A collection of helpful site posts | UKCraftFairs

The help posts on this page are in date order from top to bottom. If there is a part of the site that you find confusing, please contact us and we will do what we can to improve it or explain it.

Craft fairs have become a popular platform for talented individuals to showcase their handmade goods and reach a wider audience. From traditional folk art to contemporary pieces, these fairs are a melting pot of creativity and a source of inspiration for many.

For those who are passionate about creating and want to turn their hobby into a business, craft fairs are the perfect place to start. It’s a great way to test the waters and see if there is a demand for your products. You can also receive valuable feedback from customers and make valuable connections with other vendors and artisans.

Craft fairs also provide a supportive and inclusive environment for entrepreneurs, whether they are just starting out or are well-established in the industry. The sense of community is palpable, and vendors often form lasting relationships with one another. This camaraderie is not only beneficial for business but also provides a boost to the morale of the creators themselves.

For customers, craft fairs are a treasure trove of unique and original items that cannot be found in the high street shops. Not only can they purchase one-of-a-kind products, but they also have the opportunity to meet the makers and learn about their inspiration and processes. This added personal touch makes the shopping experience even more memorable and special.

There are several reasons why an entrepreneur might choose to go to a craft fair:

1. Testing the market: Craft fairs provide a low-risk opportunity for entrepreneurs to test their products and see if there is demand for their goods.

2. Building brand recognition: Craft fairs give entrepreneurs the chance to showcase their products and build brand recognition. They can connect with potential customers and start building a loyal following.

3. Networking: Craft fairs are a great place to network with other vendors, suppliers, and customers. Entrepreneurs can learn from others in their industry and make valuable connections.

4. Receiving feedback: Craft fairs provide a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to receive feedback from customers and make improvements to their products and business.

5. Building community: Craft fairs foster a sense of community and support for entrepreneurs. They can connect with like-minded individuals and gain inspiration from others in their field.

6. Increased exposure: Craft fairs attract a large number of people, providing entrepreneurs with increased exposure for their products and business.

7. Personal interaction: At craft fairs, entrepreneurs can interact with customers directly, creating a more personal shopping experience and building relationships with their audience.

The power of optimism on success

Taking a quick look at Pluchik’s Emotion Wheel gets us the formula, Anticipation + Joy = Optimism. Anticipation is looking forward with expectation and prediction, whilst joy is a feeling of happiness. An optimist is therefore someone that predicts a happier future. Both anticipation and joy are considered positive emotions and so optimism is positive.

Now that we have a perhaps simplistic definition of optimism, it is a little easier for us to define if we are an optimist. An optimist can of course have moments of doubt. That feeling of uncertainty, “am I doing the right thing”, perhaps a lack of conviction.

The likelihood of you being an optimist is high, because you are choosing to read this. We have a tendency to be attracted to subjects we already agree with, as they validate our understanding of the world. Neurologically, if you were not already an optimist, you would have already switched off or you would be thinking about arguments to prove this wrong.

Two further words are in the Emotions Wheel that add up to optimism, are serenity and interest. Serenity is a nice emotion to have, being a combination of calm, untroubled and peaceful. Interest is to be curiosity, wanting to learn more. These emotional states can anchor optimists in reality, which is important. At the end of the day ask yourself a couple of questions, what did you learn today and what did you enjoy today.

How an optimist measures success
If you have a predefined set of criteria that can be measured, you can accurately say how successful something was. It is a good idea, to set goals that are possible to meet. You may have been way off, near, met or exceeded a goal, but how do you view the result?

The reasons for that success, may be more subjective, which is where an optimist will always win. That is because the optimist will be more likely to view the reasons it succeeded being down to things that they did, rather than luck or things in the world around them, like an upturn in the market or other favourable conditions.
This positive reenforcement will feed back into a more optimistic view of the future.

It is a really good practise to imagine how you would feel, once you have succeeded and write it down, then compare that to your actual feelings in the future.

Why are optimists more likely to succeed
This is another self fulfilling positive reenforcement for optimists. It is the simple fact that, if you anticipate success, you are more likely to start. When you start something, you believe in its success and it succeeds, it reenforces your belief in yourself.

When you make a decision to start something, it is a positive choice. You will then focus your attention on making it a success. This focus will peak your interest. As having a sense of purpose is often believed to be more important than happiness. For example, you may not enjoy your job but if it gives you a real feeling of purpose and vocation that may be more important than happiness.

Are some people naturally more optimistic
Yes, although it is not all genetic. We can shape our minds, changing the chemistry over time. If it is about 25 percent genetics then, 75 percent is up to you to affect.

Foods that can make you more optimistic
It appears that sugar may be able to block or suppress optimism. There have been many studies on mood where reducing or removing sugar from a diet can improve mood. As optimism is a positive state, it makes sense that there is a correlation.

Good nutrition, healthy, varied, fresh, organic etc. If you are looking for numbers, thirty different fruits, vegetables, nuts and seasonings per week equals varied.

Earn a thousand pounds a year tax free

Starting out as a small business owner can be quite daunting, thinking up business names, registering with HMRC, dealing with tax etc. However, if you are running a side hustle to make a little extra money in these rather difficult times, then the Trading Allowance may be just what you wanted to know.

Simply speaking, it means that if you turn over £1,000 or less in a year from your side hustle (April to March) you do not need to pay any tax and you do not need to formally register it. It is a great way to get started. Once you earn over £1,000, you will need register but by then you will have an idea of what you are doing and the confidence to grow.

The exemption is also per person, so get someone involved that could do with a little extra money.

If you are not sure if it will apply in your circumstances double check you are eligible on the HMRC site.

Kirsties Handmade Christmas for Channel 4

We were asked by one of Kirsties team to let you know that they are searching for talented makers, from a wide variety of crafts across the UK to compete in their festive competitions.

The 2022 competitions are:

Best Tree Decorating
Best Handmade Wreath
Best Decorated Christmas Cake
Best Christmas Hamper
Best Festive Paper Craft
Best Knitted Christmas Jumper
Best Handmade Gift
Best Handmade Decorations
Best Handmade Toy
Best Gingerbread House

If you are over 16 and want to express your interest, please contact the production team directly before the 6pm on 9th September 2022 deadline, to get more information at:

christmas@raisetheroofproductions.com

An expression of interest is not a guarantee taking part but please feel free to let them know you got the information from us.

Be more conscientious

Organised
Being organised is a really good way to reduce stress. You have to think ahead to the future and plan what you would like it to be like. This could mean looking at a hobby room and wishing you had more space. That could mean decluttering, reorganising or adding storage. Then in the end you will have a nicer more relaxing, efficient place to work. The important part is to get it done. Putting effort in now to make your future a little better.

Productivity
Increasing your productivity is an interesting one. You need to look firstly at yourself. You own health is going to make a massive difference to your productivity. You may choose exercise with a healthy Keto diet and Intermittent fasting. That may improve sleep, reduce anxiety or depression, just feel your best.

Managing time is an obvious benefit. On Keto, you only eat 2 or 3 times a day so more time for other things.

Responsibility
What you do and say matters. If you are trustworthy, people can depend on you and that helps you build longer term and strong relationships. If you think ahead you are able to plan ahead and be careful. Being careful reduces risk, just another reason why more conscientious people on average live long.

Seek out all the things that would be good for you and implement them.

The updated article style blog posts

The three new fields added to the blog form are introduction, quotation and conclusion. Having these new fields help you to organise the copy and for us to then turn your content into an interesting page for visitors.

The introduction is a great place to encourage readers to want to learn more. It can help people to know that they have arrived at the page that they hope will give them the information they are looking for.

The quotation is usually a line from the body of the blog that you really want to highlight to the reader. It will reinforce your message.

Having a conclusion to your post helps you further reinforce your message and include a call to action.

To complement and enhance the magazine feel, we recently changed the site font to the more humanistic Optima font.

The drop cap first letter of the body text is added automatically. It directs the reads eye to the beginning of your post text.

Documentary filmmaking

Our aim is to create a collection of documentary style films that introduce the artist and educate the viewer. We hope that these works will help keep traditional techniques alive, teach contemporary practises and offer a unique insight into the world of the maker. With a focus on the relationship between the artist, their tools, techniques, materials and workspace.

These high quality films will promote you and your work. UKCraftFairs subsidies the making of these films and you the artist contribute: £450. This contribution helps to cover practical costs and overheads for the videography team.

We do not want to imagine a future, where a young British writer and illustrator looks around them for inspiration from the animal world but there is little to see. When Beatrix Potter created a character called Mrs. Tiggy-winkle she based it on her pet hedgehog. However, these popular native creatures are struggling to survive and have declined by about 50 percent in the last thirty years.

Are we doing our bit to make life a little easier for them? Instead of using slug pellets (which can be dangerous for lots of wildlife, pets and children), its much better to encourage slug eating wildlife, such as birds, frogs, toads, hedgehogs, slow-worms and ground beetles. If you have a garden with new or strong fencing, make a small hole (15x15cm) for them to travel between gardens. A hedgehog can climb, swim and run at 6mph, travelling a mile a night to find food, shelter and a mate. They hibernate alone between November and April, so should be active now. Having a large series of connected gardens to roam through at night, will help.

If you can, visit a local British wildlife centre to learn more, face to face.

The stats: 1950s 30 million, now 1 million, urban extinction predicted by 2025.

- Leave drinking water for a hedgehog in a shallow bowl, refill daily.
- Cut a hedgehog size hole in the fence to help them travel.
- Make your pond hedgehog friendly, they can swim but need a way out.
- Buy or create a hedgehog house, in case one comes to stay.
- Check for hedgehogs before gardening, twice when using power tools.
- Pick up litter, especially tin cans that can injure or trap an animal.

Also, do not feed them milk and bread as it is not good for them.

Piet Mondrian was born in the Netherland but lived in Paris, London and New York. He co-founded De Stijl and created the artistic style of Neoplasticism.

The pieces of art had no frame. This is because the person viewing the work should not see it as complete but continues beyond the canvas.

Eventually he reduced his work down to three primary colours of blue, red and yellow and horizontal and vertical lines. However, even with these limitations the works and works created in this style have a very Mondrian look even though they can be very different.

His style has helped to influence future art movements, design and architecture.

Craft Year 2021 back on track

Non essential retail has already reopened and since the 12th April, we have seen a step change in the number of organisers adding new craft events and crafters looking for events to attend.

We can’t get away from the fact that last year was hard for everyone. However, with the governments road map aiming to be irreversible, that should give the community confidence to plan and run future craft fairs.

On the 17th May it is planned that further social restrictions will be lifted and then on 21st June, it is expected that all restrictions on social contact will be lifted.

The success of the vaccine rollout coupled with lockdowns has got us to where we are now. We can all help to keep eachother safer by continuing to be careful following hands, face, space and ventilate guidelines. Whilst building craft enterprises to be proud of.

We wish you all well in this delayed but vitally important craft year ahead.

Happy New Year. Our biggest intention this year is to help provide the craft community with more via the site. More can be limitless and so may never be reached but we hope you will enjoy the many improvements to come.

To help us achieve our intentions, we will be implementing tiny habits by BJ Fogg PhD, into our daily work. Here is a quick overview of how you could use tiny habits too.

1. Clarify an aspiration or intention.
You may want to look after yourself better, you may want to become more financially secure or learn something new. Write down what you would like to achieve.

2. Explore behaviour options
Be very optimistic and think of some life changing goals that fit with your intention. So that could be to become debt free, able to run a marathon or perhaps to be fluent in French.

3. Match yourself with specific behaviours
These are your golden behaviours. Matching yourself to something you know you can easily do that will also have an impact relating to what you want to achieve.. Make a debt payment, walk, use a language app.

4. Start with tiny habits
Once you know the golden behaviour you can start tiny. Pay under £10 off of a credit card. Walk, Spend five minutes learning a language.

5. Find a good prompt
It is important to think about a good prompt. This is something that you already do each day. After making lunch, sit down and make a small payment to your credit card. After getting dressed in the morning, go for a short walk. When you first get home, make a cup of tea and then spend five minute learning a language.

6. Celebrate success
Perhaps one of the most important parts of developing a new habit is to celebrate each time you complete your tiny habit. A little dance, punch the air, say well done out loud etc. This little reward will train your brain to want to do the tiny habit again and again. It is not the repetition that builds and neuters the habit, it is successfully completing the tiny habit. Which is why you start small.

It is easier to build a new positive habit to replace an old habit than to just give something up.

We hope this year will bring you everything you aim for and more.

When you are viewing shop items, you can zoom in by hovering over the image. If you are on a small screen, zoom is turned off.

Lockdown easing and bouncing back

The lockdown rules continue to be eased across the UK. Each country is easing the restrictions at a different speed but all seem to be moving in the same direction. The easing of the restrictions does not mean that the virus has gone away just yet. It is in general circulation according to the current alert level 3. We all need to keep ourselves safe and to look after the people around us by being responsible and respectful. The more effective we are at slowing the spread of the virus the better the community will be.

Everyone should follow the guidelines but you do not need to aim for the lowest level of compliance. Raising the bar will help people to feel safer and will appreciate the thoughtfulness.

Now is a great time to be working on your listings. Updating your shop window and adding additional items that could be indexed in Google within a few weeks. Time has an impact on getting noticed, as adding items to your shop creates a new page for each, it is important to list as many as you can as soon as you can. The same applies to events you are now planning for the future.

We hope for a much better few months ahead. Our actions, planning and forward thinking will help increase the success of the community as a whole.

Stay safe.

Necessity is the mother of invention

We have to believe that in time the problems will diminish and we will be able to choose between going back to the way we once lived or to perhaps look for something better.

Whilst writing this post the sky is a pure clean deep blue. The air feels fresher and the plants, birds and wildlife seem more abundant than just weeks before. It has given us a glimmer of hope and a window into what the world could be like for everyone.

Rather than imagining a dystopian future our hope is for all of us to open our eyes and see that the world could be so much more.

We have the power to choose, sustainability, low waste, low impact, ethical and just better ways of doing things. Not forcing our ideas on others but leading by example, living the life we would like everyone to enjoy.

Hope is eternal and with it we can build a better future.

Stay safe, stay well and stay hopeful.

Courage in the face of adversity

As a nation, we are creative, productive and ingenious. We need to call on our skills and knowledge to be constructive in the weeks or months ahead. So that when we come out of the crisis, we are strong and ready to help rebuild.

Let us use our anxiety to fuel our creativity, the fear to motivate us and the alarm to speed us along.

Be nice, polite, resourceful, calm, composed and courageous.

If you start something new, have good intensions, make it achievable, profitable, sustainable and debt free.

You may wish to work alone but you may need help to complete certain tasks. Let people know what you are doing and allow them to help if they can. It is a time for generosity of spirit and kindness to others.

Enable TLS 1.2 in your old browser or upgrade

We have disabled TLS 1.0 and 1.1 encryption protocols across the UKCraftFairs site.

Doing so prevents these protocols from being used to access the site via an insecure web browser or application. We made this change to keep the UKCraftFairs site safer and more secure for users. Many modern browsers are already blocking the TLS1.0 and 1.1 protocols or will do shortly.

You can no longer access the website using Internet Explorer 8, 9 or 10 on Windows 8 and 7 without making changes to your browser settings. We cant recommend that you continue to use Internet Explorer 8, 9 or 10 when a newer version is available. Instead, we recommend you install either the latest version of Internet Explorer or another supported modern browser like Edge.

If you use Windows Vista, Windows XP or earlier, you will not be able to use Internet Explorer to access the UKCraftFairs websites. Switch to Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. (Better still, upgrade to Windows 7 or newer).

TLS (Transport Layer Security)

We are pleased to say that the Craftally app (iPhone and iPad) is available again.

The app has three tools (we hope to add more):
- a pricing calculator aimed at exhibitors but may be very useful for other people too
- a daily todo list
- percentage calculator.

The percentage calculator is new and looks to help people quickly add, remove or extract percentages from amounts. Like working out the gross amount for a value including VAT or a percentage discount.

We hope you will like it.

Have you removed single use plastics

Have you removed single use plastics from production and sales?

If you have and you would like to let potential customer and organisers know, then you can login and edit the items in your shop. We wanted to enable a the positive on single use plastic free rather than focusing on the products with plastics. Each item can be individually marked.

We have added two new tick boxes. One to show that you do not use single use plastics in sales. For example, not giving out plastic bags, not wrapping your products in plastics to keep them clean etc. The other to show that you do not use single use plastics in the production of your products, which included the product itself.

Our hope is that by being able to highlight products that are single use plastics free, we can all offer customers a better way and a guilt free shopping experience.

Turning off the plastic tap

We all know the single use plastic is a big problem and you may be wondering if there is anything you can do to help change the world! Well, it is all about our daily habits. The way in which, we chose to consume our products. It turns out that we unknowingly consume something like 100,000 Microparticles of plastic per year. That does not sound like a good or healthy choice to be making. This is because tiny particles of plastics come off of the food and drink containers also from micro plastics building up in the environment.

Ben Folge on the Victoria Darbyshire show was eloquently highlighting the issue. You can get more information on twitter @protectparadise. His aim is to get each person to give up one piece of single use plastic for a month. It is better that 100% of people make a 10% change than 10% making a 100% change. If we choose the plastic free alternative, then the organisations choosing to continue to manufacture with plastics will have no other choice than to improve and offer alternatives.

Single use plastics are often food and drink related. However, they are present elsewhere too. It is all those little bits of plastic wrapping, you know the ones.

Make a little change today to help the world tomorrow.

Get your shop to work for you

What can you do to make your UKCraftFairs shop work harder for you?

UKCraftFairs has designed the shop functionality around patrons attending events to pick up Click and Collect shop items. The aim is to get people out to events and visiting you. If you have a physical shop or workshop for customers to visit, you can include that too.

To create a shop that works, you need a nice listing with a main image. You need to link to or list the fairs you are attending, and you need to add items into your shop. The good news is that just about everything else is done for you.

All the shop items you add will appear on your page. Items that are marked as handmade and where you have included a price will also appear in the showcase and shop on the site. This can help attract more visitors to your main page and to highlight to organisers the quality of your work.

As there is no limit to the number of shop items you can add, make sure you add at least half a dozen. Square images work best, take your time to include a full description, as each shop item gets its own webpage.

Once you have added your shop items, take the time to review them. Find them in the shop and take a look at the page, thinking about how a visitor may feel about your description and image.

As there is no financial transaction on the site, there is no commission for you to pay.

A Prosperous 2019

We would like to offer all of our visitors and members the very best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous 2019.

Now is the time, if you have not already done so, to list your 2019 fairs on the site. You can list events up to 18 months in advance. As long as your dates are fully confirmed. Why the rush. Many exhibitors will be actively looking to fill their 2019 calendar, so if your event is not there, you may miss out.

The people of the arts and crafts community have the potential and ability to do well next year, as there will always be a market for unique, tailored items designs and made in the UK.

All the very best.

Toggling between the directory and fairs

The relatively new directory pages on site have become popular, as they effectively pull together content by location down to the town level. This seemed like a good opportunity to use the location level you had navigated down to, to allow you to switch over to the list of events and back again.

This toggling between information should really help to speed up your use of the site. Links will only appear, if there is relevant content to find and are limited to navigation down to the county or town level.

If you have any navigation gripes or suggestions, leave your comments and we will try to improve.

Invite a friend

We believe that one of the best ways to grow the community is by your recommendation. It means that we need to be as good as we can be, so that you would be proud to tell your friends about us. The referral page has been available for a long time but until now there has not been a way for you to send a direct invitation to a friend.

Once you have a listing on the site, you can use the referral page and have access to the new Invite a Friend form. When you invite people, that you like, and they sign up, both of you get extra quality score points for your membership. This is a great way to give your friends listing a bit of a boost from day one.

People can only be invited once and can’t have already signed up in the past. The system will check this for you, so it is unlikely that your invitation will get through to someone that is already in the know.

If you can, it would be good form to ask your friend if they would be interested before you send the message, so they are expecting it.

Please feel free to comment and make suggestions for improvements.

Introducing the Craft Directory

Over the years we have added several new ways for people to find listings added by members. The most recent is the Craft Directory.

The Craft Directory pulls all the different listing types together into one easy to navigate list. When you first enter the directory, you will see the countries and categories, along the top. Click on the link you want to follow and away you go. Then select a region, county and down to town level.

We have pulled everything together so that we can focus on some new functionality, to help visitors to find your listings. Not if they are looking specifically for you but if they find that you are near to them.

We feel that location and local contacts are key to the success of any business.

Let us know if you have any comments.

Print an A4 poster based on your listing

When you add or link to events you are attending, you can print out an A4 poster to put up on notice boards, in shop windows or hand out to customers.

The best part about it, is you don’t need to do anything more than just print it out. We pull in your main image, business name, biography, and in addition, up to seven items from your shop window.

The page will list up to six events.

All you need to do is: log in, go to the referral page, click the link to the A4 leaflet then print.

This is a fully automated service, aimed at all members of the site. If the page does not look good for you or you have some suggestions for further improvements, we would love to hear from you. Just add a comment below.

Accessability and disability

If you were in Motherwell in North Lanarkshire on Thursday 28 June, you would know that summer was here. As the temperature was 33.2 degrees centigrade. The hottest temperature ever recorded for Scotland. Let us hope the good weather continues for all those outdoor events in the book. It can be an issue for indoor events as footfall can suffer on those nice lazy days.

Disability in the UK and Internet use
We have always had a focus on accessibility, it just makes sense to make the extra effort. Not all disabilities affect peoples internet use, but many things do, so we do what we can make using the site easier. These include checking colour contrast, font sizes, naming things and having alternative text to name but a few. The good news is that when you add your content, you do not need to worry, unlike when you create your own website.

Did you know that you have a legal obligation in the UK to make your own website accessible, otherwise you would be seen as discriminating against people?

Spring Craft Fairs are on the March

It may have been snowing and freezing lately but Spring is on its way.

We hope that you have listed all your craft fairs or booked places for events to attend. Now is most definitely the time.

Looking through the calendar, there is a lot on during March. Mothers Day is on 11th March. St Patricks Day is on 17th March. 20th March is officially the first day of Spring - Vernal or March equinox. Do not forget to put your clocks forward 25th March. Then some great shows for Easter with Good Friday on 30 March this year.

Lots hope for some great weather during Spring and a great time to be crafting.

7 tips for a prosperous New Year

Now that the New Year is upon us, we a raring to go. We are actively looking for new events to attract to the site, promoting members and coming up with new functionality and services. As always, if you have something you would like to say, we are here to listen, just use the site contact us form for a quick response.

Here are our seven tips for making this year a better year than last year.

1: Get tidy. You do not have to wait for Spring. Now is the time to have a clear out. Sell or give away things you do not use or need. Through away anything broken or damaged. Tidy up what is left. Replace the things you need.

2: Get organised. This is not far from getting tidy, but it is perhaps more about a little change in behaviour. Let us say for example you do online banking, but you also receive paper copies of your statements. Perhaps going paperless will save you time and effort. That you could use for checking items rather than just filling them.

3. Prepare. Think about your year ahead and set yourself three realistic goals. Write them down, so you can look at them every day. It takes a while for a habit to form, so repeating an action each day will burn them into your memory.

4. Act. You know, those little jobs that only take a few minutes to fix but have been bothering you for ages. Removing a distraction or irritation will help you focus.

5. Look forwards. Occasionally the past can be a bit of a burden. You need to be mindful of your current position and where you want to be. Your idea of prosperity may be smiling more often, feeling well and enjoying yourself. This may require more effort than just making a few additional pounds. Just remember you must earn two pounds for every pound you spend. So, going forward, try to reduce your outgoings to increase your disposable income.

6. Be wise. Wisdom is not an easy path. You need to reduce impulsive behaviours and replace them with thoughtful contemplative positive actions. We all make mistakes, some of which we may regret for a long time. However, look at tip five and move on. The mistake may have been a loan or credit card, if could have been signing up for the three-year contract because it seemed reasonable or important at the time. What is important is that you act and do not keep making the same mistakes again and again.

7. Learn to delegate. If like Atlas the world is on your shoulders, it is more than likely that you put it there. If these words sound familiar to you then you need to make a change - it is quicker it I do it myself, I know I will make a better job of it myself, the only way I know it is right is if I do it myself. Delegation can be hard, it can mean compromise and having to repair mistakes. However, without delegation you cannot grow beyond your own abilities.

One extra thing to look at is routine. It is important to most people to create a positive routine that helps you attain your goals. Removing negative habits is a positive step.

Happy New Year.

Adding your 2018 events

It may seem strange to be thinking about next year, whilst you are in the busiest part of this year. However, many people have already started listing their confirmed dates for next year.

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. if you already know some if not all the dates, times and locations of the craft events. There are lots of exhibitors that like to book up their calendars many months in advance. The longer your events are listed the better placed they can be in search engines.

You can add events to the site up to 18 months in advance, so it is not a problem to be listing events all the way to Christmas 2018. In addition, as there is no limit to the number of events you can add and no additional costs.

We look forward to seeing all your future craft events listed.

Craft Blog Posts

This week, we have been improving the craft blog section.

We feel that the blogs are a great way for you to communicate your story to the world. So we have added a few tips on the craft blog search page to help you write even more engaging content. It is well worth a look.

In addition, the craft blog search page has had a Spring clean (in Summer) to make it a little cleaner.

What can you expect next?
- Comment notifications

TIPS for ranking in Google - It can take a couple of weeks for Google to index your blog page after you add a new post. If you want to speed that process up, add a link to the post on any social media. Especially, if it is event date related. The most likely thing to get to the top of the search result for is your title - keep it relevant, unique and short about four words long.

Craftally discover the latest version

We are pleased to announce the release of the latest version of Craftally.

In addition to an updated pricing calculator for makers it also has a new to-do list. Ideal for a quick reminder of the important tasks you need to complete.

The to-do list is a productivity tool. It is aimed at people who want to get things done. You can add up to seven tasks at a time. Add tasks that you aim to complete that day. You can also include up to three goals. One that is for yourself, for example - walk and cycle more. A second for others, such as - encourage my sister to complete that course. A third for work, for example - attend an event to get peoples feedback.

Will you be downloading the latest version? Is there a tool that you would like to see added to the app, that you feel would be of benefit to makers (either whilst at a table selling, at home making or whilst marketing). If so, please add a comment on the app store and we will review it and potentially develop it for you.

Search for Craftally on the app store.

The makers friend

We are pleased to announce the launch of the new app for iPhone and iPad. Just search Craftally on the app store.

Craftally builds on our knowledge of arts and crafts in the UK to deliver what we hope is a intuitive application. We hope you will support it. It has been designed with makers in mind, to help you to calculate a retail price for your handmade items. Taking into account any selling fees from an online or card service, VAT if you are registered, your competitors pricing and more.

Improved interactions functionality

This week we have taken a close look at the interactions section of the site. Our aim was to further improve functionality and increase the sections use.

Here are a few things that have changed:

1. When logging in, if you have any interactions you have not answered or marked as read, you will be taken directly to the interactions section.
2. When you are on the interactions page and you have unread messages, you will see a list of people that have written to you in date order, top left.
3. We have collapsed the list of people you have previously contacted into an A-Z of contacts and coloured it light blue so it is easy to see and small on a mobile. Just click on the triangle to expand the list and scroll down if your list is long.
4. If you do not need to reply to a message then mark it as read. We change the cross previously there to the word read, which is much clearer. Unread messages are in red, once you reply or mark as read they change to light blue.
5. If you send a message from a site, event page or item page the owner get a notification by email that they have an unread interaction.

For people to be able to write to you, you must have added a listing with a picture, the event you are running or the item you have for sale.

We hope you like the improvements. We would welcome your feedback via the contact us form.

Craft Weekly Newsletter

The weekly newsletter includes a lot and tries to keep members informed of new content and up and coming events. Without it you are a little in the dark. It is important to note that the newsletter is not automatically linked to your membership, you need to sign up to it once logged in.

We have been making a few improvements to the design of the newsletter. The physical and load sizes of images have been improved for reading on mobile phones, where bandwidth may be an issue. The location of images in relation to the text has been adjusted to make listings easier to read.

Making the most of your membership

Take a look at the - Making the most of your membership - document. When you login, you will see it on your home page, alternatively you can see a copy on the about page.

It is currently nine long but over time may increase in size to cover more aspects of the site, if needed. It covers things like, navigating around the site, the colour schemes and symbols used, adding content like your main page, events, blog posts and shop items. With some helpful tips and advice.

We hope you will find it useful.

Self publishers links to Amazon

Self publishing is a relatively new phenomenon, that allows authors to side step the traditional publishing houses. This results in the author keeping more of the purchase price (if they make sales) but they have to do most of the work themselves.

If you have self published already, you will know that marketing your books can be difficult and time consuming. So, we have added some additional functionality to the site to help.

As a member, you can add your books to your shop window. Then, if you add the events you are attending, the Click and Collect will work. Marketing your books at an event is a great way to generate sales, talk to interested people and perhaps sign a few copies. You can ask people that buy to write reviews etc.

We know how much work goes into writing and then self-publishing a book. So now, in addition to your Click and Collect, we can add a link on your item page that goes directly to your book on Amazon.

Event pricing and availability

Whilst adding a craft fair, course or exhibition to the site, an organiser can include the number places available, a guide price, as well as the current availability.

When you login and view an event page, there is now an alert in the top right hand corner, green means there are still places or tables available, orange means that the organiser has ticked the box to state the event is full. You can still contact organisers about full events, to try and get on there waiting list. In the same alert, we include the total number of tables or places and the price when supplied.

In addition, organisers can now choose to offer a 5% discount to UKCraftFairs members. If the discount has been added by the organiser, you will see it in the same alert box.

The pricing set by the organiser is just a guide, so you will know the sort of price you can expect to pay.

You would need to contact the organiser directly for availability information that is specific to you, for a specific category of makers like jewellery or cards for example, which notoriously fill very quickly.

Event venue notes

It is a great idea to put information into your event listing that will help your visitors and exhibitor on the day. Either helping them find the location or answering some questions they may have.

To make this as easy as possible, we have added a new field on the page where you add your event venue. Therefore, you only have to add or edit the information once and it appears on all the events for that venue.

Some examples of the type of information you could add:

+ nearest train, tube, bus or tram stop
+ is WiFi access available
+ parking restrictions
+ disabled access and toilets
+ local landmarks

As the field is text, you can be descriptive. For example, it is a long up hill walk from the train station. Local taxi number is ???

The new text appears in the venue section of the event page, just below the map and address.

UPDATED New look maps

The maps page
The maps page is a great visual tool for searching for future events taking place in an area of interest to you. The map is always up to date with the latest events by location.

It has been updated, so that the pins on the map have the new site colours for craft fairs, craft courses and gallery exhibitions. Each of the pins can be clicked on to get more information. Each pin represents a venue/location where fairs, course or exhibitions are taking place. Clicking on a link within the more information box will take you to a list of all the events taking place at that venue.

Maps on listings
In addition, to the updated maps page the maps on peoples listing have been further improved. We hope to have the new pin colours for all listing types added to the site soon.

Adding new events
When you add a venue for an event, you need to make sure that the full postcode is used, so that the mapping software can geocode your location. When you look at your own event, you should see the [pin in the correct place on the map. Venues will only appear on the maps page it future events have been listed.

Street view
You can zoom in and out of the maps, using the plus and minus buttons or by scrolling (two fingers on a touch screen). If you zoom in to street level you can drag and drop the little man on to the map to see the street view. You for planning your visit to the event.

The Book Launch Showcase and Pinning

A few weeks back, we mentioned that Paul had been writing a book, that we hoped you would all enjoy reading. That book is now available to buy from Amazon. In addition, Paul is adding a blog to this site, so you can write comments to give him feedback on his work. There is a link at the bottom of the site, in the Around the web section, to the Amazon page.

The Product Showcase
This week we have been working on improvements to the showcase. You can now find items for sale by Town, County, Category and Category group. The pages are also three times faster loading, this is a part of other work we are doing to make the site faster and more robust for users. There are links in the breadcrumbs of each item page, that link to the showcase.

Microsoft Edge - Pin this page to Start
If you are a Windows user, you can click on the three dots in the top right of Microsoft Edge and choose Pin this page to Start. You have always been able to do this but now we have added all the images needed for the functionality to look really nice in your start menu. Give it a try.

We hope you had a lovely Christmas break and that you will have a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

A member of the site noticed an issue with some of her uploaded images when viewed in Internet Explorer. The bug has been fixed for any new images being uploaded, any member images impacted by the bug should have been fixed too. However, if you notice an image of yours not working as expected, just re-upload it.

For the past year, we have been changing the site to the newer design, this will continue into next year until complete. For 2017 Paul (one of the directors) will be releasing a new book, we hope it will help you to be more successful.

All the very best from all of us to all of you.

Adding items events and posts

We have made improvements to the pages where you add items to your shop window, events to your list of events organising and the page for adding blog posts.

Our aim with all these changes has been to make the pages more intuitive and your content easier to manage.

The camera image icon (indicating an image is needed) is now three times larger. Adding an image makes a big difference to the quality of your listing and in some cases they will not display without them.

We have also improved image compression, meaning that newly added images will display faster. In addition, they will have a thumbnail for displaying on search results. If you have added images before this change you will see the text to let you know, all you need to do is re-upload the image to benefit from the improvements.

The order of items already added has been improved, to make new and recently edited items float to the top. This makes it easier to check and re-edit, if required. We moved the date and time of the edit to the title of the edit button. This saves a little space and gives you less noise on the page.

The edit and delete button have been moved down a little.

Add a comment to this post to let us know of any other related improvements you would like to see.

2017 Craft Fairs Courses and Exhibitions

2016 is not over yet but now is a great time to be adding your events for 2017.

Many makers, artists and designers want to fill their calendar months in advance. This gives them the ability to plan their year ahead. They will have some organisers that they have found to be more effective for them and will want to confirm dates. Once those dates are confirmed, it is very unlikely they will change. If your event is not listed or they do not know about it, you may miss out on the people planning ahead.

People that book a long time ahead are good for an organisers cash flow, planning and organisation. Organiser that add their events well in advance are really appreciated by all exhibitors, as it give the stall holder more choice. How many times has a stall holder thought, I wish I had known that event was on.

Do not delay.

A bit more colour

Some months ago, we introduced a new colour scheme for the site. However the implementation was quite subtle. Recently, we have taken the colours a little further with additional complementary hues for each primary colour.

We are now rolling out these colour schemes for each membership type. Supplier, Artist, Maker and Designer, Organiser, Group, Publication or Venue. In addition, there is a scheme for each type of event, craft fairs and shows, courses and workshop or gallery exhibitions. Check out the search results or the calendar for example.

We hope you will like how the presentation of your listing is coming alive.

Discover the improved Click and Collect

This unique service helps to support your local craft events, whilst allowing exhibitors to take advance orders from customers. It removes the effort and cost involved with postage and packaging for both the buyer and the seller. It is commission free, allowing exhibitors the option to pass on some of the benefits to the customer with a small discount. With no listing fees, the cost of adding items is removed, allowing exhibitors to show their full range.

Exhibitors adding items to their shop, can quickly and easily make them available through Click and Collect, when also listing events they are attending.

Login / Shop items tab

Try it today.

The calendar is looking nicer as it has been improved for mobile, tablet and across multiple browsers. The calendar key has been compressed and hidden but can still be revealed using the drop down. The page title and the date are smaller and have been added as part of the calendar itself.

One really nice new time saving feature is being able to search for events - this weekend - or - next weekend. These special searches group together a couple of day and display the results.

The calendar button is also available within the new mobile header, so it is really quick to get.

The mobile header

If you are using the UKCraftFairs site on a smart phone or tablet, you will want to be able to quickly jump to important pages.

The redesigned mobile header displays three symbol buttons (Home, Calendar and Interactions), in addition to the hamburger menu.

When pressed or clicked the home icon takes you to the sites home page, the calendar icon takes you to the calendar displaying todays date, the envelope will take you to the interactions page (when logged in). If you have new unanswered messages or messages that you have not marked as read, then the amount will appear in an alert next to the envelope.

When you are using a larger screen you will still see all these icons plus additional text.

Click and collect

Just imagine being able to Click and then Collect a handmade item at a craft fair or directly from the makers shop. Well now for the first time ever, you can!

We wanted to create something new, as an alternative to home delivery but what is so good about Click and Collect on UKCraftFairs? It saves the maker money because there are no commission fees, it saves the buyer money on delivery and packaging costs, the buyer gets to meet the maker and gets out of the house, also the maker gets a new customer.

Makers, add your handmade items and events attending or shop and the rest is done for you.

Blog Posts just got more social

Each post now has its own page! Members can add comments about your post and edit them easily. Longer posts look better and give you the chance add more detail to interest readers.

The new page also includes a list of related posts, either from the same category (card making, knitting etc) or from the same county. Only posts that have a picture included will be in the list of related posts.

As well as all craft bloggers, Visitors to the page can share the post on social media.

Update your own main listing (select from drop down menu once logged in) to include your Twitter username, then if someone tweets a post you have added, we can include your username in the tweet. Whilst you are there add your three keyword phrases.

We hope you will like the new footer.

It has been put together as a aid to navigation and understanding of the site.

Hopefully it includes everything you would want to see in a page footer plus a lot more.

Most of the links can be found elsewhere in the fixed navigation bar at the top of the page but it offers the information in a different way, which you may prefer.

There are now three alert badges on the site. They are circles with the number of messages not replied to, inside them. You will see them in the header, on members tabs and in the drop down below your name.

Clicking on the badge will take you to the upgraded interactions section. From there you can either reply to the message (which will mark the message as read) or mark the message read without replying.

The new colour scheme

We continue to make a lot of changes to the style of the site and this week it has all been about colour.

It has not been an easy task but we have settled on a palette inspired by Rembrandt, Morris and more... to create our arts and crafts colour scheme. We hope that you will like it and find it easy to understand.

In addition, we have started to add more navigation tabs, breadcrumbs and other helper.

Some of the pages have been pulled together into one longer page in the publications area.

The style of the site is changing

We are moving over to a more application based style.

All the navigation is fixed to the top of the page, so that you can quickly go to the pages you want without the need to scroll. Also on larger screen in some sections, you may also see tabbed lists for one click navigation.

The update to the site will take a little while and during this time you may see two different site styles depending on the pages you visit.

When people search for content on the site, we hope to show them excellent quality content. Part of the way we decide which listing to show is based on a members profile scoring algorithm. This algorithm looks at a number of factors, quality content, followers, referrals etc.

When you login to the site, you will be taken to your home page. There you will see your current level. There is granularity within the levels but as you achieve each new level you get additional functionality, abilities or promotions. The four levels are apprentice, craftsman, master craftsman and grand master.

Larger image sizes

When you upload an image, either to your blog, shop window or event, we will now store a larger size version. In fact, it will be twice as detailed.

This means that when people view your page, they will be able to see your products, locations, artwork etc with more clarity. If you have uploaded images in the past, you can choose to upload them again to get the crispness of the new image, or we will just zoom in for you.

Pictures for each individual event

It is great to see so many people adding a picture for an event they are organising.

Every time you see a camera icon near to a listing you have added it means that you can include a picture. You will see it for your main listing (very important picture) and your blog posts, event organising, shop window etc. Adding pictures are a great way to convey a lot of information quickly, so be selective.

If a picture you add appears the wrong way round, you will need to upload a different picture. When taking a picture to upload, make sure that you have the camera upright and horizontal.

The search bar has been upgraded in many ways. Depending on the browser and device you are using to view the site, you may see a few differences but in all cases the results you get will be better formed. The search functionality has been expanded, to include more listings and has more understanding of your search. Make sure you use commas to separate multiple word terms.

In the picture, you will see how it looks on a desktop PC. There is a datalist that currently shows, counties, countries, regions, categories and category groups. When you start typing it will give some suggestions, you can add to these or just use your own search. In addition, it you have already done a search, it can remember it for the future.

There is now a search button that you can press if using a mouse, as well as the enter button.

Craft Fairs and more in 2016

A proactive event organiser will know that adding events early will attract both the most and the best exhibitors. This is a vital part of putting on a great show. Some of the biggest shows for next year have already been added to the site. Our advice, if you have a planned craft fair for next year, is to add it ASAP.

Craft Fairs can get booked up very early, particularly in categories like jewellery and cards. If you want to have the best chance of being selected (as a best in breed), you need to make sure you have updated your listing before contacting an organiser via the site. Make sure you have a good shop window, a recent blog post, the list of events you are already attending and a good description.

If you are planning an event for next year, make sure that you are professional and prepared - get insured - write a terms and conditions and add it to the site - include details of your cancellation policy, make your terms firm but fair.

Referral scheme commission

We have further improved the referral scheme to include a qr code for print media like leaflets, newsletters etc.

In addition, we have built a system to allow for members to generate a little bit of commission, for referrals that result in a new members signing up for a subscription. Login and check the referral scheme page for more information.

The referral link code has changed. So if you have old or very old links to the site, we would recommend that you renew them with the latest version.

Adding a venue to your event

Each time you add a new event you have a choice. You can either add a new venue or select a venue you have used in the past. However, as the functionality is new, only events currently listed have the venue information copied over.

Additional work is being done relating to the venue associated with an event, so if you would like to request some changes or additional functionality, use the contact us form on the site to let us know.

The UKCraftFairs site is designed to work well on multiple devices like smart phone and tablets. You can quickly access the site from these devices by adding a link from you devices home screen.

If you do not already have a link to the website from your iPhone or iPad then you would need to follow these simple instructions. Visit the UKCraftFairs site using your device and go to the page you would like to link to (This could be the home page, login page, your listing etc).

Click on the blue square with an arrow pointing upwards.
Press the add to home screen button (grey square with a white cross).
- You will see the UKCraftFairs icon. You can change the text that will appear under the icon on the home screen, if you like.
Click Add (at the top of the screen).

Once added, clicking on the button will bring you right back to the page.

If you also save your login details, it will make getting into the site very quick and easy.

The referral scheme

We have re-imagined the referral scheme and created a new set of links that you can use.

There is a plain text link to add to any social media post and plain text code to add to an email or site. In addition, there is the UKCraftFairs badge and icons that you can include in your list of social icons on your site. We have included multiple sizes, 32px, 48px, 64px, 96px and 128px. So there should be something to fit any taste.

If you have not already added a listing, you can still use the code but it will not be as tailored. So add a listing first.

To see the referral page, login to the site, then from the slide out menu (three horizontal line) top left, select - Referral scheme.

Improved search functionality

Last week, we launched the new search box for the site.

This week, we have tweaked and updated the feature to enable more complex searches with more types of information searchable. Your search can now include regions and countries (as seen in the local section), categories and category groups (as listed in the inspiration section). In addition, you can use commas in your search to split up multi-words search phrases. For example south west, artist - fine art, south east. The results are very different if you leave out the commas out, as then the search is for individual words.

If you have added a listing and it is not appearing in the search, make sure you have added a main picture.

Search UKCraftFairs

You can now use the search box at the top right of all pages to find listings on the site.

The searches can be for single words like a town name, county or thing, like Blackpool, Kent or Shoes or multiple words like, West Sussex or Wood turning.

You can also mix thing up a little, and do searches like, sewing Lancashire, handmade jewellery or exhibitor Gloucester.

You will need to get the spelling right and leave out unnecessary words like, in, of, and etc.

SEO and listing positions

We have been working on where listings appear in the sites search results - have a look to see where yours is.

The SEO of each and every page on the site is important. The aim being to get your listing at or near the top of a Google search. However, a lot of that is down to you. You need to make sure that you have enough relevant content on your page for a search engine to know what you are all about. So adding a blog or adding a shop window will really help.

The words you use in descriptions are important they need to be descriptive, accurate, honest and to make sense.

Do a quick test, search for your business name in Google, check the images to see if your images are displaying in Google. where is your UKCraftFairs page showing, is it in the top ten. Take a look at your listing and ask yourself. If I was a customer of mine what would I search for. If those words and phrases that accurately describe what you do are not included - update your listing.

The shop window and showcase

The improvements to the shop window, were based on a customer request to display the short and full description of items on touch screen devices, like the iPad. The new shop window is a responsive and attractive design, that shows all the information added.

All members can add a shop window to their listing. Which gives the chance to show what you can do. Exhibitors can include the guide price and state whether the item is handmade or not. It is a good idea to put in a minimum of three items with pictures into the shop window but you can add many more.

We also updated the showcase to only displays handmade items that have a price.

Adding shop window pictures:
1. Click on the - Shop items - tab (or select from drop down by your name).
2. Click on the blue camera icon right (takes you to the Shop Window Images page - top right).
3. Click on the - Choose File - button
4. Select from your computer a JPG image and press Open
5. Press the Upload button

You are returned to the - Shop items - page, and the image is displayed with the item. To change the image, click the image then follow point 3, 4 and 5.

Listing attendees

When a visitor is thinking about attending an event, it makes sense for them to have a look at who will be exhibiting.

You can already state the total number of potential exhibitors at a craft fair or the number of attendees at a course, but you can now create your own list of them. Creating the list is easy and associating them to an event could not be simpler (although you are the judge of that). Login and then take a look at one of your events, there is a link to manage attendees at the top and in the visit the event section.

Only the business name and the type of craft are displayed on the site. The contact name and mobile number are just for your reference.

Any member can add an event they are organising to attract exhibitors, attendees and visitors. However, we wanted to start adding some new features associated with events.

When you add an event you can now include the number of place available to book. This has been added to allow for some additional future updates organisers listing people confirmed as attending, printing table cards for event day, printing an expected attendee list and more. We will let you know once all the new functionality is live.

Craft Weekly newsletters

For some time we, have been updating and improving the weekly newsletter to cover more bases. It has already replaced the old monthly newsletter, by adding the updates and news on a weekly basis.

This week, we have added an (advance notice) section. In this new section, you will see events that have been added recently in your region but are not due to take place in the next seven days. Giving potential exhibitor more time to book tables. Adding a craft fair today or during the week will get it into next weeks newsletter.

The events for the coming week is the same as always. This promotes the events to potential visitors and may increase footfall on the day.

A few weeks back, we added the list of newly added members pages and the recently added blog posts.

Focusing on the blogs

Over the years the definition of a blog has changed. Now we see it as a way of giving useful, timely information to others about ideas, tips and trick, thoughts and opinions rather than just an online diary.

We have been working on the blog section and making some nice improvements for both members adding to their blog and for readers too.

So check out the updates, like adding an image to your current or new blog posts.

Printing leaflets

As well as compliment slips, you can now print leaflets directly from the site based on your already supplied contact details, listing and shop window pictures. No setting up or work involved, just click the link on your home page, print on A4 and then cut in half, job done. Print as many as you feel you will need for the day, Paper quality will make a big difference to the look and feel of the leaflets, so it is worth experimenting.

Follow and following

When you follow another member, you are giving them your vote of confidence. Your saying that there is something interesting about them, perhaps that the events they run are good, their blog is interesting, their images are really nice or that you know them and they are just nice people to work with.

Whatever your reason, you will want to be able to find them again quickly, to see if they have added something new or interesting. So when you login they will be on your home, just waiting for you to have a look at their page.

TIP: The follow button, is below the main picture on their listing. To follow an organiser of an individual event you are looking at, click on the picture to view their listing with all their events on it (you will need to be logged in to do this).

Compliment slips

Print marketing is an important part of an overall marketing strategy. If you are selling items or giving out other marketing materials then including a compliment slip in the bag or in the packaging is a great way to try and encourage repeat business. The advantage of a compliment slip is that you can write a short handwritten message, to personalise it.

You can now print your compliment slips direct from the UKCraftFairs site based on your listing and contact details. The slips will include a qr code to send people back to your mobile friendly listing on UKCraftFairs and include your referral number, along with your other business details. To give them a try, login and then go your your home page via the side menu.

The arts and craft glossary

We have been improving and updating the arts and crafts glossary.

It is a alphabetical list of arts and craft terms and words, which link to the guides and other pages in the side where relevant.

To improve the navigation of the site, we have introduced a off-canvas menu, you can click on the three horizontal lines at the top left of every page to open the menu. We hope you will like it?

In addition, we have reintroduced the colour coding for each section. You will see that heading blocks and the line below the navigation changes colour when you switch between, fairs, course makers etc.

Blog management

We have been working to improve the blog section of the site.

You can now manage all your blog posts on one page. Login and then use the drop down menu (top right) and select add a blog post. To the right of the page you will see the titles of all the posts you have added, in date order from newest to oldest. You can also get to this page, to edit a blog post from the buttons on each post in your listing (whilst logged in).

Discounted insurance quotes

We are pleased to let you know that you can now get a discount off craft fair and stall holder insurance. Check out you membership home page for more information. We will look to add more additional benefits over time. This could save you

Printing a page

Most pages on the site a print ready, meaning that you do not need to go to another version of a page to print it. In your browser just right click the page and print/print preview. All of the headings and menus should be removed to save you some ink.

Internet Explorer
Go to File
Select Print Preview
Set the page to Portrait
Toggle the header and footers off
Classic on the print document button
Select your printer
Current page if more than one is showing
Set the number of copies (1 to start with as a trial)
Press Print

Chrome
Right click on the page
Select Print (a print preview is displayed)
Click change to select your printer
Set the number of copies (1 to start with as a trial)
Select Portrait
Untick headers and footers
Print

Firefox
Go to File
Select Print Preview
Click Page Setup
Select Portrait
Click on Margins Headers and Footer tab
Set all to blank
Click OK

Select Portrait
Press Print

A quality listing

Creating a good quality listing will help to market you to other members of the site in a positive way. Each time you contact another member via the site, a link is sent to them coming back to your page. So if you have added a main picture, shop window, blog posts, events attending or organising to your listing then every person you contact can hear about it.

Responsive design updated

We have continued to work on the responsive design of the site. Making the site more accessible to visitors and member on mobile, tablet and desktop. We have just redesigned the members menus, you no longer have the tabs but instead use the drop-down menu by your name at the top of the screen.

Responsive design

We are moving to a more responsive design that will help all current and future members to take the best advantage of mobiles and tablets as well as the desktop. We would welcome your feedback as the changes take place throughout January 2015.

Once you have confirmed with an organiser that you have a table at a particular event, you will want to let the world know about it.

It is easy to build your list, so that everyone visiting either the event page or your listing can see and print the details.

Log in
Have you already contacted the organiser about the event, via the site?
Yes. Go to either your exhibitor listing or the event you have contacted them about and click the confirm button next to your details.
No. Go to the event you have a confirmed place at, send the organiser a quick message, letting them know that you are confirming your attendance on the site. Then click on the confirm button on the event page.
If an event you are attending is not listed on the site, contact the organiser for them to join as a member to promote the event, so that you can complete your list.
Benefits
If you have a picture in your listing, it will be displayed on the event page.
A link to your listing will be added to the event page
People visiting your exhibitor listing will see details of the events you are attending. You can print your page including your list of future event, to hand out at your next event (automatically updated).

Move a contact to a confirmed table or attendee by:

Log in
Go to your own event page
Click the confirm + button next to the contact
If there is a part of the site that you find confusing, please let us know and we will do what we can to fix it.

As a member, you can now group your favourite listings together. These could be people who write interesting blog posts or people that organise events you are interested in, listings that have a really nice looking shop window etc.

Simply view the listing you like, then find and click on the Add to favourites button, on the bottom right of that page.

You can get to your favourites page via the drop down menu next to your name, on the top right of every page.

PS. They will need to have added their main image on their listing for it to be displayed in your favourites as a thumbnail.

Improvements to the interactions section

Over the last few days we have been working to improve the interactions section of the site.

You will now see:

Unread conversations at the top of the interactions page
The number of unread conversations in the drop down menu next to your name
The number of unread conversations in the interactions tab, in the members area.
Sending a message from the interactions page mark the conversation as read.