Art Licensing: Successful 2013 SURTEX Over & Now the Followup

Another successful Surtex show (May 19-21) is over. It was jammed packed with 10 educational licensing seminars, five to six trend presentations each day, and over 300 exhibitors showcasing their art and designs. And, even though it did rain, the roof did not leak as it did last year or stop licensees, and buyers (some surface art exhibitors sold their creations outright) from attending. Although some exhibitors think that rain does contribute to reduced licensee attendance. Thank goodness the only major problem that happened was after the show. Due to New York weather conditions, some airline flights were canceled, or delayed. That meant either another night spent in NY or missed connecting flights, and lost luggage for some unlucky attendees and exhibitors. One artist spent over 20 hours getting to the west coast and finally arrived without her luggage.

But on the positive side, exhibitors were REALLY pleased with the contacts they made at SURTEX this year according to posts on Facebook, Linkedin and various blogs. Some exhibitors even said that they had steady traffic on the last day of the show which is traditionally "dead" for most trade shows. However, remember what agent Kimberly Montgomery said in her article Last Minute Tips: Attending SURTEX by Agent Kimberly Montgomery. "Very few people actually make a DECISION at SURTEX. That includes manufacturers, agents, art buyers and art directors. . . . Every one else is going to go back to the office and think it over for months. Maybe years."

So the most important task after exhibiting at SURTEX is following-up with all the contacts made. But, that does not mean to just send off the art that was requested and wait for a response. Continue to followup. And, if you do not get a response from the person requesting the art, followup again, a n d again. Read "Art Licensing Tip: What does follow-up really mean?"

Below are links to some articles on what has been posted about SURTEX as of May 25. There will be many more posts about the show SO be on the lookout for links to them on the different forums or google the internet for articles about SURTEX 2013.

• Ann Troe "SURTEX 2013! Selling & Licensing Original Art & Design Show in NYC"

• Bonvivants PM "Surtex: 2013!"

• Dinara Mirtalipova "Surtex 2013 Booth 650"

• Gina Triplett and Matt Curtius "Surtex 2013, booth #345-347"

• Joanne Hus "surtex 2013: art + relationship = success" (recap on what learned from three seminar sessions)

• Josephine Kimberling "Surtex 2013: Year 3"

• Lisa Congdon "Surtex + Goodbye New York"

• Nancy Lefko "Surtex 2013"

• Patti Gay "My Surtex Experience"

• Rachel Gresham "surex is over. surtex is over ?!"

• Shell Rummel "Impressions from Surtex 2013"

• Stephanie Ryan "SURTEX Recap"

• Style Sight "Surtex NYC – 27th Edition"

Your comments are welcome. Please click on the comments section (below) to write your comment.