Etsy Ireland Team Meeting

Yesterday the team all met up in Dublin in the fab venue the 'The No Name Bar' on Fade St. There was an excellent turnout, with 13 team members turning up. After ordering some truly scrummy cake we got down to business. First on the list was an over-view of what been going on since the new year.

Alex informed us that we are up to 140 team members, which is a very exciting jump as I think our last count put us at around 100. I think the word is spreading at last and lots of crafters around the country are starting up new shops. So welcome newbies, don't forget to spread the word!

We also talked of the success of the treasure hunt. Members noted lots of extra views and hearts in their shops, and we are definitely getting more daily readers here on the blog, with lots of new followers. It hasn't immediately led to a flood of sales, but it has really brought forward awareness about the team. I know in all then entries that I've been receiving people talked about all the new beautiful shops that they've found. So thanks everyone for all their hard work!

The idea of getting an Etsy Ireland business card was talked about. Tanya suggested putting up a design on flickr that people could download and print themselves. I'll work on that design this week, leaving a space to add your own shop address. This idea means that we don't have to start messing around with paying for these as a group, and it's up to the individual team member if they want to print out the cards.

We talked again about doing a group project, where there is a set theme, and people make items around the idea of this theme. As we mentioned before, there will be no pressure to take part, but it's just a fun project to get the creative juices flowing. I want to get our first one started this week so if there are any suggestions for a theme leave them here in the comments. We came up with the title 'Creatively Challenged' for this on going project.

Lots of people were asking about our Fab 5 section and about treasuries on Etsy so I said I would do some how to's about them over the next week or so. So watch this space if you feel a little in the dark about them.

We also had a great 'show and tell', where people showed there items they had made. Typically I forgot to bring anything with me, but at least I remembered my business cards this time.

The blog was also discussed, I'm looking for lots of contributions at the moment. Whether you want to do an on going article, or a pick one of our set themes. I'd love to hear from you, just convo me at my shop for more info.

Twitter was also mentioned. We feel it would be of great benefit to the team to have an account, but myself and Alex are already really swamped with team duties, so if anyone else wanted to take on the responsibility we would be delighted to hear from you. The same folds true for a Facebook fan page...Any volunteers??

We talked about Etsy team grants but there will be a specific blog post about this during the week.

Bridget Farmer mentioned that she is looking for more contributions for the Eyes Open Ireland series that she is doing. I think this is a great look into our country and it would be fantastic if it continued, so if you are interested in contributing photos just send her a message. You don't have to have an Etsy shop to enter, one of our lovely readers showed their photos this month too.
Hopefully there will be photos posted soon of our merry lunch, I seem to remember a camera being whipped out at some point. Until then here is a list of links of everyone who attended (sorry if I missed anyone I'm working from memory) also the above is a screen grab of the attendees shop items.
Propeller
2boos
HeliDesigns
TanyaMac
ByAmor
BridgetFarmer
DBJewelleryDesigns
LauraCassidyDesigns
ArtySmarty
NiceDaySupplies
PatchworkDelights
PurlsofColour
LillabelleDesigns