we usually hear back kiiiiind of last minute.

not yet, but i checked my emails from last year: I got accepted November 19th and event start was December 1st, so 12 days before event start. this year it starts December 6th, so if we hear back from them, I expect it to be around November 24th

IzzieButton: Allegory: is it actually a successful event for y'all?

it's crazy to me that designers continue to want to sign up when they're given like zero notice. do you not need to have a new item? If I tried to do that, I'd have a half empty event

omgwtfbarb: a free new item (no new release), everything there on a minimum of 20% off, and there is no event fee. they have a HUGE leg up on every other event owner as they promo it through official channels.

Allegory: but is it successful for you?

omgwtfbarb: somewhat. it's not amazing, but it really is one of those "exposure" things, i see people in transactions that were from there originally who come by the main store quite a bit.

interesting

the traffic through it cannot be compared to anything else, really. of course only a fraction of that translates to any sales.

the various circles of SL residents are so interesting to me.

I have bought a LOT at the last 2 shop and hops from stores I have never shopped before.

(and there absolutely are designers who have been in it a few rounds and decided that they want nothing to do with it after that)

omgwtfbarb: i assume you've visited it, so you know that the scale of it is also a completely different story from what anyone else can do

yeah it’s overwhelming and not very fun to shop IMO

that’s a downside to me, but I’m probably in the minority in that since every event just gets bigger and bigger

it is a grueling experience and the halloween round is the only one that i try to hit all the stores of, i do a couple of regions and that's it for the other rounds.

it is much more of a "mall" experience than an event, even though it's short term.

(i personally use entirely different metrics on how successful it is versus any other event, because it is radically different in a lot of ways)

I like to take the time and do a sim or 2 a day

TeenaBasevi: especially for halloween, i'm always on a death march the last few days trying to get through it all just under the wire! but that's because i'm still working on halloween event stuff pretty late into the month. it kind of sucks having to "work" SL halloween, there's too much cool stuff that i don't get enough time for!

omgwtfbarb: I think because it’s free for designers it doesn’t matter if you earn a small amount or a lot because it’s more exposure

^ and yeah, that's part of it. don't kill yourself on the freebie (which can be store credit, a recolor, it can be low effort) and it's almost free advertising, just the time to do that and to set up the actual store. there is no concern about earning booth fees back, and it's high profile to different people than those that go to the "shopping events"

while i do like being chosen for it (i do wish i had more time/energy to do crazy booth builds just because i can, not even a store related thing, it's 400+ prims and a decent size, and SOME DAY i will probably make a mini hedge maze in the middle/back- vendors in front, and then just hedge maze taking up the rest of the space), i think it's really the

most important for people who haven't been in it before, and new or niche stores that don't get into the other high profile events (though they do tend to not accept super new stores- i don't know the reason but i suspect they want you to have a fair bit of stock available first)

omgwtfbarb: those who participated before already know how things are and that they take their time to inform us. i wish creators new to the event were made aware of that too, since they often rely on the info on the applications page, which says:

"...please fill out this form as soon as possible and no later than Sunday, October 27th. We will contact you soon after that date if your application is accepted." SOON in that case means a month after...

often people are disappointed they didn't get accepted, not knowing they will probably get invited a week before event start and then have to rush to create an item. i usually don't wait and start working on the gift before the notice and if i don't get accepted (which happened before) I just make it a regular release/gift at my store or for an event.

i find the short notice thing a bit annoying, but other than that, it's a good event for me - lots of exposure to people not in my bubble, so it's great for advertising and sales are good too, similar to regular events for me.

well I’m glad it’s successful for y’all. I’m still butthurt that they didn’t accept Nectarine the 2 times I applied.

omgwtfbarb: i know quite a few stores who haven't gotten accepted and the common thread for all seems to be not established enough/not enough inventory already. and i don't think that's a great policy- they should be showcasing people just starting out the MOST.

btw Happy Cake Day!

I still haven't heard back and I'm still holding out hope because it seems like basically all revenue comes from events these days and I just can't afford event fees. I'm just starting back from nothing, basically, and make maybe a couple hundred L / week? 6000L for an event upfront isn't something I can manage

so I really have my fingers crossed STILL even tho it's fuckin.... November 23rd :|