Art fair booth prep: a registrar checklist that survives vernissage week

Fair week breaks galleries that treat the booth as a separate project from inventory. Works get retyped into customs forms, early PDFs disagree with wall labels, and a reserve made verbally in the aisle never reaches the office database. The fix is not more spreadsheets. It is a checklist sourced from the same records your registrars already maintain.

The checklist below assumes you are shipping internationally, showing editioned work, and running private viewing rooms for collectors who cannot visit in person. Adjust timing for domestic fairs, but keep the lock discipline.

T-minus 14 days: select and verify the booth list

Build the fair checklist as a saved selection in inventory, not a new tab in Excel. Every work on the list should have verified dimensions (framed and unframed where both matter), weight estimates, edition position, consignor approval for export, and primary install photography.

Run duplicate detection on artist plus title plus year. Fair season is when accidental twins surface because two people added "Untitled" from the same studio visit.

Confirm insurance values match list or agreed fair values. Underinsured shipments are a liability; overinsured ones inflate premiums all year.

T-minus 10 days: lock operational fields

After the lock date, titles, dimensions, edition numbers, and customs descriptions do not change without registrar sign-off. Marketing copy, booth layout sketches, and press quotes can still move.

Generate the shipping manifest and carnet paperwork from locked fields. The customs broker should read the same strings that appear on wall labels and in the viewing room.

Publish early viewing rooms for invited collectors from the locked checklist. When a work sells or gets a firm reserve, every room referencing it should update the same day.

T-minus 7 days: reserves and pricing posture

Assign booth staff authority levels for holds and discounts before anyone lands in the city. Named reserves with expiry beat "let me check with the director" while a collector stands at the desk.

Decide which works appear with public price, which are "inquire," and whether fair premium applies. Document on each work so booth iPads and printed lists agree.

During the fair: daily reconciliation

Each evening, sync sales, reserves, and holds back to inventory. Booth notes about condition or framing requests belong on the object timeline, not on sticky notes that fly home in someone's carry-on.

Photograph install and any incident damage before opening hours. Condition reports attached to the work save arguments at return crating.

T-minus 0 returns: batch custody updates

When works come back, update custody for the entire shipment the day crates arrive. Studio, storage, and gallery floor locations should reflect physical reality before staff travel home.

Close consignor loops quickly: sold works move to invoicing; unsold works revert to available unless held for post-fair negotiation. Finance should not learn about a Basel sale from the artist's Instagram.

After the fair: finance and follow-up

Issue invoices from inventory while details are fresh. Tie deposits to specific works and collectors so partial payments reconcile without email archaeology.

Send recap campaigns only to segments that match what actually sold and what remains available. Honest follow-up converts better than pretending nothing moved.

Art.industries models fair checklists as inventory selections linked to viewing rooms, exports, and invoicing. Lock once, ship with consistent paperwork, and let reserves propagate everywhere the work appears. Fair prep becomes repeatable instead of heroic.