First Mermaid Appearance

[Mermaid Corabelle]

Hello fellow mers!


I am excited to announce I will be making my debut as a mermaid in my city. :) There is a downtown festival I will be attending to conduct mermaid Meet & Greets every month. It is a free event with the chance to gain a lot of exposure. I am planning to set up a table/banner with activities for kids and will also offer photo opportunities. I'm planning on doing a raffle for a free mermaid party too. I'm very happy to get out there and start, but I won't lie.. I'm a tad bit nervous!

I was hoping you guys would share your experiences/insight with me.

Can you remember the very first time you made a public appearance as a mermaid?
Where was it at?
How did it go?
How did you feel?
Any advice for me?
Anything you wished you would have done differently?

[Echidna]

great news!



Can you remember the very first time you made a public appearance as a mermaid?
Where was it at?
How did it go?
How did you feel?
Any advice for me?


I first appeared at a public pool as a special "event" which regularly take place at said pool.
It went well, because I had decided months beforehand what I would do, and I could do the performance in my sleep.
I was still mega nervous of course lol.
That goes with the setting.
No matter how proficient you are as a performer, stage fever will always be a part of your job.
(Or that is what I was always told when I worked at the theatre!)

Your line of work is different from mine, so I'll leave the advice to mers who do children's gigs and parties.

However I'd advise you to do only one or two free gigs, to get your name out there, and then start charging, because there is that unpleasant "free-for-all"-mentality out there, and people will start saying "you did it for free for so-and-so, why not for me", and of course the great "exposure"-argument, at which I'll have to quote Galene:
"You can die of exposure here."

[Mermaid Corabelle]

I hope to be as prepared as you :) I know that you are right however, no matter how much I prepare myself for this appearance/performance.. I will have that bit of stage fright. I sort of thrive off of it though.. do you know what I mean? It's a rush that I enjoy.. it's a lot of the reason why I know that performing at parties/events is the thing I was meant to do. So rewarding. I would honestly do appearances and events for free. BUT I know there is money to be made so I might as well capitalize no?

I hear what you are saying about doing free parties. I only plan on holding this raffle at the next two artwalks- that's it. I don't want people to get into the habit of thinking I do things for free... To be honest, it's mainly to get content/photos/videos for my social media/website so I have something to promote etc.

I am planning on singing/posing for photos, but I wonder if that will get old lol... I am trying to think of other things to do.. like sell seashell hair accessories that I've made. I hope people are receptive to it. No one in my city has ever attempted this before, so I hope to become a trailblazer! :D

Thanks for your input/response Echidna. It's much appreciated.

[Echidna]

You're welcome!

And on a second thought; make sure you have someone in the background able to act as bouncer, just in case.
Some people just don't know how to behave. That goes for both adults and children.

[Mermaid Riia]

Did you have your first gig yet? If so how did it go?

My first appearance was at a spa near my city. First gig was more like calm before storm because next time it really hit the fan and I was surrounded by 20 or more kids. Holy..! There's never been a mermaid performer here in Finland so it took a while for spa customers to get it. That I'm not a statue or a toy :) By the end of this summer I had no silent moment in my 2hr appearance. It was insane and I enjoyed every moment!

Bouncer is a good thing to have. Having pair of extra hands helping you makes everything so much easier, moving around (if you need to or atleast arriving and leaving) and securing your safety if people get too excited. You are rarely in any real danger but your tail might get some damage. That's something we no mer wants. If you don't have anyone to help you, you should prepare and think about how to get/avoid unwanted situations.

I agree with Echidna. In the beginning you can do couple free gigs just to get your name out there and let few people try out your services.
You can also do games, races, stories, teach mermaid tricks/habits (I say goodbye to kids with a certain handshake), and why not do somekind of "mermaid for a day" package?


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