The quickest and easiest tip is to spend some time and create a good title page with a focused outline/plan of your exhibit. This allows the viewer to know in advance what it is they are looking at and the story you are telling with your exhibit. Also, make sure you highlight the special items as viewers don't always know what the "good stuff" is in your speciality.
A good resource to check out even if you are just looking to do a relaxed non competitive exhibit is www.aape.org
They are absolutely correct though. Have Fun !! I have been exhibiting for several years and the best I have achieved is Silver at the national level but I have had a ton of fun !
Ok, you took the have fun option away...so "be brave" break the ice...its a new experiene in stamp collecting. No one is going to tear a newbies exhibit apart...they like to find fault with the experienced guys
One thing I seem to recall from when I was at the Grand Rapids APS show is I only saw white pages used for mounting on....are colored pages not allowed? Frowned upon?
Randy, I have never exhibited but have followed lots of conversations on it. Yes colored pages are frowned on and probably not even allowed in most cases. It is probably because it would be considered as a means to draw attention to ones showing. If such things were allowed the exhibits could easily get out of hand depending more on smoke and mirrors than on substance.
Point taken and understood -
thanks, Mitch
Good advice.
While using mirrors is not harmful in most cases,
if you let the smoke out of the paper the stamps are printed on,
there will likely be some unexpected damage,
especially if the local Fire Department
uses a fire-axe and those two inch cloth wrapped hoses
in the display area. .
"I have never exhibited but have followed lots of conversations on it. "
Yes,
The colored pages are frowned upon as detracting from the "clean" look and distracting from the presentation of information and the stamps. Also, clear mounts are somewhat preferred as the black mount looks like a border which usually indicates a special item. But that one is way down the pecking order of judge preferences.
One other small tip... lay your entire exhibit out before you put anything on paper and move it around. Sometimes each page looks good, but then the entirety seems a bit off. ( from experience ) - I ended up with all my covers on the bottom rows of the frames and it looked like railroad tracks under my stamps. LOL !
Randy--going back to your original post--you stated that the exhibits from your club would be in a non competitive class and would not be judged.With that in mind I wouldn't focus on what judges might like/dislike but put together an exhibit that tells an interesting story that eve a novice can follow and understand,keep the words to the minimum to convey your story-after a couple of sentences many will stop reading-and make the exhibit neat.As suggested by someone earlier play around with page layout to get maximum eye appeal.My experience as co show manager of our clubs annual show for many years where we have 40-60 frames of Non Competitive exhibits and a vote for most popular by those at the show the winner is usually the exhibit that catches peoples interest because of the story it tells and not the exhibit that reviews the 32 different plate flaws on a stamp--these are best for competitive exhibits.
Above all have fun with it and use it as a learning experience--ask for feedback from other club members or someone you see looking at the display--maybe it will lead you to competitive class exhibiting or will encourage you do more and improve on your Non competitive class exhibiting.Remember this exhibit is not to impress the judges but it is to get the attention of the ordinary stamp collectors attending the show.I should note that our show where we have 40-60 non competitive frames from about 55 members(not all members exhibit and we allow a member to have up to 6 frames entered==only one member in the club would like to have a judged exhibition with the other 50+ members wanting to stay non competitive or of no opinion
Just my opinion on the matter==Have Fun!!
Bailey
The members of our local stamp club have been invited by the Kent Philatelic Society in Grand Rapids (MI) to participate in their upcoming show.
We have been asked if we would be willing to fill some exhibit frames for display at the show. There will be a popular voting, but we were also told this is NON-competitive.
(16 pages per frame)
We asked about rules and regulations and we were told "there are none - only to have fun with it!"
We are all excited to be invited....however, none of us has ever exhibited before.
Soooo.....
what advice can everyone here give me/us about exhibiting other than "have fun"?
We certainly want it to be fun, but we also want it to be presentable.
Thoughts? Opinions? Ideas? Advice?
Any and all are appreciated and will all be passed on to the other members of our club!
And thanks in advance!!
Randy
re: FIRST TIME EXHIBITOR
The quickest and easiest tip is to spend some time and create a good title page with a focused outline/plan of your exhibit. This allows the viewer to know in advance what it is they are looking at and the story you are telling with your exhibit. Also, make sure you highlight the special items as viewers don't always know what the "good stuff" is in your speciality.
A good resource to check out even if you are just looking to do a relaxed non competitive exhibit is www.aape.org
They are absolutely correct though. Have Fun !! I have been exhibiting for several years and the best I have achieved is Silver at the national level but I have had a ton of fun !
re: FIRST TIME EXHIBITOR
Ok, you took the have fun option away...so "be brave" break the ice...its a new experiene in stamp collecting. No one is going to tear a newbies exhibit apart...they like to find fault with the experienced guys
re: FIRST TIME EXHIBITOR
One thing I seem to recall from when I was at the Grand Rapids APS show is I only saw white pages used for mounting on....are colored pages not allowed? Frowned upon?
re: FIRST TIME EXHIBITOR
Randy, I have never exhibited but have followed lots of conversations on it. Yes colored pages are frowned on and probably not even allowed in most cases. It is probably because it would be considered as a means to draw attention to ones showing. If such things were allowed the exhibits could easily get out of hand depending more on smoke and mirrors than on substance.
re: FIRST TIME EXHIBITOR
Point taken and understood -
thanks, Mitch
re: FIRST TIME EXHIBITOR
Good advice.
While using mirrors is not harmful in most cases,
if you let the smoke out of the paper the stamps are printed on,
there will likely be some unexpected damage,
especially if the local Fire Department
uses a fire-axe and those two inch cloth wrapped hoses
in the display area. .
re: FIRST TIME EXHIBITOR
"I have never exhibited but have followed lots of conversations on it. "
re: FIRST TIME EXHIBITOR
Yes,
The colored pages are frowned upon as detracting from the "clean" look and distracting from the presentation of information and the stamps. Also, clear mounts are somewhat preferred as the black mount looks like a border which usually indicates a special item. But that one is way down the pecking order of judge preferences.
One other small tip... lay your entire exhibit out before you put anything on paper and move it around. Sometimes each page looks good, but then the entirety seems a bit off. ( from experience ) - I ended up with all my covers on the bottom rows of the frames and it looked like railroad tracks under my stamps. LOL !
re: FIRST TIME EXHIBITOR
Randy--going back to your original post--you stated that the exhibits from your club would be in a non competitive class and would not be judged.With that in mind I wouldn't focus on what judges might like/dislike but put together an exhibit that tells an interesting story that eve a novice can follow and understand,keep the words to the minimum to convey your story-after a couple of sentences many will stop reading-and make the exhibit neat.As suggested by someone earlier play around with page layout to get maximum eye appeal.My experience as co show manager of our clubs annual show for many years where we have 40-60 frames of Non Competitive exhibits and a vote for most popular by those at the show the winner is usually the exhibit that catches peoples interest because of the story it tells and not the exhibit that reviews the 32 different plate flaws on a stamp--these are best for competitive exhibits.
Above all have fun with it and use it as a learning experience--ask for feedback from other club members or someone you see looking at the display--maybe it will lead you to competitive class exhibiting or will encourage you do more and improve on your Non competitive class exhibiting.Remember this exhibit is not to impress the judges but it is to get the attention of the ordinary stamp collectors attending the show.I should note that our show where we have 40-60 non competitive frames from about 55 members(not all members exhibit and we allow a member to have up to 6 frames entered==only one member in the club would like to have a judged exhibition with the other 50+ members wanting to stay non competitive or of no opinion
Just my opinion on the matter==Have Fun!!
Bailey