What's an effective way to engage visitors at my booth during in-person art shows?

Create an interactive element that immediately engages people when they approach your booth. One effective approach: set up a fun voting game related to your work. For example, if you do portraits of different musicians or cultural figures, have people vote between two options (like ‘Harry versus Jerry’) by scanning different QR codes. This gives visitors something to do right away when they don’t know how to start a conversation, creates a natural icebreaker, and people get their friends involved. It’s fun, engaging, and the QR codes can capture email addresses while providing entertainment. This type of booth strategy, drawn from proven show playbooks, turns passive browsers into active participants and significantly increases engagement and lead capture.

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Asked by an artist preparing for art shows · Answered by Karen Payton (sharing tactic) · art-marketing-podcast · 2025-08-29