BookExpo Canada Splits Up Amicably

Reed Exhibitions is turning its BookExpo Canada into two separate events, one for the industry and one for consumers.

According to John McGeary, vice president of Reed Exhibitions North America, Canadian events and show manager of the 57-year-old BookExpo Canada, splitting the one event into two comes after a year of discussions on, first, how to please publishers who have wanted a show that also allows them to sell directly to consumers instead of just retailers and, second, how to keep the cost of exhibiting from doubling.

“With the economy and everything,” McGeary said, “we're kind of taking a proactive approach in that regard. If we are asking publishers to do two shows, we're actually trying to make it easier for them to do that.”

He added that, in order to make two shows more affordable than one for exhibitors, BookExpo will offer prefabricated booths that include hardwall, shelves, tables and chairs. The booth package should save exhibitors about 50 percent of what they would pay for the furniture items separately, McGeary said.

“Literally, the only thing they have to ship is their posters and their books,” he added. “Everything else is there for them. We're basically reducing their cost (by) half.”

BookExpo Canada, which this year took up about 20,000 square feet of exhibit space and had more than 200 exhibitors, will continue to be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre – June 19-22 next year – while the yet unnamed consumer show will be held in early October, McGeary said. Dates and a location for the consumer event have not been chosen, but it will be held in a major convention center in the Toronto area.

McGeary added that the industry event will offer continuing education credits for booksellers and sales associates through BookExpo Canada's sponsor, the Canadian Book Assn., something that fits in with the 2009 show theme, “Back to the Business of Books.”

“Our association is excited to see the event get back to focusing on the business of promoting and selling books,” said Susan Dayus, executive director of the CBA.

In an effort to attract more exhibitors and attendees to the industry show, McGeary said Reed Exhibitions also will organize outreach programs and focus groups in Canada's western provinces to find out exactly what would get them to make the decision to come to Toronto.

“We do a pretty good job of getting everybody from Toronto, but it's really those retailers from Vancouver and Alberta and Manitoba and Saskatchewan that we really want to try and get to the show,” he added.

Reaction from exhibitors to the changes has been positive, McGeary said, with many asking about a two-show package deal. He added that there will be one, but the details still are to be worked out, particularly since a location and dates for the consumer show have not been determined yet.

“A lot of (exhibitors) are saying, 'Just let me know when you've secured the dates for the consumer show and what the pricing is so that I can ... look at my overall budget and allocate between the two,'” he said.

Some exhibitors may not be back at all. Ronda Kellington, executive director of Literary Press Group, a 2008 exhibitor, said her company will not exhibit at either 2009 show. After this year's show, she said, her company made the decision that exhibiting was no longer worth the cost.

As for a consumer show, Kellington added, “My group doesn't sell direct to the public; we're not really very interested in a public fair.”

Even so, she said she thinks separate trade and consumer book shows are a good idea.

Morgan Cowie, marketing manager for exhibitor BookNet Canada, said the company does plan to exhibit at the trade event, but is unsure at the moment about a fall consumer event.

“If it's something that will be retailer-focused as well, that may be something that we're interested in,” she added.

The consumer event will be held in partnership with Indigo Books & Music, a Canadian book retailer, at the same time as its Indigo Managers Conference, McGeary said.

He added that BookExpo Canada will rent the convention center with meeting space, giving the meeting rooms to the Indigo conference and allowing conference attendees private industry hours on the showfloor before the public comes in. “A lot of these publishers are in the industry because they're fans of it as well, so they want to have the same experience that the fans do,” McGeary said.