Buyer's Tip Sheet

Making the Most of your time at the National Media Market

Great Ideas for being more productive at NMM!

• Bring a highlighter and a pad of post-it notes.

• Carefully review all materials sent to you by the exhibitors prior to the Market. They contain news of Market discounts, new releases, drawings and special activities.

• Wear comfortable shoes, have a jacket handy.

• Review your program guide prior to arrival; note titles that strike your interest.

• Try to organize titles to screen by floor to save time.

• If you don’t see what you need—ask!

• Bring your “consideration list” or “subject needs file.” Bring user requests for specific or hard-to-find titles.

• Ask what titles an exhibitor has on a specific topic or grade level, not just “what’s new?”

• Bring 3×5 cards, a notebook computer or a pile of title evaluation forms (click here for a sample form) from your organization so you can rate titles as you see them. It provides a permanent record for organizing purchases later.

• Talk to people. NMM is a unique gathering of media purchasers from schools, universities and public libraries. Ask about the best titles they have seen so far. Ask about their operation, how they select titles, who they are buying for. Some great ideas for new titles or better ways of doing things can be picked up in a casual conversation.

• Bring user comment cards form your agency—good and bad. Producers frequently want to know what people in the field think of their titles.

• Don’t forget that portable DVD players are available to use in your room after hours for more screening. Exhibitors will lend DVDs overnight for this purpose.

• Companies have “on-demand” screening. Go in organized and know the titles you need to see. Consider asking for 6 to 10 DVDs at a time; review five or ten minutes of each to cover a lot of possible purchases quickly.

• If one exhibitor can’t help you—ask if they know which company might have the kind of titles you need. The exhibitors know the other collections pretty well and are generally cooperative with each other.

• Try producers you have never heard of or haven’t purchased from in years. You may find an unexpected wealth of important titles.

• After the Market, take out exhibitor pages from the notebook, and put into a binder organized in alphabetical order by company to begin your next purchase cycle.

• Bring a second or third person from your agency to screen titles. You will cover more ground and the synergy of your colleagues is important.

• Let exhibitors know your purchase cycle, they may be willing to extend Market discounts. Let them know if your agency requires any policy documents to be on file in your business office.

• If you have questions or ideas that will make the Market better, fill out a Market evaluation form. Also feel free to talk to any NMM Board Member, identified by a ribbon on their name badge.

 Create your own educational wiki!HelpPublic, not yet premium Privacy Policy RSS