Following Frankfurt

The fall publishing season always falls into pre-Frankfurt or post-Frankfurt on many calendars in terms of availability for people in the publishing business.  I am happily in the post Frankfurt mode, getting home this past Saturday in time to take in NY ComicCon with the family (not sure which of the two was more arduous...it might be a tie).  Still, following Frankfurt, which I had 25+ planned meetings and innumerable chance meetings and my team had more than 120 scheduled meetings,  BEA now has a ton of great things to follow up on that are going to be part of BEA's success in 2014.  By any measure - it was a fantastic show.  

My point here today is reacting to the headlines in the trades today:
PW:  Frankfurt Book Fair 2013: A Busy Fair Despite Lower Attendance  
Publishers Lunch: Attendance Slides At the Still-Giant Frankfurt Book Fair

I have complained here before about the headline hysteria that goes with BEA's attendance going up or down.  I understand that is the metric in which people judge a book fair (or almost any trade event) and that it is not an unfair measure.  

HOWEVER, the content of the meetings and quality people along with the business results are all that matter.  Conversely the glowing headlines that come with SXSW - where attendance is through the roof, I found I struggled to get into sessions I planned for because of there were too many people and missed people who could not get around because of the crowding.  That could be simply fixing logistics, but the fact is it impacted the value I got for participating in SXSW, diminishing it greatly.  Even so, there was a greater diversity of people at SXSW and it took a lot of time for me to figure out that many of them were people that had no value for me (nor was BEA of any value to them).  The point is - if a little is good, is a lot always better?  I am not disparaging SXSW, but it is not worth it for BEA and we are not going to go back at this point, just no ROI.  If I was in marketing or tech, I would feel differently, but just because they had great growth does not mean it is a great event for everyone.

The BEA team had a terrific fair in Frankfurt, we saw the people we needed to see, we had great meetings, we generated a ton of interest from new people that have not attended or exhibited at BEA.  It was reported that Frankfurt is down by nearly 10,000 trade people since 2009.  To provide some context - BEA's press number was down by more than 300 people this past year.  For BEA it was a concerted effort to improve the quality of the press attending and the feedback BEA received was that this made BEA more effective with the quality of the press noticeably improved.  People should consider that the erosion of 10,000 trade people from Frankfurt are people they probably never met nor did they ever need to meet with and that was 10,000 less people in their way of getting to a meeting in Hall 6 or standing in line for a bratwurst.  Sometimes, less is more.  Despite the headlines, the BEA team will be following up for the next 2-3 months with meetings from a very productive fair and will no doubt be in Frankfurt again 2014.  

BEA POTPOURRI

BEA Team Heads Off to the Frankfurt Book Fair:
A good portion of the BEA team will be at Frankfurt next week, please stop by our stand in Hall 8, Stand J37.  We have beer, water and apple wine for any visitors + plus a joke or 2 to lighten your mood.

NY ComicCon is next week (Oct 10-13) and they are completely sold out of 120,000 tickets - that is CRAZY!  BEA is a busy show and we 'only' have 25,000 in the building.  Jack that up by almost 5x and that is BUSY. 

This photo was from my presentation at the Exhbitioniste program, which was organized by:  www.fondazionefieramilano.it, www.regione.lombardia.it http://www.mi.camcom.it  www.meetthemediaguru.org I want to thank everyone for a great program.  I do look angry, but I assure you - I was anything but.



Follow Up on Dave Holton:
Friends and Family are invited to a Celebration of Life for Dave Holton on October 20, 2013 from 4 PM to 6 PM at Jennette's Pier in Nags Head, NC. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to "Beyond Pink", attn: Jarie Ebert, Outer Banks Hospital, 4800 S. Croatan Hwy, Nags Head, NC 27959 or to a charity of your choice. 

Remembering Dave Holton

It is with a heavy heart that I share the news that Dave Holton passed away on September 18th after a courageous battle with cancer.  There are many who knew and loved Dave, who was a fixture at BEA for more than 20 years.  Dave left the world better than he found it and for those that did have the privilege to know him, why they are saddened and will miss him terribly.

I knew Dave for a long time, but I did not know him as well as he knew me.  But that was Dave, always asking about my family, knowing about where I went on vacation, offering tips on where to go or what see.  Dave always cared a little more about making sure everyone else was taken care of or had a smile on their face because that is what put a smile on his.  

Dave did a lot to make BEA a special event, but that was only a small part of his life because he was active in his community and spent his free time raising tens of thousands of dollars for many charitable causes every year. There are so many stories I'd like to share to paint the picture of what great human being Dave was, but that would take a book itself.   I will share one story that was typical of Dave.  He sent me an email and learned from my out of office reply I was in Washington, DC exhibiting at an ALA  event and this was before BEA was to be in DC, so Dave got in his car and drove to Washington so he could see the new convention center so he would be better prepared for BEA.  All on his own time and his own dime.   I found out about Dave's plan as he walked up to my booth.  I was dumb founded and happily surprised to see him.  I asked why he didn't call or email to let me know he was coming, his response:  "Well I saw your out of office, so I knew you'd be here and I didn't want to bother you."

There is a link below to the funeral home that will be handling his arrangements (details are not yet final, but will be available through this link).  There is also a link to post condolences that will be delivered to Dave's family.  I encourage people that knew Dave to pass along a note as I am sure his family will take comfort in knowing how many lives Dave touched.

It is fitting to share some memories from others who knew Dave and what he meant to BEA:

Oren Teicher from the ABA shared these kinds words:
From the very first time I met Dave - way back to when ABA still operated the convention through his many years of working with the folks at BEA - Dave was always the perfect gentleman. He was dedicated to always making the autographing section of the show better and better......and, each year, he somehow managed to achieve that goal. It was an pleasure to have had the privilege of working with him....he was a very special person.

Tina Jordan, who is now with the AAP, knew Dave as well as anyone in the industry and had the privilege of working directly with him in her time on BEA offered:
No one loved BEA more than Dave Holton.   Dave is THAT guy. You know the guy. The "behind the scenes" BEA guy. Literally.  The guy who took care of your authors with a smile every year for over 20 years behind BEAs autographing curtains. The guy who made sure booksellers got any autographed book and author greeting they wanted. The only guy who could find your lost boxes of books in those cavernous convention centers.  He had that special touch with the unions, he recruited eager college grads wanting that big break in publishing and even took on being an industry cop, scouring E Bay post BEA for culprits trying to sell galleys. A true story.

Publicists loved him. Authors loved him. Booksellers loved him. I loved him.   Thank you Dave for being my partner in BEA events crime for so so many years. I grew up with you.  My heart breaks.  Rest well my dear friend.  I will miss you dearly.

http://www.gallopfuneralservice.com/obits/dholton.htm

Link to Condolences Registry  Your condolences and expressions of support to the bereaved are private. All messages will be printed and personally presented to the family or forwarded directly to the family's e-mail.  Please feel free to share your thoughts, they are tremendously comforting for the families coping with a loss.