Neither unbroken nor total. A few murmurs petering out as anticipation turns to attention and attendees break off their conversations mid-sentence and look toward the podium.
The faces of the audience are expectant, inquisitive. This is the moment their openness can best be harnessed, and transformed into engagement.
As an event coordinator for McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg for ten years, having hosted hundreds of events and organized thousands more, this is the magic moment for me: the time when potential hangs heavy in the air.
The position of event host is an odd one in that if one has done their job correctly, any contribution should go almost entirely unnoticed.
My role, and that of the incredible event facilitators I work with, is to prepare the space and guide people into the evening – readying them for the conversation to come and bringing them back down to earth thereafter. Setting the table and then clearing the dishes away.
Unless an audience member has arrived impressively early, the space itself should seem to have long been in place, waiting for literary-minded buttocks to alight on welcoming plastic.
The authors who glide behind our microphones to share their books so publicly should be able to arrive with the same sense of relaxation. All physical work should have ceased by this point, and my colleagues and I should radiate a certain composed confidence or, at the very least, any fear or doubt should be scoured from our features.
Once an event is in motion, it’s a matter of subtly tweaking the flow wherever possible, eliminating distractions, accommodating our speakers and guests, and ensuring a congenial rhythm that encourages focus and enjoyment.
“There’s something intensely rewarding about seeing the connections forged at our events, and also in getting to interact with the wide number of thoughtful, curious individuals that reside in this city.” -John Toews
All this might come across as somewhat clinical, but those steps are in service of a task that I find myself quite privileged to play a small role in: that of creating a space for conversation and the exchange of ideas.
With so many events a year, our audience cannot simply consist of a small group of regulars.
Therefore, another one of my favourite tasks consists of outreach, building and strengthening community connections, and maintaining the store’s reputation as a community hub. There’s something intensely rewarding about seeing the connections forged at our events, and also in getting to interact with the wide number of thoughtful, curious individuals that reside in this city.
Such an engaged populace inevitably yields an ever-growing number of writers, publishers, thinkers, and artists – and draws others from across this country and beyond to within our city limits to experience and interact with our residents. It is my great pleasure to have the opportunity to facilitate this exchange and, as one long infatuated with books, to play a small part in this culture that fascinates, infuriates, and delights me in equal measure.
“Thank you all for your attention. We’ll now start removing some unoccupied chairs from the space. This is not to rush you along, but simply to ensure that you might mingle more easily.”
