{"id":74150,"date":"2014-06-10T11:15:38","date_gmt":"2014-06-10T16:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=74150"},"modified":"2014-06-10T11:13:26","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T16:13:26","slug":"5-tips-for-conquering-the-exhibits-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=74150","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips for Conquering the Exhibits Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Leigh Milligan, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ Pennsylvania<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

5 Tips for Conquering the Exhibits Hall<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"leigh.milligan\"<\/a>Since its conference season and there are a lot of great conferences coming up such as\u00a0ALA Annual, SLA\u2019s conference and many others, I figured I would do another conference\u00a0tips article since my last one Ten Conference Tips for a First Timer<\/a> was so successful. In\u00a0this blog post, I am going to give you tips on how to conquer: The Exhibits Hall.<\/p>\n

I decided to write this post because I noticed there were many conference tips articles\u00a0on what do at a conference, but not much specifically on the exhibits hall, so here it\u00a0goes.<\/p>\n

1. Have a plan for the navigating the exhibits hall<\/strong>– Exhibits halls at conferences are\u00a0very overwhelming and tend to be crowded. You are not going to be successful if\u00a0you go into the exhibits hall and wing it. Plan out exactly what vendors you want\u00a0to visit with first and figure out exactly where they are. Most of the time you\u00a0can find a floor map and an exhibitor list on the conference website and\/or the\u00a0conference app.<\/p>\n

2. Do not grab too much free stuff, I repeat do not grab too much free stuff<\/strong>-This\u00a0tends to be a common error of conference newbies, the exhibits floor is so\u00a0overwhelming, and so many free books, and pins, posters, arcs, bookmarks, oh\u00a0my! But before you grab it all, ask yourself, would I take this if it were not free?\u00a0Also ask yourself, how would this be resourceful to my library? If after answering\u00a0those questions, you don\u2019t grab the free item, that\u2019s ok! It will save you time,\u00a0space and a broken back.<\/p>\n

3. Take advantage of the post office<\/strong>– Most conferences such as ALA, have a post\u00a0office at the conference, so you can mail anything you can at a conference. This\u00a0can also save time and space since when leaving the conference, you will have\u00a0luggage to worry about, if you are in from out of town. Only catch to this is, it\u00a0can be costly depending on how much you plan to send back and where you are\u00a0located. Also, don\u2019t go on the last day of the conference, tends to be crowded.<\/p>\n

4. Network with the Representatives at the Booths<\/strong>– Have your business cards\u00a0ready and talk with the representatives at the booths. Introduce yourself to\u00a0the vendors you already use Have your 30 second speech ready as I mentioned\u00a0in my conference article<\/a>. Use an icebreaker such as What\u2019s New to start a\u00a0conversation, and the vendor can tell you all about their new services and\u00a0products. Networking with vendors is very important as it can help you get new\u00a0product for your library or it can make a connection that could be helpful to you\u00a0in your future, such a lead for a job or a blogging opportunity.<\/p>\n

5. Don\u2019t forget to have fun!<\/strong> You might be caught up in the stress of conference\u00a0going and getting from presentation to presentation that you forget to have\u00a0fun! The exhibits hall is a great time! It\u2019s a great place to learn and share and\u00a0collaborate on ideas with others in the field whether they are publishers,\u00a0vendors or even librarians. Take this time to visit the different booths, find out\u00a0about the new promotions and bring something new and useful back to your\u00a0library!<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some further reading about the exhibits hall:<\/p>\n

Tips for Talking to Exhibitors by SLA<\/a><\/p>\n

Walking the Exhibit Hall Like a Pro<\/a><\/p>\n

Navigating the Exhibits Hall: A User\u2019s Guide for Beginners<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Leigh Milligan, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ Pennsylvania 5 Tips for Conquering the Exhibits Hall Since its conference season and there are a lot of great conferences coming up such as\u00a0ALA Annual, SLA\u2019s conference and many others, I figured I would do another conference\u00a0tips article since my last one Ten Conference Tips for a First Timer was…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":58852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,4668,4238,6291,3654,3918,111],"class_list":["post-74150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-conference-tips","tag-conferences","tag-exhibits-hall","tag-inalj-pennsylvania","tag-leigh-milligan","tag-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/leigh.milligan.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-jhY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}