PLA Conference record shattered
Contact:Kathleen Hughes
312-280-4028
For Immediate Release
May 2002
PLA Conference record shattered
The Public Library Association's (PLA) 9th National Conference, March 12-16 in Phoenix, was host to a record 7,891 librarians, exhibitors, speakers, guests and other attendees. This breaks the previous record of 7,528 attendees in Charlotte in 2000.
Another new record was set for the size of the exhibition - over 397 companies exhibiting from 663 booths and 22 tabletops. This is up from 605 booths and 28 tabletops in 2000.
One of several new features rolled out at the conference was an on-line evaluation form. Attendees were able to access the form at the Internet café on March 15 and it continued to be available online until the end 99 percent visited the exhibits
- 73 percent visited the exhibits 3 times or more
- 95 percent rated programs as good (40 percent) or excellent (55 percent)
- 94 percent of attendees like the conference schedule and felt the number of programs was just right
- Favorite conference services were: handouts on the Web; conference program PDA downloads, local information Web page and ease of registration
Exhibitors were pleased with traffic in the hall and their satisfaction with the PLA Phoenix conference was reflected in booth sales for the next PLA conference in Seattle in 2004. Approximately 86 percent of the exhibit hall (based on 2002 size) was pre-sold to exhibitors for the next conference.
If you missed PLA in Phoenix, get the flavor of Phoenix by viewing our PLA photo album at
www.pla.org/conference/conf02/scrapbook/index.html
Or, check out the program handouts
www.pla.org/conference/conf02/prelimindex.html, and mark your calendar for PLA 2004, which will be held in Seattle, February 24-28.
PLA is a division of the American Library Association.
