BEA is the cover story of Convene Magazine

I could blame the heat or being distracted by vacation plans for my lack of posting, but the fact is there is just a lot going putting BEA 2011 to bed and executing planning for 2012, which is not far enough along that would be worth sharing.   I do promise a post on 2012 soon - highlighting will be new and different.

 

I am happy to share that Brien McDonald was promoted to Director of Strategic Accounts.  He has done an incredible job as BEA's National Accounts Manager and taken on a lot of extra duties, the most outwardly visible are his efforts (with Lisa Montanaro) on the BEA Targeted Attendee Program (TAP).  TAP is BEA's strategic effort to attract specific attendees that are particularly valuable to BEA's exhibitors - this has been a great success for BEA.  Congratulations Brien in his new job!!!

 

INstead of a wrting a thoughtful post, I am taking the short cut of posting a link - Convene Magazine did a great story on BEA from this past year.   Please take a look:  Convene Magazine BEA Story

On to the next......

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - I do feel just a bit lighter this week.  It is back to a more normal pace this week after the hyper active pre-BEA mode for the last 2+ months.   I am eager to hear people's feedback - especially if there was anything negative.  Without knowing where BEA is challenged - we can only hazzard a guess on what needs to be improved.  If I was good at guessing - I would spend more time in Las Vegas.  

I am going to post a couple of the nice comments I have gotten so far (I have not gotten anything negative - if I do get a true complaint - I will share if it to see if was an isolated issue or something to be concerned about).  Also, posted below are links to a good interview with Michael Schatzkin by Publishing Perspectives and a link to the BookExpo Cast site with loads of great video from BEA.

Hi Steve,

It was another great year. I hope you received positive feedback from attendees.
Danielle Yeomans, Coordinator Ulster BOCES
SLSA President-Elect


Hi Steve: Thanks for putting together a good show. I thought things went well and I appreciate all the things you did to get people in the door and in the aisles. See you soon.

Mark Suchomel - President
Independent Publishers Group


Publishing Perspectives Video Interview with Mike Shatzkin at BEA

BookExpoCast.com

BEA Numbers are in!!

It was a larger task than usual to report on BEA’s numbers because of the number of co-located events and to insure we were counting the right people only one time.   The final numbers may change slightly once the registration reports are scrubbed, but the numbers below are accurate to within less than a 1% variation. 

That total number of professionals that passed through BEA jumped significantly due to BlogWorld, but that would not provide an apples to apples comparison.  It should also be noted that BEA strategically vetted more attendee groups to improve the quality of those participating in BEA.  In particular there were 500 less attendee authors in 2011.  This should not be confused with authors that appear at BEA for signings or events which are counted in BEA’s professional number. 

This is the apples to apples comparison as calculated in 2010:   

• The total attendance for BEA 2011 was 21,664 compared to 21,919 in 2010
• BEA had 13,028 attendees in 2011 compared to 13,872 in 2010.  

The total number at BEA 2011 that included BlogWorld attendees was 23,067 compared to 21,919 in 2010.  A more detailed press release will be issued next.

Thank you to all those that sent so many nice e-mails offering congratulations and sharing how good BEA was from your perspective.  PLEASE check out the www.bookexpocast.com for a lot of the video that is posted to see anything you might have missed in person.