When I got the idea to exhibit my work at conferences and other live events, I approached writer and friend Lisa K. Harris for advice. She has exhibited a lot both for her own company, Harris Environmental, and for the University of Chicago Press, back when she worked there.
Per her excellence in all things, Lisa agreed readily to talk and right away sent a list of questions to consider.
Things for You to Think About Beforehand
What is your goal, what do you want to achieve?
What is the size of the booth and what comes with it (tables, chairs)?
Who are the other exhibitors (presses, authors, organizations)?
In your experience, what makes a booth inviting? Why do you want to engage with the people at the booth?
Who are the attendees that would come to the exhibit hall (your audience)?
How will you take payment for items you sell?
Lisa followed those questions above with a list of really smart tips. Afterward, I kept listening to podcasts and reading articles on how to table at live events. I want to share our advice with you. I’m starting with Lisa’s list and adding some recommendations of my own.
Physical Set-up
Lisa told me to use two tables, positioned in a half-T (one table against a back wall, one on a side wall), so the audience can come inside your space. Add a chair or two for them to sit and for you to sit. Never position the table between you and the audience with you sitting (like at a book signing). This layout is uninviting.
Beautify your space in a manner that communicates your message, Lisa said—my message being conservation, place, native plants, native animals, writing. At the end of one of the tables or in the middle, add potted plants—bodacious, flowering, or lavish leaves, plants that might be native. Add a stuffed or ceramic animal that is endemic, such as a butterfly.
Think about raising the table to eye level by bringing four short lengths of PVC pipe that act as leg extenders, with the table legs fitting inside the pipe. Some venues forbid this, so check first.
Try to get height in other ways as well. Bring crates to raise items. Stack books for height.
You’ll need a banner or some way for your purpose to be immediately recognizable. If you are selling/exhibiting one book, maybe have your cover or a character in the book or some kind of attractive graphic on the banner. If you have an author table, make sure your name is prominent. Usually this will be a banner attached to the front of the table or a cloth table runner that contains the name of the organization. At some venues you may be able to attach the banner to the wall behind your booth.
Think about your main purpose. If you wish to sell books, then be prepared to sell. Put your most popular books front and center. Make your purpose visible. Think about other benefits to being at a particular event. If you want new subscribers to your Substack, create a standing sign or an easel with a sign that includes a QR code for easy scanning.
Bring with you a box that contains any set-up material you could possibly need, including duct tape, tacks, zip ties, cord, boxcutter, notepad, pencils, two-sided tape, and scissors.
On the Tables
If you are selling books, arrange them so they are upright, not lying flat. Use book stands, the metal kind that hold one book each, easily purchased online. The cover will be facing passersby, not facing the ceiling.
Give something away—a lot of people use candy or chocolate, but there is trash associated with those, and we are anti-trash, as Lisa said to me. Maybe a pencil? Or something useful. Seed packets of native wildflowers.
On one podcast I listened to, a writer advocated GIVING AWAY books at live events. By the time you spend lots of money on bookmarks, business cards, seed packs, etc, you can afford buying cases of books at the author discount. This is especially apropos if you have written a series—you could give away the first book in the series, hoping that people return to read the entire series.
Have a raffle—collect business cards in a bowl and toward the end of the conference give away something. This could be a book or bundle of books or workshop or editing. Give something that the winner can pack easily into their suitcase. You then use the business cards to add to your mailing list or send a note later thanking them for their interest in you.
Offer some kind of sale item—a scrap of paper that says 20% off a book on your website.
BookFunnel, which makes possible direct sales of ebooks and audiobooks, allows bulk code downloads, giving you the option of selling actual ebooks and audiobooks at live events. This is especially important when people have traveled long distances to attend and have no space in their luggage for transporting an actual book home. (A search of BookFunnel’s website will tell you how to print codes.)
Make sure you have plenty of business cards to hand out.
Booth Assistant
The person running the table should be happy, engaging, and smiling. On the phone checking Instagram is uninviting.
Personing a booth is hard work. You’ll be exhausted at the end of the day. Bring water, snacks, and wear comfortable clothing/shoes.
Selling
Test out the wifi, so your Square (Venmo, PayPal) works when you set up so you can sell your books
Final Advice
Have fun.
My Latest Experience & What I Learned
In mid-July I attended a large four-day conference where I ran a booth featuring my books. The conference promised 7-800 participants. However, the exhibit hall was at least a 10-minute walk from the building in which all the talks were happening. What I learned is that only 1/10th of the attendees ever visited with the exhibitors.
Knowing beforehand how well the conference brings people into the exhibit hall would be helpful in making a decision to participate or not.
No author ever knows before an event how many books will sell. I’ve gotten pretty good at estimating, depending on the kind of event and the predicted or registered number of participants, and I pack extra based on that figure. For this trip I had room to pack four boxes of books. However, the traffic at my booth was abysmal and so were sales. I sold four books total, and two of these were to a co-exhibitor at a wholesale price.
I offered a giveaway of a course in Magical Craft of Creative Nonfiction, a $500 value. People had to drop their email address into a bowl, and I would draw the name of a winner. I think four emails landed in that vessel.
Many of the exhibitors were privately complaining of the state of affairs, and some of them made the decision to mark this particular conference off their future schedules.
In reality, I was not at the event for sales. I was there to network, make connections, and stay relevant. However, so few people came through the exhibit hall that I connected with fewer than fifty people at the entire event. To be fair, the cross-pollination had been so poor that by the third day I was touring DC with my family, not standing at my table looking at a concrete wall.
I can’t remember the exact figure—I can look it up—but I paid around $700 to exhibit at this conference. The hotel was another $700 or so. Add meals and travel (by car), and you see that the event was a disaster. If you know the conference of which I’m speaking and you are considering being an exhibitor, feel free to be in touch for a private conversation with more details. Also we have to keep in mind that future meetings of this group may result in improved exhibitor relations. I doubt they want to lose this source of organizational income.
I have not, however, been asked to fill out an evaluation, which may mean something.
Even if the results were unremarkable, I will be able to count these expenses on taxes, of course.
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
If you are building a business for your writing, you may be writing SOPs for two reasons:
Process is important.
Standardizing a process saves time and energy.
Employees and helpers can easily follow a process, even if you are not present.
I have created an SOP for “How to Table a Live Event.” Here it is for you in pdf form.
Comments
If you have any other ideas, comments, or corrections, please add them below. Many thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Bless you for this edition and I'm so sorry for the hard lessons learned! As I'm scheduling events for my new book, I'm so grateful for these suggestions. You really are beyond kind and generous! Peace to you, Deb
Vending of any kind is hard work. Where you are placed is key. I worked as a farmers' market vendor for two years, and the first year, I was at the end of one of the vendor rows. Very few people came by. I could see them look down to see what was there and then turn around to leave. I spoke with the market manager, who seemed to brush me off. However, the following season, when I applied again, I emphasized that I wanted a different location, and I got it.
When I worked in education, I attended many conferences. I appreciated specific breaks and encouragement to visit the vendors' section. One conference I attended featured a hosted non-alcoholic refreshment bar in the vendors' area and had soft music playing. It was packed!