Sunday 13 March 2011

Dublin Meet Up, March 2011

Hi Anne-Marie here with the promised write up on the goings on at the Dublin meeting last Saturday, 5th March 2011. Mo and I have pooled notes. Please convo me if anything important has been left out or is incorrect.
(Apologies for purloining this photo from a previous post)

12 team members met up at the super funky, Cafe and Gallery, Foam. Some of us got so excited by the natter, we forgot to take photos. By 'we' I mean moi, sorry!

Apart from Mo and Myself, present were:Margaret of Irish Sea Glass, Carla of Ava Rose Designs, Eimear of Ella Green Jewellery, Fi of Patchwork Delights, Elisa of Elimare, Mary of both Queen of Cuffs and A Wish for You, Natalie of The Blue Sylph, Irina of both Kaftan.Sarafan and Project Sarafan, Diana of Diana Marshall Fine Art and Driven to Abstraction and Gionvanna of Tirabaralla. Everyone was buzzing with ideas and a lot of useful hints for selling were shared. Here are the hightlights:

PROBLEMS PHOTOGRAPHING
Most of us fessed up to having difficulties with our photos. A previous post about photography by Ruth of Nice Day Designs was sited as invaluable. It was suggested that a link to this post be more visible on the blog. Our Blog Editor, Brigitte of Purls of Colour, has suggested including the article in the link 'New to Etsy' over in the Category list, found on the left hand side of the blog home page. Any comments/feedback on this would be most welcome.

TREASURY VIEWS
I'm on a mission to discover why some treasuries get 100s of views. If you know the secret please do spill the beans!!! Fi suggested we set up a treasury team to make and promote our treasuries. This treasury game seems to be working for the European Street Team and others. It was also mentioned that everyone ought to promote our own and each other's treasuries by using the provided links to Facebook, Twitter, Kaboodle, etc, regardless of whether you are feautured or not. We are on a mission to get our treasuries on the front page and get our wee team noticed! Perhaps these ideas could be developed by commenting on the existing treasury discussion thread.

SKILLS SWAPSHOP
Elisa suggested we get together to trade skills, something she has done successfully with friends. She has followed up on this fab idea with this Skillz Swap thread. Why not pop over and check it out!

THE YEAR OF CRAFT
Everyone is keen to do something to link in with the Year of Craft 2011 and to promote Etsy in Ireland. Again, please post ideas in this Year of Craft discussion thread.

I suggested we link our current St Patrick's Day Treasure Hunt in as a good starting point. I followed up with the Craft Council who were very helpful and have added a listing on their site as well as tweeting our link etc. We hope to be able to add more events to their calandar, though we would appeal for anyone with experience writing press releases to lend assistance please????

Several of the group are keen to organise either an Etsy-only market event this year and/or take up a corner of an existing market under an Etsy banner. The topic of a pop-up shop also came up again. Interested parties are looking into possibilities. It was suggested that plenty of time be awarded this, ie looking at the run up to Christmas as the target. Again, perhaps this is something that can be followed up with a private discussion thread to enable those who can be and wish to be involved to find each other and to develop the ideas.

We discovered that both Natalie and Mary are skilled graphic designers. They discussed designing a funky postcard together to promote the team, one that could be left in places such as Dublin Tourism, hotels, craft markets etc. Ideas as to the purpose and distribution of such a postcard are sought, again via the discussion thread for the Year of Craft. (eg a competition/blog giveaway - eg send this card to x address to be entered in a draw?)

THINK TANK
The team still needs a 'think tank' to pull promotional ideas together and to write press releases etc. I don't wish to put anyone on the spot but there was some exciting potential among the attendees. Anyone with experience in Marketing, Pr, Press releases, Event Management etc who would like to be part of a Think Tank can please comment below or convo our Team Captain, Letizia of ooak.ie.

SUPPLIES
Box Displays were recommended as another supplier to add to our growing list of recommended suppliers

BLOG CONTRIBUTIONS
Mo asked for any craft event news from your area to be sent to her by covo please. Crafty News is posted every Monday. I also reminded everyone that your contributions to the blog (How Tos, Trade Secrets, Eyes Open Ireland or anything related and relevant) will be welcomed by Brigitte with open arms. Contributing to the blog is great exposure for your shop too!!!

After much natter and coffee the highlight of the meeting was the show and tell. Everyone agreed how cool it was to actually see and touch each other's beautiful handwork, having seen the photos. We really are a talented bunch!!! Some of us couldn't resist making a purchase.

The above treasury is my way of making up for the sorry lack of photos.

We agreed that we need to meet up more frequently to follow up on these ideas or just to share hints and tips. By the way, any team member is invited to the Dublin meetings or perhaps you would like to call a meeting in your own area.

10 comments:

  1. That's great AM, it really was a good meeting and some good points/ideas raised, so now we act on them, our own market or part of an existing market is certainly feasible!

    It was lovely to see everyone's work and the high standards of same!


    Fi

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  2. Green with envy here, would love to attend an etsy ireland team meetup :)

    Maybe next time, or maybe we could organise a Northern one?

    Sounds like lots of great chat and ideas shared.

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  3. Loads of ideas, energy, knowledge and fun at a great meeting. Looking forward to a great year with our Etsy Ireland crafties.
    Mo

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  4. p.s. well done Anne Marie on a great writeup.

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  5. AM, what a great write up! So much to think about...!!!

    JanMary, I've tried to get Northerners for a meeting together, but so far there wasn't that much response. Maybe we can have a chat at the Ladies Tea Party about it and see what we can do :)

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  6. Thanks a million for a great write up Anne-Marie! :)

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  7. Great write up Anne-Marie, thanks for all the hard work you put into the team. Hope this will be a good year for us all in Etsy Ireland, it's great to be part of a team of so many lovely, creative people!

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  8. Wonderful write up, Anne-Marie! Sounds like much was discussed, so sorry I missed it!

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  9. Dublin Meet Up is a great way to promote conference venues in Dublin wonderful article thanks for helping promote Dublin for meetings!

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