ABA Announces Day of Education Opening Speaker

Christopher J. Zane, a nationally noted entrepreneur and speaker, will be the opening plenary speaker at the American Booksellers Association’s Day of Education, on Monday, May 23, at BookExpo America (BEA). The event starts at 8:30 a.m. and will be open to all BEA badged attendees. The Day of Education is sponsored by the Ingram Content Group.

Zane, a 29-year veteran of the retail bicycle industry, bought his first bike shop at age 16 and before he reached the age of 30 had built Zane’s Cycles into the largest bicycle shop in Connecticut. Today Zane’s Cycles is one of the largest retail bicycle stores in the nation. His unique approach to marketing includes strategies that stress continual learning, the lifetime value of a customer, guerrilla marketing, and cost-controlled customer service.

Zane’s marketing techniques have been used as case studies in over a dozen college textbooks worldwide and have been the subject of articles in major publications, such as Harvard Business Review, theNew York Times, theWall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, and Fortune Magazine. Zanehas been profiled in Alpha Dogs, a HarperCollins bestseller, by Donna Fenn, and he is a frequent guest on WCBS’ “The Wall Street Journal’s Small Business Report” with Joe Connolly.

As the morning plenary speaker at ABA’s Day of Education, Zane will share insights on the lifetime value of one customer to a store’s bottom line. He’ll also discuss unique approaches to customer relationship marketing, understanding the psychology of today’s customer, and acquiring the tools to build lifetime relationships in the B2C and B2B markets.

The morning plenary will be followed by a full day of educational programming aimed at ABA bookstore members and open to all badged BEA attendees. The afternoon program includes a second plenary session that will feature award-winning author Margaret Atwood.

BookExpo America 2011 will be held from Monday, May 23 - Thursday, May 26, at New York City’s Javits Convention Center. For more information about BEA, visit BookExpoAmerica.com; for information about ABA programming and the official ABA hotel at BEA, visit BookWeb.org.

All ABA Regular Bookstore and Provisional members are eligible for a number of free badges for admission to BEA 2011.