It was a long 15 months of planning and preparing but the 4 days I spent actually at Great Lakes Book Bash, hosting the con and making sure that things were running smooth, was worth every second. Don’t misunderstand, there were bumps in the road from beginning to end, even hours before the con started. It wasn’t perfect by any means. Perfection wasn’t the goal, though.
What was our goal then?
My main focus was on my exhibitors. I wanted them to have a good time. I wanted them to be successful. I wanted them to want to do it all over again.
Thankfully, they do. So, we’re going to. In 2017. Great Lakes Book Bash will invade Kalamazoo again and I can only imagine how epic version 2.0 will be.
What about this year? Well, here’s some of the highlights…
Our keynote speaker (at the last-minute), the fabulous Stacey Rourke, rocked my socks off with an inspirational speech to start our day. “Hoist your Colors!”
After that, we all got ready to meet and greet with readers. Being the first event, I was pleasantly surprised at our ticket sales even before the event began. Then, almost all of those that bought tickets actually showed up. I was even more surprised by that. We had a goal. We wanted at least 150 people to come. It was pretty ambitious in my opinon but we found a way to make it happen.
Before the event kicked off we had just over 300 badges made up for those that would be attending – readers, exhibitors and assistants. Over 250 of those people joined us for fun on Saturday, only 75 were exhibitors. We hit our goal!
The signing went smooth. There was a good flow of people coming through the room. The venue did a great job of setting the tables spaciously enough where no one felt crowded. I rarely spent time at my table but it looked pretty…
After the signing was the party. Good food. Dancing. Drinks. FUN! I’m not posting any pics of that. Why? Because I have one on my phone and that’s about it. I was too busy hanging out with people I’d met and grown to love. I was relaxing with a beverage and making sure everyone was having a good time. And… as far as I could tell, they were.
Success. How do you measure the success of an event like this? Well, I’m thinking that since everyone is asking for another GLBB, it was a success. Readers came. Authors sold books. New friendships and bonds were made.
My heart is so full of love right now it’s crazy. I hoped and prayed that everything would go well and thankfully it did. We had an amazing group of exhibitors this year and hopefully you will see some of them again in 2017.
Thank you to all those that attended. I can’t wait to get together again and see what kind of magic happens. (Information coming soon!)