Tuesday, September 27, 2011

September Meeting Results

Up for vote was whether or not Artisans of Houston will continue, in response to low interest in the last year. The result is that it will not, so this blog will most likely have no more updates and the group will have no more meetings.

Thank you for your interest and participation in the past, and good luck to everyone in the future!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

July Meeting Notes

Sorry for the delay. July's meeting was sparsely attended (6 people). We discussed technology questions, mostly how things work on Etsy, and off topic subjects since there weren't many people asking questions. I left a little early so don't know if next meeting time was discussed, but perhaps plan for third Wednesday again? That will be August 17th. More info to be posted later.

Upcoming meeting topics are:

August: wholesale and consignment selling: how to do it and how to find opportunities. A number of our group members have experience with this and will be contributing their valuable insights! Will include how to market toward wholesalers and consignment stores.

September: Amanda Howe, a new member and amateur photographer, will be speaking on the topic of photographing your items, using a camera in general, and what to do with the photos after you take them.

If we're going to have a show, the planning needs to be happening soon! I have no information on that either, so more posts will probably be coming about that. Looks like the date is set for October 22, tentatively at Bethany Christian Church, the same place as last year.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

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.

Monday, May 2, 2011

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

Thursday, April 21, 2011

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!

Friday, April 8, 2011

April Meeting Reminder

The April meeting of Artisans of Houston will be held at Uptown Cafe Express, April 19th at 7:00 p.m. We generally gather in the side room to the left as you're facing the ordering/serving counter. Hope you can join us. If this will be your first Artisans meeting, reading the post entitled Artisans 101 will be helpful.

We do not usually make an actual reservation with Cafe Express, so employees there are unlikely to be able to give you information about our meeting - it doesn't mean we won't be there!

CAFE EXPRESS
April 19th
7:00 pm
1101 Uptown Park
In Uptown Galleria area.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

March 15th Meeting Reminder

The March meeting of Artisans of Houston will be held at Uptown Cafe Express, March 15th at 7:00 p.m. We generally gather in the side room to the left as you're facing the ordering/serving counter. Hope you can join us. If this will be your first Artisans meeting, reading the post entitled Artisans 101 will be helpful.

We do not usually make an actual reservation with Cafe Express, so employees there are unlikely to be able to give you information about our meeting - it doesn't mean we won't be there!

CAFE EXPRESS
March 15th
7:00 pm
1101 Uptown Park
In Uptown Galleria area.

If you have an etsy shop, and have joined our team inside etsy, the minutes of the last meeting have been posted in the discussion area. Thanks, Pam!

If this will be your first meeting with the Artisans group, please read the post Artisans of Houston 101 linked from the top of the right sidebar to be better ready for the meeting.