Daughters of Destiny Conference - The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

On May 14th-16th, my mom sat in for me as a vendor at the 2009 Daughters of Destiny (DOD) Conference. The conference was entitled WOW Women: Soaring to Another Level. It was located at Chateau Elan in Braselton, GA.

You know the drill: Using comments my mom made about the conference, here's the blow-by-blow.

A large part of the reason I insist on recapping shows is that I want other potential vendors to have informed consent. I was disappointed that I couldn't find the experiences of previous vendors at the DOD conference online.

The Good:
-Every customer was very pleasant. The conference was a part of a church ministry, so attendees were spiritual women on a retreat.
-The conference was held at a beautiful location (Chateau Elan) with a very hospitable staff. My mom's only negative comment about the location was that she couldn't partake in its amenities due to the show's hours.
-Because the conference was located in a hotel, some of the other guests who were not conference attendees came by the vendor market.
-There was ample space between vendors, so everyone could stretch out comfortably.
-"The vendors looked out for each other." My mom said that vendors nearby her offered to help her set up and strategized with her about how to get food and take bathroom breaks.
-A couple of complimentary food goodies were provided to vendors.
-This was a HUGE learning experience. (See below for details.)

The Bad:
-We paid $275 for a table that was less than 6 feet long. (About 2 inches of my 6 foot banner hung over on both sides.) I was also asked to donate an item that was used as a door prize. If vendors wanted an additional table, it cost $150 more. Electricity cost $100 per outlet.
-Some participants stated that they were tapped out financially. In paying for both the conference, the hotel, and some of the meals (all of the meals weren't included) some people simply didn't have money to spend at the vendor market.
-Vendors were located away from conference activities. Therefore, many participants did not even have to pass through the vendor market during the course of the conference.
-The conference was advertised to vendors as a 3 day selling event, with "300 women ready to shop." However, there were long periods of time in which the attendees were in session and unavailable to shop. For example, on the 2nd day (which we assumed would be the longest day for sales) vendors were asked to be set up by 7:30 am. However, attendees were in a session from 6:00 am until 12:30 pm, with no breaks. My mom says, "The vendors were sitting there, twiddling their thumbs."
-Conference organizers advertised a mall in close proximity to the hotel. Sooo, on that 2nd day, when participants were actually free, most of them went to the mall instead of to the vendor market. Of those who stayed, a good percentage went to the spa...which is pretty expensive.
-At the end of the conference, organizers did not route attendees to the vendor market. In fact, they shooed them away from the market and pressured the vendors to breakdown immediately.
-Because of the distance from home, the early morning set up (by 7:30 am) and late night breakdown (at 11:00 pm), and the high cost of staying at Chateau Elan, my mom stayed at a nearby hotel. Had she known that selling opportunities wouldn't start until the afternoon, she wouldn't have gotten a hotel room.

The Ugly:
-I was notified that I would be a vendor less than a week before the conference. To put that into context, on April 23rd, I was notified that I'll be in both the Atlanta Jazz Festival and the Indie Craft Experience. April 23rd! That's at least a month before both of those shows. A month! I was definitely quite concerned about how organized the DOD Conference would be based on this late notice.
-Before completing an application to be a vendor, I asked conference organizers for a list of previous vendors. Although the conference has been going on since 2001, the organizer refused to provide me with the name of any vendors. And I couldn't locate the names of any online. This should've been THE red flag that stopped me from completing the application. What tipped the scale for us to participate was a strong recommendation from a friend (who was not a vendor). Given the outcome of the show, the ugliest part of it, really, was that I didn't follow my gut.

There were about 11 or 12 vendors, total. My mom stated that she can confirm that 2, maybe 3, vendors had done the conference before. The rest were newbies, like us.

I'm very doubtful that we will try to participate in the future.

With all of that said, the DOD Conference has the potential to be a good vending opportunity, if some of the issues noted above are addressed. I had the opportunity to show Jamilary in front of an entirely new audience, which is something I'm always appreciative of.