Exhibit City News

Tradeshow consultant Linda Musgrove, who writes Section B's popular "TradeShow Teacher" column (see Page B6), is writing "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Trade Shows." 

"I was thrilled to be contacted," Musgrove said. "The Idiot's Guide Division of Penguin Publishing asked me to author the book and I agreed. In fact, quite a few chapters are already under way!"

Musgrove said she had been thinking of writing such a book for a long time, and was pleasantly surprised to be contacted by the very company she had thought of approaching.

"The funny thing is, I had been thinking about pitching the idea to them for years, but somehow I just never got around to it," she explained. "With tradeshows such a huge market, the lack of an Idiots Guide on this topic always puzzled me. So I was pleasantly surprised when I got a call a few months ago from a senior acquisitions editor, asking me to write the book!"

The opportunity seemed tailor-made for Musgrove's experience and training.

"I told him I'd always wanted to take some of the very specialized content of my TradeShow Training manual, which I self-published and now sell through my Web site, and bring it to a much broader audience," she explained. "And I had also wanted to present that material in an easy-to-read-and-digest format. After all, teaching businesses how to learn the skills necessary to create an exceptional exhibit program is the core focus of what I do as ‘the TradeShow Teacher.' It didn't take a lot of convincing for me to say I'd write this book, which fits the bill perfectly."

Musgrove said the book will be available by spring and will fill a much-needed niche.

"We got started immediately to meet an aggressive release date - March 2009," she said. "This practical, easy-to-read guide will provide readers with everything they'll ever need to know about exhibiting at tradeshows, and it will walk them through the entire process, step by step."

Is time management an issue for The TradeShow Teacher, now that she has become a published author as well?

"My schedule was as busy as always, but when the idea of writing the Idiot's Guide got pitched directly to me, I simply couldn't say no," Musgrove laughed. "Of course, I knew I had to figure out a way to manage my existing projects and meet all the deadlines the way my clients are accustomed to. But time challenges are nothing new in my business. I simply had to fit writing this book into my schedule, so I did!"