For those who missed out on winning you can still pick up a deck of Numbo cards on this site or download the Free Print 'n' Play - where you can do some more colouring in.
I was there at 8am on the Friday and started setting up on my own straight away. Fortunately everything was pretty easy to put in place. I chatted to the Ice Cream vendor in the spot next to me who said the Friday is normally quite a quiet day compared to the Saturday. I took this to be a good thing since this was my first show.
The spot to the other side of me had no exhibitor, so when my stall assistant arrived not long after set up, we tailored the stand to utilise the full side edge since a lot of people were cutting through the empty section. The weather was a bit cloudy, but not cold. If you look at the setup below there are already points for improvement I can see - such as longer branding draping from the tables to cover the bags and branding at the top of the gazebo. The table looks rather cluttered too.
It was a fairly quiet day. I spoke to a number of people and handed out flyers for both Monstews and Numbo. A few children did some drawing. My stall assistant and I decided that there should be more colouring pens and some stools for the kids to sit on to make it more appealing. So she kindly whisked away to the shops for some supplies. We stuck around until 2.30pm - but even then there were very few people around.
The Saturday was a different story, it was much busier and much nicer weather wise - although there were a few cold gusts of wind. I enlisted the help of 2 teenage girls, plus my daughter. We arrived bright and early to get things set up.
The stall next to us arrived today - Pita Pitt - and proved to be very popular. So we focused the products to the front since that's where the foot traffic was passing. There are still improvements I'd want to make in future, but the set up was good based on the time and resources available.
It was a little slow to start, a few conversations but no sales. Once I got into the flow I think my 'sales pitch' much improved and I was able to engage the visitors more. I was careful not to be too 'in your face' as a stall owner as I find that off putting when I'm going around this kind of show.
I am enthusiastic about the products and I let that shine through. I handed out a number of flyers and made sales. The girls helped get kids to enter the colouring competition and did the face paint stencils.
I was encouraged to see a number of people I knew, which helped my confidence and helped me to relax from just doing the explanation and sales pitch.
I didn't get a chance to look around the rest of the A&P Show, but the girls all went on some of the rides, bought sweets (called lollies out here in NZ) and wandered about at various points of the day.
By 5pm we were ready to pack down, the show was emptying and other stalls were doing the same.
It was a good learning experience - both in terms of getting everything ready before the show, setting up, talking to people, making sales and getting everything taken away afterwards.
I'd be keen to try it again - but maybe I should focus on either Monstews or Numbo and not both. Visitors were interested in both, but seemed to 'get' Numbo a bit more since this was an instant product available there and then, where as Monstews has that element of abstract to it and the results won't be seen for a week or two.
There are more A&P Shows coming up around the country as well as Christmas street markets - so I need to think seriously about whether I want to be involved in those and decide what to promote and how. I'd love to get a fully branded gazebo, but probably a bit out of the budget for the time being.
My daughter and I also did a bit of doodling.
]]>A few weeks ago I played it with year 3/4s (7-9 year olds) and the general feedback was very positive. The children loved the characters and were all able to take part in the game due to the number grid on the reverse creating a level playing field - those that couldn't get the answer by working it out in their heads were able to look it up and still participate.
I first of all taught a small group of 6 children how to play. I started by showing them the cards and asking what the four attributes - intelligence, strength, agility and charisma meant.
We did a few rounds and I decided that just a run of 3 cards would be sufficient to win the game (if you're not familiar with the rules take a quick look here), else it would take too long. Once I'd explained the rules the children very quickly got the hang of playing Numbo and were away.
We started with the youngest player, then simply moved around the circle in a clock wise direction. So the first player chose a category, called out their times table and then the player to their right had to answer. That continued round the circle until we reached back to the first player - then the person with the highest number won all the cards, got to place a card in their run and had control of the game to choose the next category.
After the initial group had the hang of playing, the rest of the class joined in. The original six pupils each led a group and taught the others how to play. I remained with a group of my own. There didn't seem to be any confusion with the rules and they were soon challenging each other.
A lot of kids selected the intelligence category since it has the highest numbers - but that doesn't necessarily mean it has the greatest odds of winning. For example if you had 90 for intelligence there are still 15 cards that could beat you (and one other that could draw). I think the more the game was played some would notice this pattern and would be more discerning about selecting another attribute.
A Q&A at the end gave an opportunity for the students to ask where they could buy the game and to tell me their favourite characters. I was really pleased to hear the positives from the group.
Today I played with a year 7 maths class. I started by showing them the Numbo video with the aim to engage their attention, then quickly had them gather, with a small test group to play and the others crowding round to watch. Those watching were each given a card so that they could see what they were going to be playing with, those seated in the sample group got to play a hand. The year 7s picked it up very quickly and were soon in smaller groups battling each other.
After roughly two rounds per group we introduced some additional rules to make the game a little more interesting. Firstly we voted on whether or not to instigate 'hardcore mode'. This version prevents the players from using the numbers grid on the reverse of each card, forcing them to answer the times table from their head. If they answered wrong, they lost their card straight away and it was placed in the middle for the eventual winner of the hand to pick up as their spoils. We also introduced the coin flip. This changes the dynamic - the coin is flipped before each round, if heads then the highest card wins, if tails then the lowest card wins. This forces players to seek out not only the intelligence attribute with its seemingly high numbers. These two rules worked well. Pupils helped each other find the right answer but were also quick to make opponents place their cards in the middle when answering incorrectly.
General feedback was positive. One student noted the deck reads "Season One" and was quick to work out there would be more. A female pupil said she would be keen to see different themes - not a girls and a boys deck as she didn't think that was right - but to move away from the space theme. The toaster seemed to be a crowd favourite amongst the year 7s.
So far school visits have been well received. I've explained the game and taught the rules. I've not yet let students read the written instructions and work out how to play - so I wonder if I do need to do that to ensure they make sense to more than just me. I have two more school visits this week and one the week after, so I'm keen to ensure I improve my delivery each time. I also wonder how to bridge the gap between the pupils playing and enjoying the game in class to remembering what it is and perhaps choosing to buy it outside of school. I will ponder how best to move this side forward. I know children's book author's go into schools and are able to make sales, so I think I need to learn from what they do.
]]>I have booked my stall - a 4m x 4m with power. I think it's important to have my computer there linked up to my monitor displaying the Numbo video along with Monstews speed draws.
It gets pretty hot out in the sun here in Marlborough and with that lack of ozone layer, sun burn is very harsh and to be avoided. So a gazebo is a must for shade.
I'll need some walls to display the Monstews I've done over the years and perhaps be used to pin up any kid's drawings done at the show.
Some tables will be needed to place the laptop and monitor (showcasing how things are done) and also to layout my Numbo cards as I have some really good display boxes. I'd also like a table to allow kids to stop in and do some drawing. So that will have paper, pens and pencils. I think a colouring competition would be a good idea, so I need to decide how that will work.
I have been lent a gazebo from friends - a really great quality 3m x 3m - which is perfect. I've also borrowed some sturdy fold away tables and a chalk board from a local club I'm a part of. So that's great, we're under way. It is a bit tricky to get it all in my car - but I can so long as I have no passengers.
I've been shopping in town and managed to find some good stuff - 3 blue stand alone walls from a charity shop for $20 that will be ideal for sticking Monstews onto - so I bought some velcro sticky circles to place on the reverse of each picture to easily affix to the wall. A round table for $8 that will be great for kids to sit round and colour and a whole bunch of other small necessities such as blue tack, duct tape, masking tape, table cloths for the trestle tables a scalpel and an acetate sheet so that I can make a stencil for some quick face painting.
I've been playing around in my back garden with the various elements to find the best set up. Knowing it gets windy I first tried placing the blue walls between the tables, but I think that loses both some of the wall space as well as usefulness of the table.
I played with a few more options before settling on the below - using the wall as a zig zag - so it's self standing (but will need to be taped I think for safety) and maximising the table space.
I'm pretty happy with this, so will start with this on Friday when getting it all in place.
I will need my products on display, and have about 10 print outs of Monstews that will be perfect for the blue walls. I've re-worked the flyer I did for local child care centres and will have that available too since this explains how Monstews works.
I've designed a small A6 Numbo flyer directing visitors to my website in case they don't feel ready to buy at the show.
I've also created the stencils ready to be used to brand anyone and everyone to help spread the word about the stall. I used a scalpel and cut these from the acetate sheet - which was a bit thicker than I had expected, so was a bit tricky to get smooth lines, but is seems to have worked ok. It's simply a case of holding the stencil to your skin, then using a face painting sponge and face paint to dab through the stencil. Once done, remove the acetate and voila. Branded.
I also need some accounting type stuff - a book to record costs and sales, some receipts, cash float, a cash tin and the like.
I settled on Shopify.
Numbo and Monstews are the two main focuses of this site.
I have been back and forth in my mind trying to decide if each should have its own site or there should be one site with both. I decided the latter for now as I think it'll be easier to update and keep cost down.
I did have a very simple single page Monstews site with grand ideas of a whole bunch of stuff like a gallery with a before/after slidey thing, video speed draws, competitions, collaborations, mash-ups etc.
Ideas are great, but bringing them into reality takes time. Sometimes you need to draw a line.
I also toyed with the idea of a Numbo Community site and built around 8 versions of Numbo sites - each trying different layouts and styles - all self-hosted. Ultimately none of them were right for where I wanted to head and were far too slow to load on mobile devices.
Shopify is a self hosted proprietary platform. You have probably heard of it and already know about it. Its focus is online shopping, but also includes the other stuff you need for a website - a decent CMS, a blog and mobile friendliness out of the box. It's very reasonably priced for what you get.
My single main reason for choosing Shopify was that it has heavy duty servers (and a CDN) that will send your HTML down the internet pipes (or across the internet air waves) at a decent speed. Something I had always found a challenge with using my mediocre web host.
It's also secure - and you know how Google feels about non-secure sites - a nice little warning telling you to beware. No one wants to lose visitors because of that.
The most basic Shopify template is sufficient for my needs - I'm a firm believer that the content of the site is what will set it apart from the crowd. Every website in the world could use the same template but would look and read differently due to content. So it doesn't worry me that this style is probably used by others, I figure why re-invent the wheel - focus on filling the site with good stuff.
I set about building the site according to how I think it will best solve customer's needs. Numbo solves the problem of helping kids to learn their times tables.
In order to sell decks of Numbo I need to find the audience of people who want their kids or students to learn the times tables. So I've created a lot of free content to attract the kind of visitor who is already looking for solutions to that problem.
Once they find the site they can download my free resources in exchange for their email address. Once they are added to my mailing list I can contact them if I want to - and since I already know they're interested in the times tables, I would expect that they would have some interest in what I'm saying.
This is an entirely different kettle of fish. No one is searching for Monstews. It's more the kind of thing one stumbles across and either finds interesting (and possibly shares with friends), or does not find interesting.
I enjoy the process of making Monstews. It's fun to decide how the pictures should look based on the original images from the remarkable imaginations of children.
I would happily create Monstews without being paid to do so. I decided to open it up to a larger audience beyond friends and family to see if others would be willing to pay for this product. This helps validate whether or not Monstews is in fact a good idea.
Since shopify is a shopping platform it makes sense to sell products and make the most of what is available to me. I've added the Numbo Cards and Monstews as items, then earlier this week added 2 x t-shirts.
The Numbo Cards I have in limited quantity in stock and can ship as soon as they are ordered. Adding them was easy through the Shopify backend, I formatted my pictures before upload but everything was a cinch.
Monstews take a little longer since there is an element of my time required before these are ready.
The t-shirts are printed and shipped by a third party - hence I've included a note to say that an allowance of 28 working days for delivery. I'd say they will probably turn up much sooner than that, but since this aspect is out of my hands I don't want to over promise and under deliver.
I'm really please with how the site has turned out. I'm sure I've made the right decision regarding platform. From here I need to find more ways to promote the site and what it offers. If you have the best website in the world - but no one knows it's there - what use is that? Here's to promoting the site.
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