Tips for ALA?

[sheela_chari]

This will be my first year atttending the national ALA - or the American Library Association conference. The conference will be in Anaheim this year, and I'm going so I can attend the APALA awards ceremony to accept the Asian Pacific-American Library Association children's literature honor book. Wendy Shang, my friend, will also be attending - she

Comments

[lisa_schroeder]

Oh my gosh, I get to meet you!!! Sheela, I'm SOOOO excited! I will be there on Sunday only, as we are going to Disney as a family and I timed it so I could attend ALA for one day. I have a couple of authorly things I'm doing that day, but I have written down to come to the Disney booth at 4:00, so I will do everything I can to make that happen.

As for tips - I find one of the best things you can do is to get in line for signings, and chat with those around you. Librarians love meeting authors, so I usually start up a conversation about something else (like the author we're waiting to meet) and then if it naturally flows to where I can say what I do, then I do, and have postcards ready to hand out. The exhibit hall is huge with lots and lots of booths and it can be overwhelming. But if you can cruise around before your signing, and try to talk to people a little (I know, it's hard) you can then let them know about your signing later. Where most people hate lines, at ALA, I think for us, they can be a good thing.

Mostly, just have fun and try to enjoy your time there! So excited for you and your award!!

[sheela_chari]

Lisa! This is terrific news! I can't believe I'll finally see you after all these years! I do hope you will be able to make it to my booth. Do you know yet what you'll be doing? Please let me know, and I'd love to make it to one of your authorly things, too.

Thank you about the line tips. I was wondering where there might be a chance to talk to people. I didn't think about the lines. That is a great idea. I'm thinking I'll have my rolling suitcase with me. I'm packing lightly, so hopefully there will be room for books.

You are so smart to plan your trip around Disneyland. My family and I went to Disneyworld in April. Had I had a little foresight, we could have done something similar. Since I am basically being put up in Disneyland! :)

Can't wait to meet you, Lisa!

[lisa_schroeder]

I'm doing a YALSA librarian speed-dating thing in the morning, and then I'm signing FALLING FOR YOU ARCS at 1:00 in the S&S booth. At least the schedule says I'll be signing ARCs, I will believe it when I see it since they've never done a bunch of ARCs for me before.

OH, by the way, here is the schedule of some of the authors signing on Sunday:

http://www.alaannual.org/authors/2012-06-24

You aren't on there, so it's obviously not complete, but you can maybe start to plan which authors you'd like to see.

[sheela_chari]

That was EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thanks so much for that link. It will help me plan out my day. There are several authors on Sunday I have an eye on. And yay - I see you are at 1 pm, so I should have no problem coming to your booth!

You're right that I'm not on there. It was kind of last minute, the whole thing, because I took a long deciding whether I would be going or not, and then I finally went ahead, but I guess I missed that list. It makes me think that there are probably other authors not on that list either, who will be signing as well.