5 Lessons from The Big Northern EGL Bring and Buy

In case you don’t know, the past few months (and certainly the past few weeks) my mind’s been busy with organising The Big Northern EGL Bring and Buy event. Because when your comm has been talking about a bring and buy for like three years, then you may as well go big. And like any event of this size, there are plenty of lessons to take from this one, which I thought I’d share with you all. In case your comm is also in dire need of more than just a swap meet picnic.

Art by @heartmarblecookie

Branding Helps

And by this I mean consistent branding. If you’re not graphically talented (gods know that I’m not), then absolutely pair up with someone who is. A consistent visual take on the event that’s eye-catching and fits the vibes of your comm (or wider area if you’re opening the event up) will get people attracted to it initially, then help them spot any updates you might share. Even as small a thing as a colour palette that you can incorporate into it all will make the event more noticeable and recognisable to people coming. And once they notice and recognise it, they’re more likely to come. Especially when they see that it’s all like this because consistent branding is a subconscious message that the organisers have their shit together and therefore can be trusted enough to attend.

Our branding was so consistent that it was even possible to recreate it irl!
Art by @heartmarblecookie, picture and collage by @elegandfluffandloli.

Small Commitment

After this I am a massive proponent of charging people a nominal fee to attend. There’s nothing worse than a bring and buy that people flake out of at the last minute. Meanwhile, psychology has already told us that when people invest, even a tiny bit, they are more likely to follow through. We charged people £2-4, the cheaper one for the buyers and the pricier one for the sellers, which is not a massive sum, but it’s low enough that even a school-aged newbie could afford with pocket money (and convince a parent/guardian to come), whilst being enough of an expenditure to feel like now they have to show up to ‘break even’. Plus, this money can go towards all sorts of cost, from the necessary (venue hire) to would-be-nice-to-have (custom volunteer badges), whatever you can think of. Little money accumulates without feeling like a barrier to attendance.

Said custom volunteer badges. We may have championed Captain Chris supremacy to the point where both of us now want him.
Art and photo by @heartmarblecookie.

More Time and More People

You can be as organised as you want, but you can never predict how things will play out on the morning of. Especially for setup and cleanup, you will need way more time and people than you think you do. We ended up delaying general entry by 10 minutes because the clothes just kept coming and coming, and we were running out of space for them, let alone time to unpack them nicely and check that every item was properly tagged. An hour was not enough for setup, two hours would have been way better, but even that would've probably ended up down to the wire. And whilst the official schedule had a specific handful of volunteers setting up, without the rest of them willingly staying behind we would not have been able to make even that extra 10 minutes. So whatever you think you need in terms of time and numbers for setup and organising stuff behind the scenes – double it! Trust me on this. You'd rather sit idly until the opening time (and maybe use that time to make it all look more presentable) than to rush. And also, take time to rest afterwards! I definitely regretted not taking the Monday off work because it took me all of Sunday to recover from Saturday.

Just some of the hangers left behind after the event. The ones that weren't claimed.
Photo by @_chrissii_.

Be Firm When Needed

Whilst the lolita community is wonderful in how people rush to help, there really is such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen. Equally, as much as we want to put up every single item for sale, we have to put rules in place to make sure that this can be done. On the day I had to tell several people to leave the room during unpacking and setup as they were just getting in the way because they didn't know how things were being done. Or turn away a handful of hopeful buyers because a tag had fallen off and we had no means of identifying who the item belonged to. Or to remind the volunteers that things needed to happen whilst they chat, not instead of it. It's not fun to do, but it's in the spirit of greater good and fairness, and has to be done if you don't want the event to descend into chaos. If you know that you're too awkward of a person for that, definitely make sure to partner up with someone who can. This is very much the side of big event organising that you don't realise you need until the moment is staring you right in the face. 

This was still relatively early on after opening, before the full force of everyone attending has entered the room. Without some firmness, you will not be able to wrangle a crowd of this size.

You Can't Do It Alone 

No matter what you think in your hubris. Big events don't happen without big teams behind them to keep things moving. I was initially willing and planning to do it all on my own and boy, that would have been a vastly different event – and I would have been a vastly more stressed out person as a result. Without Alice, I would've lost my marbles fairly early on, as well as missed out on some key areas that could've been done better. Without the volunteers, nothing would ever have gotten assembled. Without my boyfriend driving me to the venue in the morning I would've been so much more stressed trying to carry everything. The Big Northern EGL Bring and Buy happened because people were willing to join forces in making it come to life. The least that I could've done (and did, and encourage you all who organise things to do) is to show that appreciation loudly and frequently. Say thank you every time. Reimburse people for their contributions. Give them drinks and snacks for the help they provide and to keep them going. Point out to anyone thanking you that there are others that the thanks extend to. Because there is only one of you and only so much one of you can accomplish.

We knew that we couldn't do it alone, hence all of our branding included all three of the main BtSSB/AatP mascots. (And for other reasons too, but for the sake of this point that's why.)
Art by @heartmarblecookie.

I had severely underestimated how much interest the event would generate and how much time I'd have to myself during it. So for all the good intentions, I did very little that wasn't organising the bring and buy on the day and even in the time leading up to it. There are plenty of things that we've already earmarked as areas for improvement for next time (even if that next time won't be for a long while). But the positive buzz is an addictive high and the organiser brainrot is a real thing. So if you too are addicted to these, then may these tips above help you make your event better. And for those of you interested in a glimpse of what the event looked like, allow me to share an IG reel put together by @suki42deathlake, it gives an excellent idea of the scale of it all.