ABA Booksellers Forums -- California Here We Come

ABA's Booksellers Forum tour heads to California in February. The first of three forums will be held in conjunction with the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) at its offices in The Presidio in San Francisco on Wednesday, February 18. This will be followed by forums at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena on Friday, February 20, and at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in San Diego on Saturday, February 21, both in conjunction with the Southern California Booksellers Association (SCBA).

ABA Booksellers Forums provide attendees with the opportunity to ask questions, express opinions, and hear about the association's activities and plans for the future. A special feature this year will be a discussion of plans to mark the fifth birthday of Book Sense.

Representing ABA at the forums will be CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher. In addition, ABA Board member Neal Coonerty of Bookshop Santa Cruz will attend the San Francisco forum.

Each of the forums will feature roughly a half-day of programming (from 10:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. in San Francisco and from 11:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. in Pasadena and San Diego) that will begin with a Book Sense gift card demonstration, explaining how the gift card works and how easy it is to get started. The presentation will include specific case studies of bookstores' experiences this past holiday season.

The gift card demonstration will be followed by an open forum where booksellers are invited to discuss whatever issues are on their minds. Staff will be there to gather booksellers' input and to present information on ABA and regional association programs and services, the sales tax initiative, efforts to repeal the USA Patriot Act, BookExpo America, the Book Sense marketing program, and more. Lunch will be provided.

Immediately following the forums, Domnitz will be available for one-on-one meetings with booksellers to demonstrate how easy it is to submit financial information to the ABACUS study, an invaluable tool for those seeking to improve store operations. (For more information about ABACUS, click here. To make an appointment for a 15 - 20 minute meeting with Domnitz, send an e-mail to avin@bookweb.org.)

Booksellers planning to attend any of the forums are asked to RSVP to ABA's Kristen Gilligan at (800) 637-0037, ext. 1286 or at kristen@bookweb.org.

A fourth forum will be held in February in the Washington, D.C. area on Wednesday, the 25th. Details will be provided in an upcoming edition of Bookselling This Week and in an e-mail from ABA to area booksellers.

For the complete schedule of this season's ABA Booksellers Forums, click here.

Here's a re-cap:

San Francisco Forum
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
10:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
NCIBA offices at The Presidio
37 Graham St.
(415) 561-7686; Web: http://www.nciba.com/

10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. -- Book Sense Gift Card Demonstration
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. -- ABA/NCIBA Open Forum
1:30 p.m. - 3: 00 p.m. -- One-on-One ABACUS Tutorials

Pasadena Forum
Friday, February 20, 2004
11:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Vroman's Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd.
(626) 449-5320; Web: http://vromans.booksense.com

11:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. -- Book Sense Gift Card Demonstration
Noon - 1:45 p.m. -- ABA/SCBA Open Forum
2:00 p.m. - 3: 30 p.m. -- One-on-One ABACUS Tutorials

San Diego Forum
Saturday, February 21, 2004
11:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Four Points Sheraton San Diego
8110 Aero Dr. (between Interstate 805, Interstate 15, and Highway 163)
(858) 277-8888; Web: http://www.starwood.com/fourpoints/index.html

11:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. -- Book Sense Gift Card Demonstration
Noon - 1:45 p.m. -- ABA/SCBA Open Forum
2:00 p.m. - 3: 30 p.m. -- One-on-One ABACUS Tutorials