What?sthe best thing about a book fair? It's a lot of hard work puttingthem together, but the end result is fun. If you know the right wayto approach and plan a school book fair event, things will be easyright from the beginning.
Firstthings first ? and that is motivation. Your entire team has to behighly motivated to conduct a schoolbook fairthat will raise a lot of funds for the school. So, the first thing todo is to evaluate your school support system. Starting from teachers,volunteers, students and parents. Everyone should visualize thepositive results of putting on a book fair. One way to increase theirenthusiasm is to reward them. Put this at the end of the checklist,but don't forget to mention it first when you call for a book fairmeeting at school. So, let's start with the five important thingsthat are needed to put together a fun and successful book fair.
1.Choose a Provider
Preparea book inventory according to category and age group and place ordersfor books. The best way is to opt for a scholastic sales consultantswho will take care of providing books for different age groups.
2.Choose the date and duration
Decideon a suitable date for the book fair. Remember to avoid testschedules and important school events and also choose days nearpayday. One important point to note here is that the scholasticsocietyoffers benefits during certain months of the year (please checkonline).
Determinehow long the book fair will be held. If the PTA agrees, there can beevents for grandparents, children and even food can be served(Organizing for food needs separate planning by itself).
3.Gather your Team
Wecan't possibly get the fair running with only school admins andteachers. We need to call for volunteers who will be given individualtasks (which need to be tracked) and reporting hierarchy also needsto be decided. Parents, grandparents, senior students, family andfriends can be of great help here.
Putup signs near the library or school entrance, inform the schoolprincipal about your search and also pass out information during theschool PTA meetings. Alternatively, you can ask volunteers toregister through online planning tools. People who are selected asvolunteers should be able to spare a lot of time before and afterright after the event. Choose people who are enthusiastic,trustworthy, patient (they will need to handle a lot of childrenduring the fair) and emphasize the need to stay focused and organizedduring the event.
4.Schedule Your Workload
Chartout the tasks, allowing enough lead time for each activity. Rememberto make time for decorations (hall or garden or library ? dependingon venue) and preparing signs, board and book racks. Create a PRgroup that will spread word about the school event within and outsideof the school. Check with the provider whether he will be bringinghis team for overseeing sales or you may need to plan for that also.Make sure to organize for snacks, beverages and other goodies to keepyour team going.
Preparea register with names of volunteers, their tasks, reporting time andexit time. Also, allocate separate trustworthy persons to handle thecash register (you can take the help of school teachers for this).One good idea is to prepare an instruction booklet for volunteers. Tohandle traffic arrangements and unruly crowd we definitely needtraffic controllers, so, inform them in advance.
5.Plan Ahead and Stay Motivated
Planearly, at least a month in advance, so there will be enough time toget the volunteer team together and assign tasks according to theirinterests. Also, there will be enough time to rethink ideas ontitles, banners, etc.
Schooleventscan also be organized via planning tools that are available on theinternet.
