1. Ticket sales have started. They are slow so far with only 86 sold, but the classes are selling well. Promotion has not really started in earnest yet but will as of next week. 

2. Early bird sales (limited to 100) will receive admission on both days, swag bag, porcelain tasting cup, access to lectures and tea bar, access to an Early Bird lounge at the event where we will have water and cookies, and a special Friday evening class on tea & writing. I will also absorb the processing fees for their tickets. 

3. General Admission will be $25 + fees and will allow entrance on both days. Swag bag, porcelain tasting cup and access to the lectures and tea bar. 

Most booths will be 10x10.5 (longer sides to front and back) with one 2.5x6 table and one 2.5x8 table. Tables will be skirted and covered in black. Pipe and drape will be at the back of booths only.

Trashcan, waste water bucket with filter netting, and 2 chairs will be included.

3 booths will be different sizes. See floor plan for details. This is the plan I sent to the venue for pipe and drape (that is what you will see noted in red) 

If you can use two 6x2.5 tables instead of the 8x2.5 one, please let me know so I can rent fewer 8x2.5 tables.

I will be assigning booths soon. I will get in touch with each of you individually to verify that where I have placed you is satisfactory to the best of my ability. Previous years of participation and sponsorship will factor into who gets to decide first, as well as the flow of the overall event. 

Signage may not be attached to venue walls and may not extend into aisles. Signage and booth displays must not unreasonably block line of sight to other booths.

You are allowed up to 4 booth staff each day.

Over 4 staff members and you will need to purchase them admission tickets, 50% off.

Unlimited help to set up and tear down.

We will have Literacy KC as our charitable partner again. We will be donating 1% of ticket sales and proceeds of a raffle to them. If you have interest in donating a raffle item, please let me know. 

These are intended to be 30 minute sessions for a max of 12 people.

Taste 1 rare tea or coffee in depth, compare 2 teas or coffee, taste up to 2 teas or coffees with more extensive discussion of them than is possible at a booth, etc.

Attendees will be charged $5 for these sessions to attempt to ensure attendance. Total fees for your session will go to you.

Ameristar is extending a 20% discount on exhibitor meals during the event on both days. Multiple restaurant options are available.

Not really many other options right around the venue that can be walked to other than McDonalds but DoorDash, UberEats and GrubHub all operate in KC. I am going to ask about allowing a vegan food truck to come on the days of the event since those options are scarce at the venue.

We will provide volunteers to deliver your lunch orders to your booths between 11:00am and 1:00pm each day.

We will put this info on the website in late July so attendees can start planning. Until then, exhibitors and speakers are the only ones who will have access. 

Ameristar has a block of rooms for us - $165/night. They are not discounted but they are in the same building as the event hall and restaurants. Book through this link or directly with the venue by calling or online with the code TEA2024

Holiday Inn KC Northeast is also saving a block of discounted rooms for us: $100 for 2 queen room.

Please share the event to your social media pages. The festival is at the following:

Facebook:@HeartlandTeaCoffeeChocolate

Instagram: @htccfest

I will get promotional cards sent to those with brick and mortar shops. If you do a heavy online business and would be willing to include promo cards with your shipped orders, I can get you some! 

I will be sending more than just 1 poster. If you would please take these around to any businesses in your area that might have an overlap clientele, see if they will display them? We are without our primary pavement pounding volunteer this year so we need to pull together to make this happen. 

Attendees will have cups. If you want to provide your own, you are welcome to do so. It is expected that you will sample at least 1 beverage, chocolate or other item if you are selling those things. Sample sizes only. We are not allowed to sell cups of tea or coffee or open food items. 

Tea: You may obtain bottled drinking water in 3 different temperatures from the hot water station and take it back to your booth to prepare teas (you will need to provide a way to get the water back to your booth). If you want to have electric kettles in your booth, electric is available for free in limited supply and you may have up to 2 kettles at your booth. If you want electric just for a POS system, that is included with your booth. Please let us know if you need electric just for a POS system. After the booths with included electric are assigned, electric for anything more extensive than a POS system will require an additional $300 fee to be paid directly to the venue.

Coffee: The easiest way to do sampling of this kind seems to be pour-over but you could also use the coffee maker at the water station to prepare your coffee and take it back to serve at your booth if you prefer. If preparing pour-over, you may obtain bottled drinking water in 3 different temperatures from the hot water station and take it back to your booth to prepare coffees (you will need to provide a way to get the water to your booth). If you want to use a different method, please let Nicole know so we can address any power needs you may have. Electric is available for free in limited supply. If you want electric just for a POS system, that is included with your booth. Please let us know if you need electric just for a POS system. After the booths with included electric are assigned, electric for anything more extensive than a POS system will require an additional $300 fee to be paid directly to the venue.

Food: Be hygenic with how you sample - toothpicks, tongs, something. Try not to allow attendees to help themselves unless your samples are wrapped. Electric for a POS system is included. Please let us know if you need this. After the booths with included electric are assigned, electric for anything more extensive than a POS system will require an additional $300 fee to be paid directly to the venue.

If you sell (which we encourage you to do, attendees will expect this as well as sampling), the state of Missouri requires the collection and remittance of sales tax, even if this is the only event you do in Missouri in 2024.

We will provide sales tax information closer to the event as it may change between now and then.

To obtain a state sales tax license, please visit the Missouri DOR website. Allow 3-4 weeks for processing. We will not be checking for sales licenses as we are not state employees. We do not anticipate anyone from the state coming to do so, but cannot rule out the possibility. Use your own discretion.

Friday 10/18: 5:00pm-8:00pm

Saturday 10/19: 6:00am-9:00am - Set up must be substantially complete by 9:00am for promotional social media photos.

Sunday 10/20: 5:00pm-7:00pm

If you would like to ship to the event, there are a few options.

For pallets or more than 2 large boxes, you may ship directly to the venue at no additional charge. The venue will store your shipment for up to 1 week prior to the event. After the event, you must arrange pick up of your return shipment to be completed by Monday afternoon. Shipping information will follow closer to event time.

For small shipments, you can send them at any time to Nicole (2004 NW 82nd Ct, Kansas City, MO 64151) at no additional fee. Your boxes will be in your booth by Friday night set up time. Return shipments must be handled by you.

PLEASE let me know to expect a shipment if you are shipping anything, whether to me or to the venue. If I can alert them ahead of time, it will be much more certain that you get your items without issue!

If you look at the Speaker page and want your photo changed, added or your bio added, please send to me at htccfest@gmail.com. We will be promoting the speakers on social media in the coming months. 

If you see your name in red in the schedule pdf, I need descriptions from you and in some cases, cost for the class. I need these ASAP so I can get them listed and start selling them for you! 

There are sponsorships available at varying price points. If you or anyone you know has any interest in any of these, just let me know. I am happy to accept sponsors that are not tea, coffee or chocolate businesses.

If you would like to donate anything to the swag bags, there will be no additional sponsorship cost for exhibitors and the number of items donated can be anywhere between 100-

-1000. Items for swag bags need to be to me by 5:00pm, Friday, October 18, at the venue. You can send ahead of this or I can come pick up if you are local to the Kansas City area. If you do not get me the items by this time, they will not be in the bags but on a table where people can pick up on their own.

Any ads you would like to sponsor in the printed program need to be to me, Nicole, by September 1.

1. If you would like to have the ability to sell tickets in person at your shop, I can accommodate that. It would only be admission tickets though. Without a unified inventory system that everyone can access in real time, we run the risk of overselling a class. Classes will have to be done online.

2. I will send you a promotional poster about the tickets that you can put up.

3. When someone purchases a ticket from you, you give them a unique code (on a card supplied by me) that they can then use to log onto the website and "purchase" their ticket. The code will discount the admission price by 100%. Each customer will have their own code, this will also allow them to add classes if they wish. I will generate 60 codes for each shop that wants to sell in person. If you run out, let me know and I will send you more. 

4. We will settle up what is owed the festival after the dust settles.

5. You keep 50 cents per ticket sold. So if you sell 100 tickets, you keep $50 when we settle up. 

We have an app for the event, Whova. I purchased 500 user licenses since I wasn’t sure how many people would use the app. I can add more if more people adopt it once it goes live. We still have a bit of work to do with the schedule and we need to assign booth spaces before uploading the venue map to the app. I will let you all know when it is live and what additional promotional options will be available for you to reach those using the app. 

We currently have space for 26 exhibitor booths and 6 tables that will have no sales allowed. We currently have 23 exhibitors who have applied, 18 are confirmed, 5 still need to pay deposits if they want to keep their space reserved.   

Breakdown:

1 coffee roaster

4 chocolate

1 bakery

1 eastern style tea ware

16 tea

https://www.htccf.com/exhibitors

At this time, we are not accepting any more applications from tea exhibitors unless they are focused on a unique niche. 

-------------

Education: 

Schedule is being developed. If you would like to teach a class, we have plenty of room left. $50 discount on your booth if you teach a class or deliver a lecture. This also applies to the 30 minute deep dive/rare tea/rare coffee tasting sessions. 

https://www.htccf.com/schedule

--------------

Hotel info: 

Ameristar has a block of rooms for us - $165/night. They are not discounted but they are in the same building as the event hall and restaurants. Book through this link or directly with the venue by calling or online with the code TEA2024

Ameristar Booking Link

Holiday Inn KC Northeast is also saving a block of discounted rooms for us:  $100 for 2 queen room. 3 miles/9 minutes from the venue.

Holiday Inn Booking Link

----------------

Food:

Ameristar is extending a 20% discount on exhibitor meals on both days of the event. Multiple restaurant options are available. 

Ameristar Restaurants

Not really many other options right around the venue that can be walked to other than McDonalds but DoorDash, UberEats and GrubHub all operate in KC. I am going to ask about allowing a vegan food truck to come on the days of the event since those options are scarce at the venue. 

------------------

Move-In & Set Up:

We may move in on Friday night from 6-8pm. Saturday move-in will start at 6am. Set up must be substantially complete by 9am for photos. 

-------------------

Health Dept: 

No permits required per the venue but please make sure you are following sanitary procedures for sampling. 

-------------------

Sampling:

Attendees will have cups. If you want to provide your own, you are welcome to do so. It is expected that you will sample at least 1 beverage, chocolate or other item if you are selling those things. Sample sizes only. We are not allowed to sell cups of tea or coffee or open food items. 

Tea: You may obtain hot water from the hot water station and take it back to your booth to prepare teas. If you want to have electric kettles in your booth, electric is available for free in limited supply. If you want electric just for a POS system, that is included with your booth. 

Coffee: The easiest way to do this is pour-over. If you want to use a different method, please let Nicole know so we can address any power needs you may have. Electric is available for free in limited supply. If you want electric just for a POS system, that is included with your booth. 

Food: Be hygenic with how you sample - toothpicks, tongs, something. Try not to allow attendees to help themselves unless your samples are wrapped. 

Hello, lovely peoples,

Here are your updates for June. I will also add any pertinent ones to the Exhibitor Updates page on the website. 

In case you don't read walls of text, here are the basics: 

1. Please add htccfest@gmail.com to your safe senders for email. Gmail is flagging a lot of non-domain addresses as spam so you may not be seeing emails I'm sending you! This one is from the website mailing list but only updates like this will come from there. More individual communication will be from the gmail account

2. Almost full on exhibitors

3. Need more class instructors and speakers ASAP

4. Need class info ASAP

5. Ticket affiliate program available - reply and tell me if you are interested

6. Swag bag inclusions

7. Please be promoting the event and your appearance at it! 

Total exhibitors = 33

• We are full on tea at this time. The only additional tea I might consider would be a single origin, unflavored, something unique, or an herbal or matcha focused. 

• We are also full on chocolate, unless someone with a super unique inventory applies

• We need coffee folks. Looking for 2-4 more if possible. What I'm finding is that most roasters in the area are very small and cannot provide the amount of product likely necessary for a show like this. If you know anyone, have any contacts that might be interested, please let me know! And let them know! I am open to discussing 1 day only tables or sharing with another business. 

Classes about Tea & Coffee & Chocolate but especially coffee:

I need more people to teach classes, lectures, and do small group tastings. 

Those of you who have expressed interest, if you have not yet gotten me the following, I need this ASAP - these need to be available at the same time as early bird tickets in order to get the most interest in your paid classes. 

1. Title of class (if different than in your application)

2. 2-5 sentence description (if a class, please include wording that lets people know why this is a paid class instead of free - pairings, unique tastings, 

3. Cost for the class (as a reminder, you receive 40% of the class fees so please set the cost high enough to cover materials at a minimum) Guideline is no less than $20, no more than $50.

4. Max number of students (per the room, set up for classroom seating the capacity is 50 or 30 depending on the room)

5. Instructor bio and photo (photo not required but nice to have)

If you are just interested in the 30-45 minute small group deep dive tastings, all I need for that is the title, and if it isn't self explanatory, a short description. Reminder that students for those sessions pay $5 and 100% goes to you. Not much with a max of 15 students but it's something. 

Lectures, I need 1, 2 & 5 from above. I would like to have a Tea 101, a Coffee 101 and a Chocolate 101 that touch on origin areas, processing, types, basic preparation, etc. on both Saturday and Sunday. 

Ticket affiliate:

1. If you would like to have the ability to sell tickets in person at your shop, I can accommodate that. It would only be admission tickets though. Without a unified inventory system that everyone can access in real time, we run the risk of overselling a class. Classes will have to be done online.

2. I will send you a promotional poster about the tickets that you can put up.

3. When someone purchases a ticket from you, you give them a unique code that they can then use to log onto the website and "purchase" their ticket. The code will discount the admission price by 100%. Each customer will have their own code, this will also allow them to add classes if they wish. I will generate 50 codes for each shop that wants to sell in person. If you run out, let me know and I will send you more. 

4. I will refund you 50 cents per ticket sold. So if you sell 100 tickets, you get another $50 off your booth price returned to you in cash at the festival. 

Ticket Sales:

1. Early Bird sales will start on July 15, pending class info being complete, but no later than July 20. Early bird sales will receive admission on both days, swag bag, porcelain tasting cup, access to lectures and tea bar, access to an Early Bird lounge at the event where we will have water and cookies, and a special Friday evening class on tea & writing. I will also absorb the processing fees for their tickets. 

2. General Admission will start 2 weeks after Early Bird. GA will be $25 + fees and will allow entrance on both days. Swag bag, porcelain tasting cup and access to the lectures and tea bar. 

Sponsorships:

There are sponsorships available at varying price points. If you or anyone you know has any interest in any of these, just let me know. I am happy to accept sponsors that are not tea, coffee or chocolate businesses. If you would like to donate anything to the swag bags, there will be no additional sponsorship cost for you and the number of items donated can be anywhere between 100-1200. 

Charitable partner:

We will have Literacy KC as our charitable partner again. We will be donating 1% of ticket sales and proceeds of a raffle to them. If you have interest in donating a raffle item, please let me know. 

Booth Locations:

I will be assigning booths in the next week. I will get in touch with each of you individually to verify that where I have placed you is satisfactory. Previous years of participation and sponsorship will factor into who gets to decide first, as well as the flow of the overall event. 

Promotion help:

Please share the event to your social media pages. The festival is at the following:

Facebook:@HeartlandTeaCoffeeChocolate

Instagram: @htccfest

I will get promotional cards sent to those with brick and mortar shops. If you do a heavy online business and would be willing to include promo cards with your shipped orders, I can get you some! 

Organizational Update:

Tina is stepping back as director for this year but is still learning the ropes as Assistant Director so she can do this in 2025. For 2024, I will be the director again. 

That's all for now. If you offered product for the afternoon tea/coffee sessions or for the tea bar, thank you so much and there will be more info concerning those items in the next update!

Thanks,

Nicole

Hello, lovely peoples,

Here are your updates for August. I will also add any pertinent ones to the Exhibitor Updates page on the website. Remember also that the FAQ on that page has items grouped by topic and you may find it easier to get your information from that rather than the email wall of text.

In case you don't read walls of text, here are the basics: 

1. Please add htccfest@gmail.com to your safe senders for email. Gmail is flagging a lot of non-domain addresses as spam so you may not be seeing emails I'm sending you! This one is from the website mailing list but only updates like this will come from there. More individual communication will be from the gmail account

2. Full on exhibitors

3. Still spots open for hosting Deep Dive tastings

4. Ticket sales have started, promotions have not quite started

5. Please be promoting the event and your appearance at it! There are promotional graphics you can copy, download, use here.

Exhibitor Update

Total exhibitors = 33 some with double booths, so we are completely full on exhibitors unless someone wants one or two of the tables without pipe & drape behind it.

Final Booth Payments

Invoices have gone out for final booth payments. The due date is noted on the invoices, but for most of them, it is September 4. If your booth is not fully paid for by then, or if you have not made other arrangements with me by then, I will replace you with another exhibitor and no refunds of deposits to date will be made.

Deep Dive Tastings

I have slots for up to 5 more of these 30 minute, 12 student sessions. All I need for these is the title, and if it isn't self explanatory, a short description. Reminder that students for those sessions pay $5 and 100% goes to you. Not much with a max of 12 students but it's something. 

Classes/Lectures

If you see your name in red in the attached schedule pdf, I need descriptions from you and in some cases, cost for the class. I need these ASAP so I can get them listed and start selling them for you! Education page on website

If you look at the Speaker page and want your photo changed, added or your bio added, please send to me at htccfest@gmail.com. We will be promoting the speakers on social media in the coming months.

Ticket Sales:

Ticket sales have started. They are slow so far with only 86 sold, but the classes are selling well. Promotion has not really started in earnest yet but will as of next week.

Ticket affiliate:

• If you would like to have the ability to sell tickets in person at your shop, I can accommodate that. It would only be admission tickets though. Without a unified inventory system that everyone can access in real time, we run the risk of overselling a class. Classes will have to be done online. Purchasing in person will allow the attendee to avoid the service and processing fees for their admission ticket but not for the classes.

• I will send you a promotional poster about being able to purchase tickets at your shop.

• When someone purchases a ticket from you, you give them a unique code (supplied by me on a card they take with them) that they can then use to log onto the website and "purchase" their ticket. The code will discount the admission price by 100%. Each customer will have their own code, this will also allow them to add classes if they wish. I will generate 60 codes for each shop that wants to sell in person. If you run out, let me know and I will send you more. 

• We will settle up what is owed to the festival after the dust settles.

• You keep 50 cents per ticket sold. So if you sell 100 tickets, you keep $50 when we settle up.

Sponsorships:

• There are sponsorships available at varying price points. If you or anyone you know has any interest in any of these, just let me know. I am happy to accept sponsors that are not tea, coffee or chocolate businesses.

• If you would like to donate anything to the swag bags, there will be no additional sponsorship cost for you and the number of items donated can be anywhere between 100-1000. Items for swag bags need to be to me by 5:00pm, Friday, October 18, at the venue. You can send ahead of this or I can come pick up if you are local to the Kansas City area. If you do not get me the items by this time, they will not be in the bags but on a table where people can pick up on their own.

• Any ads you would like to sponsor in the printed program need to be to me, Nicole, by September 1.

• Items for afternoon tea/coffee sessions need to be to me by 5:00pm, Friday, October 18 at the venue. You can send ahead of this date to 2004 NW 82nd Court, Kansas City, MO 64151, or I can come pick up if you are local to the Kansas City area.

Charitable partner:

We will have Literacy KC as our charitable partner again. We will be donating 1% of ticket sales and proceeds of a raffle to them. If you have interest in donating a raffle item, please let me know. 

Booth Locations:

• I will be assigning booths soon. I will get in touch with each of you individually to verify that where I have placed you is satisfactory to the best of my ability. Previous years of participation and sponsorship will factor into who gets to decide first, as well as the flow of the overall event. 

• Floor plan is attached to this email. This is the plan I sent to the venue for pipe and drape (that is what you will see noted in red)

• Please note that the table sizes this year are 6x2.5 and 8x2.5. The venue only has 6x2.5 available. If you can make do with two 6x2.5 tables, please let me know so I can save money by renting fewer 8x2.5 tables.

Promotion help:

Please share the event to your social media pages. The festival is at the following:

Facebook:@HeartlandTeaCoffeeChocolate

Instagram: @htccfest

#htccfest #htccfest2024

I will get promotional cards and posters sent to those with brick and mortar shops. If you do a heavy online business and would be willing to include promo cards with your shipped orders, I can get you some! 

I will be sending more than just 1 poster. If you would please take these around to any businesses in your area that might have an overlap clientele, see if they will display them? We are without our primary pavement pounding volunteer this year so we need to pull together to make this happen.

App Update:

We have an app for the event, Whova. I purchased 500 user licenses since I wasn’t sure how many people would use the app. I can add more if more people adopt it once it goes live. We still have a bit of work to do with the schedule and we need to assign booth spaces before uploading the venue map to the app. I will let you all know when it is live and what additional promotional options will be available for you to reach those using the app.

Organizational Update:

Some of you know that Denzil, my husband of 19 years (29 years together), passed away unexpectedly at home on July 12. That is why this update is so far behind. Things are mostly calmed down now and I’m getting back into the swing of things.

Stevie Gray, manager of Savoy Tea Co., will also be helping out. So if you get email from Stevie, it is officially sanctioned. In addition, Emilie Jackson of Emilie’s French Teas may also reach out to you as she is helping out a bit more than before.

That's all for now. If you offered product for the afternoon tea/coffee sessions or for the tea bar, thank you so much and there will be more info concerning those items coming to you individually soon.

Thanks,

Nicole