Another one!

Three Sisters just got word that Mary Lynn Carvour is interested in both of our events -- Iowa City and Des Moines. Mary Lynn has been a great gal, setting up with us since 2005. She has a teaching background and gives off a wonderful energy to everyone in the vendor hall.

Committed!

We welcome Lisa Hemmingson, representing Usborne Books and Educational Development Corporation for both of our 2008 events. You can check her inventory to help you prepare for your visit to Home Learning Resources.

Another vendor

Vendor inquiries continue to come, and our recent request for support group information has yielded some results. Thank you, everyone, for assisting in these areas. We will continue to search for vendors until we run out of space. We will seek support group contacts until the events occur. Keep sending information to us!

Three Sisters has gotten a commitment from a Bright Minds (Critical Thinking Skills) distributor for the EIHSC in April 2008. Their books are always fun for kids and adults. Plans to find a distributor for the Des Moines event in June 2008 are underway.

home school support

We are trying to widen our marketing database, especially for eastern Iowa. Please send email to us with HSAP and support group contact info. This will get the contact on our e-mailing list. We will begin making monthly announcements in January 2008 -- until April for our eastern Iowa contacts, until June for our central Iowa contacts. These announcements will keep the contacts up to date and eliminate the need to check our blog for updates -- instead, the updates will come to you!

Committed

The following businesses have indicated interest in one or both 2008 events:

Open Door Book Shop

The Curriculum Coop

To suggest a vendor for our sales floor in 2008, please send a message to us at see3sis@yahoo.com

Responses coming in!

Yay to all those prospects returning our email! The sooner we get commitments, the more excitement our customers get. We had a sizable group of gals wanting us to have a sales event in Des Moines for 2007. We can soon begin to reveal the committed vendors, helping everyone at all levels feel more content about 2008's events.

Open for business in 2008

Dear Prospective Vendor:

Greetings from Three Sisters! We are currently accepting letters of commitment for two events to be held in 2008. This letter includes a description of the events and instructions on how to reserve your spot for each of them. We are accepting letters of commitment from now until the upcoming event. We expect that contracts will be sent for the appropriate events in January 2008.

Three Sisters plans to aggressively promote its events to its target markets through monthly and weekly media releases to the public and general home school communities. The current market in Iowa includes an estimated home school population of 9,171; the home school population enrolled with Des Moines Independent is 591. (The Des Moines Register, December 12, 2004). Anecdotal data shows that Coralville’s quadrant of the state has strong home school support groups numbering in the thousands. Numbers for nearby communities in Illinois (Quad Cities) and Missouri are unknown.

Event descriptions:

1) Eastern Iowa Home School Conference. Sat., April 26, 2008 from 8 a..m.- 5 p.m. First Christian Church, Coralville, IA. Three Sisters will present a vendor hall in a space adjoining that of EIHSC. Conference attendees must pass through the 1600 sq. ft. vendor hall in order to get to classrooms. People may shop the vendor hall for free and not attend the conference. Handicap accessible, no stairways. Electricity and bag stuffers available. Ample free parking. 8’ tables and 5’ rounds. This is a first time event. Keynote speaker will be Iowa home school pioneer Ed Dickerson. All other presenters will be Iowans.

2) Home Learning Resources. Sat., June 14, 2008. 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Northwest Community Center, Des Moines, IA. Three Sisters will present a vendor hall very close to a large state-wide home school convention. There will be no other home school events or speakers in this building. No admission will be charged. Air conditioned, handicap accessible, no stairways, ample natural lighting, and free and abundant parking. Modern building constructed in 2003. Electricity available. Bag stuffers available. We will offer door prizes to increase vendor promotion. Past events have had attendances around 100 people. 6’ and 8’ tables in the hall; 5’ rounds in foyer. This will be Three Sisters’ third Home Learning Resources event in the Des Moines area.

To reserve your space, please send an email, indicating your interest by stating the event(s) you would like to attend. Please reply to this message if you are interested in having an item stuffed in the bags of either event.