AAR/SBL Annual Meeting survival guide

The American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting is quickly approaching, and we couldn’t be more excited. This year, we thought we’d provide a survival guide of sorts, the “do”s and “don’t”s, from our perspective, for a successful AAR/SBL. Have anything to add? Let us know in the comments below.

Download the conference app.
Not only does the official app have information for each session, each exhibitor has a listing. Check out our listing for our location, relevant sessions by our authors, and a mobile coupon for use at the booth.

Bring your business cards.
It’s much easier to drop a business card in a raffle drawing than to fill out a slip by hand. It’s also easier for us to take orders if we can just staple on your card to our order form. (And you know you have a million business cards in your office, might as well put them to some use.)

Do your homework.
Do you have a book to propose? Do your homework! Check whether the press you’re approaching publishes in your area, and have examples of recent, similar books at the ready. Find out the name of the appropriate editor. And get in touch in advance: editors can engage with your project more fruitfully if they know something about it beforehand.

Tweet us.
We’ll be live tweeting from our brand new @OUPReligion Twitter channel and will be retweeting our favorite tweets that we’re tagged in. Take a selfie with your book! Take a selfie with someone else’s book! Tag us; we want to see. (And don’t forget to also use the official hashtag, #SBLAAR16.)

Ask us about exam copies.
Teaching a Religion course? You can request complimentary exam copies of our high-quality and affordable college textbooks at the booth. Just ask anyone in the booth for an exam copy request form.

Don’t ask us for directions.
Want to know where to find something? We’d love to help. But most of us spend all day in the Oxford booth and barely have enough energy to drag ourselves back to our hotels afterward. So we’d love to give you restaurant recommendations, or tell you where other presses are located, but if it’s not visible from booth 320, chances are we have no idea where it is.

Please take the free journals.
The journals are free! Don’t leave the booth without one (or two, or three, or four, or…).

Stay for the last day.
Don’t leave before the last day of the conference! While there are no promises, most presses do sell off their books at a higher discount on the last day of the book exhibit.

“Remember the Alamo!” 
Don’t get so caught up in the meeting that you forget to sight see. From our resident Texas native:

• Be sure to stop for delicious, authentic Tex Mex on the Riverwalk.
• Visit the Cathedral of San Fernando, one of the most beautiful churches in the city, in the evening to take in its beauty. It’s also the first church built in San Antonio and the oldest standing church in Texas.
• If you explore the Alamo, take time to walk around the grounds, too. You’ll find entertainers, gorgeous gardens, and a lot of historical tidbits.

Visit us at booth 320 in San Antonio to browse our new and noteworthy books, journals, textbooks, Bibles, and online products. You can also use code AAR16 on our website to save 20% off books we’re bringing to the meeting and receive free shipping.

Featured image credit: Photo taken for Oxford University Press.