Roughly 500 copies of a double-sided flyer highlighting a selection of Pathfinder titles were handed out to participants, as well as more than 100 catalogs. Five orders were placed at the show itself, two from new customers and three from established customers who took advantage of the special discount offered at the event.

Pathfinder sales reps had called bookstores and other book buyers the week before the show to let them know that Pathfinder would be there. The effort paid off.

Dozens of people left their names or business cards for sales representatives to follow up on in the coming months. "I want to help get your books into Alberta," said one as he left his card. "Please contact my local high school librarian," said a woman from northern Ontario who volunteers at the school. "Maybe if he takes some of your titles, we could have you come up for a book talk. You seem to know so much about them," she said to the Pathfinder volunteer who was assisting her.

Many young sales people from major book chains and other stores dropped by the table to look over the Pathfinder selection and exchange information on how to get the books onto the shelves of the stores in which they work.

Buyers for two national chains made a point of coming by the table and discussing future orders. One of them had been informed of Pathfinder’s participation by a sales rep the week before. This helped prompt his visit to the display. He took away the marked-up catalog with a suggested order that had been prepared for him in advance.

Contacts were established that may lead to a broader distribution of Pathfinder’s Farsi-language titles in the United States. And Pathfinder volunteers may be able to collaborate with a new customer gained at the trade show in presenting Spanish titles at a major Latin American festival in Toronto this summer.

"The sales work we’ve done over the past year really made a difference," commented volunteer Vicky Mercier afterwards. "I knew people at the event and felt confident in presenting our books. The display was attractive, too. It was a lot of fun."

Follow-up work with the various book sellers and other contact people listed in Pathfinder’s visitors’ book has already begun.  
 
 
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