AOH June Meeting Notes

AOH MEETING NOTES JUNE 15th

We had another close to record breaking attendance at the June meeting! With several new members and some returning newish members we had a really busy and productive couple of hours.

Mitch Cohen (owner http://FirstSaturdayArtsMarket.com,
stopped in, much to our surprise and delight. He suggested we could go to www.gravyballs.com to sign up for his mailing list with Art Valet.

There were lots of questions and answers for our topic of Marketing our Business through Online Social Media.

Here are a few of the suggestions:
1. Start with two social media (instead of several) such as Facebook or Twitter and a blogspot or a newsletter format such as Constant Constant. Other suggested sites: The Hive – artisans from around - and the Tumblr (microblogging).

2. Utillize the widgets such as Google Analytics on Etsy, Open Graph (open posting) on Etsy, Feed Burner RSS which sends auto emails with real time comments/updates, QR code on Smart Phone (I hope I got that right).

3. Put yourself out there through your blogs, Facebook, Twitter, newsletters, etc. by showing who you are, what your interests are.

4. Various ways to do this: sharing experiences, giving how-to’s with your area of expertise, sharing your successes and failures, networking by involvment in other’s sites/blogs, promoting and showing interest in and promoting other’s businesses, offering/selling e-books. Many people will follow a blog which holds their interest: ex. Cat lovers, travel, social concerns, photography. For those who are allergic to blogging there are those who can be bought to do it for you. I think I fall into that category!

Thanks Amanda Howe, a professional in Social Media, for your very helpful advice and concrete ideas, and those other’s who were helpful.

We voted to have our Fall Show on October 22. I’ve reserved, tentatively, Bethany Christian Church (where we had it in 2010) for this date. If we decide on another place at the next meeting, I’ll cancel right away so as not to inconvenience Bethany. Café Boeme was suggested by several people to be preferable to a church setting – one reason being that the restaurant has their own following which translated into a fairly reliable art show attendees. One or more artisan at the meeting has experienced a successful art show at Café Boeme. Also the location is in an artsy area where there tend to be more art followers and buyers. Valerie will report on this possibility. Other places mentioned for the same reasons above: Griff’s Shenanigans Café, Antidote, Down House, Kitchen Incubator. If anyone else has a strong possibility for a prospective location it needs to be brought forward with details and availability at our July meeting.

Our next meeting will be Wed. July 20th at (again – Yay) The Black Labradore on Montrose, 7:00.

The Topic will be Technical/Computer help for your Online Business. The Black Lab has WIFI so bring your laptops, notebooks, I-Pads so we can be hands-on. If you don’t feel you need help please come to help others and to give input about our October Show! Examples of what we can learn/teach at the July meeting can be found above under Number 2.

Special AOH May Meeting with Guest Speaker: Mitch Cohen!

The fabulous Mitch Cohen, Manager and Founder of the First Saturday Arts Market (FSAM), will be joining us at our May Meeting!

Mitch will be there to talk about his future plans for the FSAM(http://www.firstsaturdayartsmarket.com/), and for world art domination! Don't miss this chance to ask his advice, and to hear some great anecdotes from FSAM years past and present...

Meeting Information:

Tuesday, 17 May 2011
7-9:00 pm

Cafe Express Uptown Park
1101 Uptown Park Blvd (Galleria area)
Houston, TX 77056

We generally gather in the side room to the left as you're facing the ordering/serving counter. This is an informal meeting, and you are of course welcome to eat- we encourage it!

Here is the link to the Facebook Invitation:https://www.facebook.com/culturedcrittercollective#!/event.php?eid=142981925772958

Guest Speaker at our May AOH Meeting!

Great news everyone!

Mitch Cohen, Founder and Manager of the First Saturday Arts Market, has agreed to be our featured speaker at the next Artisans of Houston Meeting. Please save the date and time:

Tuesday, 17 May 2011 from 7-9:00 pm. Location is TBA- more info soon!

Houston Artisans 101

Note: To join Artisans of Houston, just come to a meeting! We have a form with some basic information for you to fill out, and we have a $25 annual membership fee (paid when you join, and in subsequent years in September).

Nuts and Bolts

• This blog is for keeping track of upcoming meetings and events.
• Team tag for ETSY shop listing is houstonartteam Nice to suggest searching the term in shop appearance. :) The Artisans tag should be added in addition to other street team tags such as teametsytx. You may find this tag used by members on other sites such as Artfire as well.
  
• We meet face to face and do team emailings .To get the benefit of these things, you must participate. Other team members are willing to HELP, but are not responsible to do things for you. We are all busy adults.
• Bring lots of business cards to the meetings to give to other team members, you are also encouraged to bring examples of your handmade items. We don't sell at our meetings, and time to share work is limited, in general done after the business meeting. A notepad is a great idea. Meetings will move to
  The Forum
  777 N Post Oak Rd
  Houston, TX 77024 Meetings are scheduled for the 3rd Tuesday of each month to simplify planning for all of us.
  

It gets long, but does add information, so if you're curious...
Our group started as an Etsy team for the Houston area in the spring of 2008, but is now an independent Houston area handmade arts and crafts trade association.

1. This blog is to keep members in touch with team news, and also to help people find our team.
2. At the meetings (which will be posted ahead of time on this blog) we meet and greet, and discuss current business, share events for selling that are coming, bring contact information, and alert each other to ways to improve our online shops.
   
3. Although we'd like for people to attend every meeting, Houston is spread over a huge geographical area. So in addition to the blog, we get people's email addresses and add them to a distribution list. Messages to remind about upcoming meetings, or vote about a topic that came up for discussion. Decisions are generally made by members attending that months meeting, rather than polling everyone.
   
4. We will be meeting at The Forum,777 N Post Oak Rd, Houston, TX 77024. Meetings are held on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, beginning at 7 pm.
5. New members are sent an invitation to post to this blog. Attendance of at least one face to face meeting is required for that to happen. Blog administrators reserve the right to remove that invitation for inappropriate posts. We encourage members to post, and include tags as a part of their post.
6. Generally, we do not email to answer questions posted to this blog. We also welcome members who do not yet have an Etsy shop.
7. Our meetings begin at 7:00 and our new location at the Forum is not a restaurant, so if you need supper at that time, feel free to bring food in to eat at the meeting. Most of us leave by around 9:00, but you can leave earlier if needed. :)