The Signature Dish Author Feast
Author Information
At a Glance:
Date: Wednesday, September 20, 2023
Location: Holiday Inn on the River, Portland, OR - Washington/Clark Ballroom
Registration desk open: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Time to meet: 4:00 p.m.
Event time: 6:00 p.m.– 8:00 p.m.
Autographing: 4:00 p.m.
Author talk time: 8-9 min, reoccurring at 8 tables
Bring: Badge, meal ticket, and any props or handouts you want to use
Details:
The Signature Dish is one of the most popular events at the PNBA shows, both with the booksellers and with the authors. Authors will rotate through up to eight tables of booksellers, spending about eight to nine minutes with each eager group. The authors get to enjoy the variety of questions and discussions that occur, and the booksellers get a close-up conversation with up to eight authors whom they otherwise may have only had a chance to see and hear from a distance. The excitement is palpable and contagious.
The emcee and volunteer staff will meet with all of the featured authors at 4:00 p.m. for book signing. Your publisher will have shipped at least 130 copies of your book for this signing, and we will have signing pens for your use. You’ll meet your assistant for the evening, who will assist with the signing to streamline the process. At this time, the emcee will also verify name and title pronunciations and ask if you have a preference for how leftover books, if any, should be handled (i.e., given to you, returned to the publisher, donated, etc.). If you have not already picked up your badge and meal ticket from the registration desk, the emcee will have them for you there.
When the signing is done, at approximately 4:45 p.m., the emcee will escort you to a private dining room where the emcee will make a few short announcements and then you and the other featured authors will eat your meals. Meeting the other feast authors, having dinner, and discussing whatever you please for almost an hour is considered by many of the authors who have attended the feast in the past as the highlight of the event. This is a great chance for you all to meet a number of other fascinating authors who are eager to hear your stories about your publishing experiences and to tell you theirs.
After you have finished eating your meal, at about 5:45, the author assistants will show you back to the ballroom where the feast will take place, allowing you time to visit a restroom before the doors open. Your assistant will then show you the exact table and seat you will sit at for the first rotation of the feast, and will let you know where they will be (several tables away, along your route) if you should have any questions.
The doors will open at 6:00, and the attendees will take about ten minutes to find their seats, order a drink, and get settled. It’s not necessary that you sit at your table at this time, as you will talk to these attendees in the first rotation of the evening, although you can sit and chat if you’d like. You will need to be at your table by 6:10, when the event emcee will make a few announcements and then introduce each author and ask you to stand and hold up your book so everyone may recognize you.
By 6:30 the first rotation gets started and you’ll begin talking to your first table of booksellers and librarians while they are served dinner. Because you will be speaking to eight different groups, we suggest that you plan to speak about several distinct points of interest—things you experienced or thoughts you considered while writing, editing, publishing, and now promoting this book. Using a different one of those stories at each table to begin your discussion will help you stay interested and enthusiastic while also giving the booksellers at each table a slightly different story to share about you and your book. Leaving time for questions and discussion is also a great idea.
After about nine minutes a bell will ring and your assistant will escort you from that first table to your second. This process will continue, with just the authors moving from table to table, in an assigned order until you have spoken at eight tables.
After you have concluded your presentation at the last table, the feast will formally end with announcements from the emcee. Attendees will make their way to the side of the room, where assistants will distribute bags of the signed books. Please remain at your final table so attendees can approach you to ask questions or request special inscriptions. You will likely have a few extra books, which your assistant will bring to you so you can give them to those who ask for them. The event ends at 8:00 p.m.
PNBA will provide your dinner for this event. We are also happy to give you and one pre-registered guest free badges to attend the entire show. Your badges will provide you with entry to the exhibits and all PNBA events and parties, except those that require meal tickets. If you (and your guest) would like to attend any of the other meal events at the show, please fill out an Attendee Registration Form, indicating which meals you would like to purchase, for whom they should be held, and how you will pay for those tickets. Your badges and meal tickets will be held under your last name and may be picked up at the PNBA registration desk earlier in the day or from your emcee during book signing.
Some authors ask us why they cannot bring a guest with them to the Signature Dish. This event sells out every year, as booksellers and librarians are eager to have conversations with the authors, and there is no room for extra chairs. The diners stay seated, and the authors change tables every eight to nine minutes. If guests did attend, they would be forced to stand behind the authors or sit around the perimeter of the room, by themselves, with no good way to hear or participate in the discussions. In our experience, this is disruptive and uncomfortable for all involved. We do, however, encourage you and your guest to attend other show events together.
From 8:30 to 10:00 p.m., PNBA will produce a final author event for that day, the Authors on the Town, which will feature a different group of authors meeting the booksellers and signing their books. We invite you and your traveling companions to attend, enjoy the refreshments, chat with more booksellers and other authors, and conclude your day at the show.
PNBA considers the authors featured at our shows to be our celebrities. Our booksellers need to meet you, hear about your books, and decide which of you to invite to do author events at their stores. Those events are one of the few ways that our member stores can distinguish themselves from online and big-box booksellers—providing their customers with a chance to meet and interact with the actual author in an event that will work well for you. We pledge to treat you as the celebrity you are and to make sure that you have a fun and productive show.
Date: Wednesday, September 20, 2023
Location: Holiday Inn on the River, Portland, OR - Washington/Clark Ballroom
Registration desk open: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Time to meet: 4:00 p.m.
Event time: 6:00 p.m.– 8:00 p.m.
Autographing: 4:00 p.m.
Author talk time: 8-9 min, reoccurring at 8 tables
Bring: Badge, meal ticket, and any props or handouts you want to use
Details:
The Signature Dish is one of the most popular events at the PNBA shows, both with the booksellers and with the authors. Authors will rotate through up to eight tables of booksellers, spending about eight to nine minutes with each eager group. The authors get to enjoy the variety of questions and discussions that occur, and the booksellers get a close-up conversation with up to eight authors whom they otherwise may have only had a chance to see and hear from a distance. The excitement is palpable and contagious.
The emcee and volunteer staff will meet with all of the featured authors at 4:00 p.m. for book signing. Your publisher will have shipped at least 130 copies of your book for this signing, and we will have signing pens for your use. You’ll meet your assistant for the evening, who will assist with the signing to streamline the process. At this time, the emcee will also verify name and title pronunciations and ask if you have a preference for how leftover books, if any, should be handled (i.e., given to you, returned to the publisher, donated, etc.). If you have not already picked up your badge and meal ticket from the registration desk, the emcee will have them for you there.
When the signing is done, at approximately 4:45 p.m., the emcee will escort you to a private dining room where the emcee will make a few short announcements and then you and the other featured authors will eat your meals. Meeting the other feast authors, having dinner, and discussing whatever you please for almost an hour is considered by many of the authors who have attended the feast in the past as the highlight of the event. This is a great chance for you all to meet a number of other fascinating authors who are eager to hear your stories about your publishing experiences and to tell you theirs.
After you have finished eating your meal, at about 5:45, the author assistants will show you back to the ballroom where the feast will take place, allowing you time to visit a restroom before the doors open. Your assistant will then show you the exact table and seat you will sit at for the first rotation of the feast, and will let you know where they will be (several tables away, along your route) if you should have any questions.
The doors will open at 6:00, and the attendees will take about ten minutes to find their seats, order a drink, and get settled. It’s not necessary that you sit at your table at this time, as you will talk to these attendees in the first rotation of the evening, although you can sit and chat if you’d like. You will need to be at your table by 6:10, when the event emcee will make a few announcements and then introduce each author and ask you to stand and hold up your book so everyone may recognize you.
By 6:30 the first rotation gets started and you’ll begin talking to your first table of booksellers and librarians while they are served dinner. Because you will be speaking to eight different groups, we suggest that you plan to speak about several distinct points of interest—things you experienced or thoughts you considered while writing, editing, publishing, and now promoting this book. Using a different one of those stories at each table to begin your discussion will help you stay interested and enthusiastic while also giving the booksellers at each table a slightly different story to share about you and your book. Leaving time for questions and discussion is also a great idea.
After about nine minutes a bell will ring and your assistant will escort you from that first table to your second. This process will continue, with just the authors moving from table to table, in an assigned order until you have spoken at eight tables.
After you have concluded your presentation at the last table, the feast will formally end with announcements from the emcee. Attendees will make their way to the side of the room, where assistants will distribute bags of the signed books. Please remain at your final table so attendees can approach you to ask questions or request special inscriptions. You will likely have a few extra books, which your assistant will bring to you so you can give them to those who ask for them. The event ends at 8:00 p.m.
PNBA will provide your dinner for this event. We are also happy to give you and one pre-registered guest free badges to attend the entire show. Your badges will provide you with entry to the exhibits and all PNBA events and parties, except those that require meal tickets. If you (and your guest) would like to attend any of the other meal events at the show, please fill out an Attendee Registration Form, indicating which meals you would like to purchase, for whom they should be held, and how you will pay for those tickets. Your badges and meal tickets will be held under your last name and may be picked up at the PNBA registration desk earlier in the day or from your emcee during book signing.
Some authors ask us why they cannot bring a guest with them to the Signature Dish. This event sells out every year, as booksellers and librarians are eager to have conversations with the authors, and there is no room for extra chairs. The diners stay seated, and the authors change tables every eight to nine minutes. If guests did attend, they would be forced to stand behind the authors or sit around the perimeter of the room, by themselves, with no good way to hear or participate in the discussions. In our experience, this is disruptive and uncomfortable for all involved. We do, however, encourage you and your guest to attend other show events together.
From 8:30 to 10:00 p.m., PNBA will produce a final author event for that day, the Authors on the Town, which will feature a different group of authors meeting the booksellers and signing their books. We invite you and your traveling companions to attend, enjoy the refreshments, chat with more booksellers and other authors, and conclude your day at the show.
PNBA considers the authors featured at our shows to be our celebrities. Our booksellers need to meet you, hear about your books, and decide which of you to invite to do author events at their stores. Those events are one of the few ways that our member stores can distinguish themselves from online and big-box booksellers—providing their customers with a chance to meet and interact with the actual author in an event that will work well for you. We pledge to treat you as the celebrity you are and to make sure that you have a fun and productive show.