To BEA or not to BEA

Yesterday evening, just before I left for the day, there were whispers that a few badges might be floating around the office. We don’t attend as an exhibitor (which I find a little weird, even with the Expo’s heavy focus on trade publishing), but when it’s in New York, we do sometimes put in an appearance. And sure enough, this morning there was a sign-up sheet for anyone interested in using one of three badges to attend. The BEA isn’t open to the public, and I’ve never been to it before, so I was really interested in getting a badge, even if I’d only get to use it for a couple of hours.

Almost no one else had signed up for any of the morning or early-afternoon slots — just one other person before me — so I had to track down one of the people who’d attended yesterday to get a badge. I’d taken the 11 am to 1 pm shift, so I decided to walk over to the Jacob Javits Center around 10:45. It was a little hot and muggy for that long a walk, maybe, but a cab ride’s expensive and the subway probably wouldn’t have saved me much time. (And I probably still would have had to walk. Our office isn’t right next to any subway stops.) And then I spent the next couple of hours just walking around the exhibit hall, picking up the occasional freebie and just taking it all in.

I’ve heard that this year’s Expo was a much diminished thing, smaller and shorter than in years past, but I can’t speak to that. The biggest convention I’ve ever been to (with the exception of a New York sf/comic con when I was much younger) in the American Psychological Association‘s, a couple of years ago in Washington, D.C. At the time, I thought that was pretty big, with the vast resources and constructions of drug companies on display. (Eli Lilly, for instance, had a Starbucks in their booth.) This wasn’t quite that extravagant, but it was significantly bigger and more impressive.

Then again, the last conference I attended as an exhibitor, it was just us and one other publisher, with tables outside the hotel’s meeting rooms.

I picked up some free stuff — a kazoo, a book light and pad, a T-shirt advertising Tom Clancy’s newest book, another different book about urban farming. And I saw a few people I recognized, like actress Bernadette Peters, skateboarder Tony Hawk, and publishers/editors Gavin Grant and Ellen Datlow. I also saw someone dressed up as Olivia the Pig. (Someone working for the publisher, that is. This isn’t ComicCon.) I kind of wish I’d picked up the courage to say hello, but that pig, man, she’s a rock star.

I met the next group around 1 pm, to hand over my badge, and then I walked back to the office. I grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch — hot dogs from a street vendor, something I very rarely buy — and got back to the office just in time for the dullest information session I’ve ever attended. Several of us left, an hour and a half into it, when it became clear the session was just going to continue covering things we already knew, or didn’t need to know, and do so in the most drawn-out way imaginable. The person leading the session seemed nice enough, and it was useful enough information — the half we needed know, and already knew, that is — but I was definitely reminded why I’d originally planned on skipping the session altogether. It certainly wasn’t anywhere as much fun as the BookExpo.

Other than that, my father had another doctor’s appointment this evening — his eye troubles from awhile back might be worsening, unfortunately — so we ate out again at a local Thai place. The restaurant wasn’t remarkable — but was very slow — but my garlic shrimp were quite tasty. It seemed very much like a pale imitation of a Thai restaurant much closer to home, though I did quite like the tamarind candy they had instead of mints at the door.