Skip to content

Promoting JW.ORG at the Toronto Book Fair

Promoting JW.ORG at the Toronto Book Fair

From November 13 to 16, 2014, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre hosted the Toronto International Book Fair, a print and digital showcase of books. More than 20,000 people attended the fair over the four days.

Among the fair’s exhibitors were Jehovah’s Witnesses, who were present with a bright, interactive booth. Kiosks for tablets demonstrated how to navigate jw.org.

One of the event managers commented: “Your website is really modern. I think other exhibitors should take a page from your approach.” Visitors said that the website was very professional and easy to navigate and that it addressed important questions. They were also impressed that the website helped people to cope with their problems and concerns.

As Witness volunteers manning the booth conversed with people, they found that most of the attendees had never heard of jw.org before the book fair. Nearly every visitor accepted a contact card or the tract Where Can We Find Answers to Life’s Big Questions? Many said they would view the website again, and some asked that Jehovah’s Witnesses contact them at home.

Friday was “Children’s Day” at the book fair, so volunteers featured whiteboard animations from jw.org. Groups of schoolchildren accompanied by their teachers would stop and watch.

A man from Chicago who works for a company that prints Bibles appreciated the quality of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures on display. He wanted to get in touch with the printers and was given a contact card.

Of the more than 700 languages available on the website, visitors looked at 16​—Amharic, Bengali, Chinese, English, French, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Tigrinya, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

One Witness who welcomed visitors to the booth observed that there is a big difference between telling people about the website and actually showing them. He said, “We had a wonderful opportunity to showcase the website.”