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Exhibitor Engagement

Exhibitor Engagement Submissions

To further promote your authors/illustrators and organization, ALA offers contracted exhibitors the opportunity to participate in several engagement programs, most of which are located right on the exhibit floor. Each program has its own format, pricing, submission details and deadline.  

Details on stage offerings will be available in early December. 

Submission site will open in early January. 

You must be a contracted exhibitor or part of an ALA Unit to participate. 

Submission Site & Deadlines

Proposals are gathered through an open call and reviewed by Show Management. 

Programs include:

  • Stage Sessions 
  • Book Buzz Theater 
  • Now Showing @ ALA Film Program (this program is open to both exhibiting and non-exhibiting organizations.)
  • Meet the Authors Program

Deadlines:

Stage Sessions  | Now Showing @ ALA Film Program |  Author Autographing Stations | Meet the Authors (In-Booth)*

  • Submission Site Opens in early January
  • First Round of Assignments - early March
  • First Round Notifications Start in early April 2026
  • * Meet the Authors (In-Booth) submissions are automatically accepted and migrated into the scheduler once a week. Submission site remains open until June 29, 2026.

Accepted stage sessions will be invoiced a $500 fee per session. There is no charge to participate in the Now Showing @ ALA Film Program, Author Autographing Stations, or Meet the Authors program.

Book Buzz Theater  

  • Submission Site Opens in early February
  • First Round Deadline mid-February
  • First Round Notifications Start in early March  

Accepted Book Buzz sessions will be invoiced a $500 fee per session.

NOTE: For all opportunities listed above, session details will be included in the ALA Scheduler and Mobile App. 

Questions or Concerns

For general questions regarding the submission process, please contact ALA Show Management at [email protected]. 

Exhibitor Education Sessions

The Exhibitor Track is designed to provide a dedicated platform for vendors to share industry expertise, practical insights, and innovations shaping today’s library landscape. These one-hour sponsored programs—scheduled Saturday and Sunday in a designated meeting room at the Convention Center—are educational in nature, focusing on timely issues, trends, and solutions relevant to conference attendees.

Programs may take a wide range of engaging formats, from panels and workshops to demonstrations and interactive sessions, with creative approaches and programs. Participating exhibitors will contribute $600 to offset AV and room costs, with a portion benefiting ALA’s Hoy Scholarship Fund.

Proposals will be submitted via the official submission site between January and March and will be selected by the ALA Conference Committee based on relevance, quality, creativity, and alignment with current issues facing the profession.

Submissions will open in January 2027.

(Note: this submission site is different from the Exhibitor Engagement (Stages, etc.) submission site.)

List Rental

Reach out directly to attendees to make sure they’re aware of your participation. 
ALA is offering the following options to you to reach attendees:

Attendee List Rental
Target buyers by industry segment, demographic profile or geographic area. List counts can be modified to meet your budget requirements. TrafficMax online attendee list rental and marketing system allows you to reach qualified buyers for your products and services through attendee list rental or broadcast email service. List rental and broadcast email service will be available through the Exhibitor Registration site, opening mid-February.

Note on Unauthorized list rental
In the past, some ALA exhibitors received communications from companies soliciting ALA attendee lists. Please note that these companies have no affiliation with ALA, and we cannot recommend purchasing a list through them. ALA's official list rental is provided through Event Citadel (formerly CompuSystems) Lead Management. For more information, call 708/786-5565, or email Event Citadel at [email protected].

Membership Lists
Market your publications and services with ALA Mailing Lists. ALA offers Membership Lists that include Personal and Organizational Members active in special interest Divisions, Sections and Round Tables. ALA Membership Lists also include foreign and Canadian addresses. Additional information on ordering an ALA Membership List.

 

Note: ALA and their contractors will not call exhibitors on the phone to solicit list rentals. If you receive a call from someone selling an attendee list, this is not a legitimate sales call. Please do not purchase list rentals from unauthorized groups. 

 

Press Releases

Exhibitors may submit press releases to appear in the “News” section of the Annual Conference website.

Important: Press releases must be related specifically to your participation in the ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition. Exhibitors may submit a one-line headline for their press release, and a PDF file of the full release. The PDF will be linked to the one-line headline.

Alternatively, you may submit a URL that links to information specific to your participation in the ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition. 

Please note: When referencing the Annual Conference in your materials, the correct verbiage to use is: 
ALA 2027 Annual Conference & Exhibition

Send headline and PDF file / URL to [email protected].