New! If you are a publisher or exhibitor and have registered for the conference, you should be able to log in to the OpenWater website using these directions; if you used OpenWater before, you might be able to get in without resetting a password.
- Go to https://thegsa45.secure-
platform.com/ - Click on Login
- Enter the same email address that you registered with/sent to the Operations Director
- Click on 'I Don't Have a Password'
- You'll be emailed a login link
- If you get an error message, we probably need to re-enter your email; just email the Operations Director (operations@thegsa.org) and we'll take care of that.
- 29 Aug. 2021, click here for shipping info: *Publishing and Shipping Information for Downtown Marriott Indianapolis*
New! email, sent 31 Aug, 2021:
Dear Publishers and Exhibitors,
We thank those of you who have already sent us your materials already. For those of you who have not yet done so, or who are still on the fence, we will have a much smaller conference in Indianapolis than we had hoped. However, the folks there will, I know, be very happy to see their first exhibit of books in over a year. You'll find shipping information at the top of this webpage; please see the email below this for other information).
For those of you who prefer to only exhibit online, we are setting up virtual booths for those of you who have sent your information and will be getting back to you individually if we have questions. Thanks to those of you who have sent in some or all of your information.
If you have registered for the conference but have not yet sent us your booth information, you may do so with our Exhibitor Form. We need to set a deadline of September 15 for all materials to be in so we can set up the booths. The conference website will be live approximately a week before the conference begins, that is to say, on or about September 21.
As always, thank you for your support and we look forward to welcoming you to the conference!
Sincerely,
Benita Blessing, PhD
Operations Director, the German Studies Association
operations@thegsa.org
and
Margaret E. Menninger, PhD
Executive Director, The German Studies Association
director@thegsa.org
12 July 2021
Dear publishers and exhibitors,
As you may know, German Studies Association will be holding both an in-person conference and a virtual conference this year. Our in-person conference will be at the Marriott Downtown Hotel in Indianapolis, Indiana. Both our new Executive Director Margaret Menninger (director@thegsa.org) and I look forward to welcoming you in either or both iterations. Please add my email address (operations@thegsa.org) to your contacts to help reduce the possibility of GSA-related emails sent to spam. Thanks so much! Thanks, also, for your patience with us both as we try to set up two parallel conferences at the same time. You are a vital part of our community, and we know our members are looking forward to being able to peruse titles, discuss book projects with you, and purchase materials from you during the conference virtually or face to face.
The conference will begin with kick-off events on Sept. 28, with sessions held October 1-3, 8am-6:15pm Eastern Time (in other words our usual schedule). We are scheduling the conference right now, and a tentative version will be available on our website as soon as possible (thegsa.org). You can go to that main page to find the updates, including *registration information* and *FAQs* in the right bar.
Registration is $200 for just a virtual booth and $300 per table in Indianapolis plus a virtual booth. That fee includes registration for as many of your representatives as want to attend. Please note that only registered exhibitors will be displayed on our conference website when it goes live. We are also offering the opportunity to advertise in our conference program and that form is attached to this email. Unfortunately the deadline for that form to be filled out is August 1. We apologize for the short notice but the program designers need time to develop the program. It will only be online, rather than printed, but we are changing the layout to include advertisements throughout rather than keeping them in one section at the back.
Open Water is still setting up our exhibitor’s hall, but those of you who participated in our virtual conference last year will recall how things looked then. We are aiming for as good or better a virtual experience this year.
As a reminder, here are some elements to consider:
● You can list your logo and publisher website and contact information of your representatives; note that you can also include a button with a “click here to schedule a meeting with us” option. You can set up how you want that to work; some options might be a shared document that members can sign up for time slots in, a scheduler program if you use one, or it can go straight to an email request.
● Near that button will also be a button for members to register for GSA-level give-aways in order to encourage visitors to sites; after the conference, we will have random drawings. It is also possible for you to have a button with a give-away drawing specific to you. (I will send you the spreadsheet of everyone who visited your site after the conference.)
● You can include a short video or slideshow or image highlighting recent titles, introducing yourself and your focus, etc.
● You can include links to your website and any other information (such as an ordering form, a discount code, etc.).
● There is also a space for any social media sites you maintain.
At your earliest convenience, please complete the survey here (GSA Exhibitor Form) where I will ask you whether you plan to exhibit, and if yes, to provide as much as the information above as possible as well as a tentative list of names and email addresses of representatives likely to attend.
It will be possible to edit much of this information later, but it would help us out considerably if you could at least start the process by filling out what you do know now.
Please share this email and the link to the questionnaire with colleagues. And please contact us with any questions, concerns, and suggestions, and I’ll try and respond as quickly and as thoroughly as I can, or else forward them to OpenWater.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Benita Blessing, PhD
Operations Director, the German Studies Association
operations@thegsa.org
and
Margaret E. Menninger, PhD
Executive Director, The German Studies Association
director@thegsa.org