Summit of Awesome was … awesome
Earlier this month, Al Hoff and Jessica Manack had the privilege (and loads of fun) repping Handmade Arcade at the Hello Craft Summit of Awesome, in Washington, D.C.
The three-day Summit of Awesome brought together craft-fair organizers, crafters, indie-craft players such as Etsy and anybody else interested in the future of the still-growing scene.
Two years ago, Handmade Arcade organized the first-ever Craft Congress for craft-fair organizers to meet and exchange info, and we’re so pleased to see the good folks at Hello Craft carry the torch — and then some. This action-packed event was super-organized, and dare we say, awesome. Check Hello Craft’s Web site for recaps, photos, podcasts, mailing list and more.
Where to begin? There were demos, break-out information sessions, a mini craft fair, a film premiere, make-and-take tables, and nearly 200 crafty folks to meet up with. (Fortunately, the event was in a neighborhood with plenty of cafes, coffee shops and bars, so socializing … er … off-site strategizing was easy-peasy.)
Al and Jessica — along with Christy Petterson from Atlanta’s Indie Craft Experience and Kathy Malone of Brooklyn Indie Market – led a session on “How to Organize a Success Craft Show.” We had a great turnout, especially considering we were up against such hot concurrent sessions as “Successful Online Selling” and an embroidery demo from Sublime Stitching’s
Jenny Hart. Attendees asked lots of questions, and among the conclusions reached: Organizers can never be too organized, and having a great, catchy name that conveys what your event is all about is worth more than 10,000,000 postcards.
Also on deck: the DC premiere of Handmade Nation, Faythe Levine’s film documenting the indie-craft movement. We cheered for the folks we knew, for the crafters who were turning a hobby into a satisfying vocation, and left newly inspired.
Thus fired up, Al picked up some donated needles and yarn at the Summit’s make-and-take table and got to work on some guerrilla knitting on the drive back to Pittsburgh. Few things get crafters more fired up than seeing other crafters getting’ crafty. Great event.
