ABA to Hold Second Forum in Great Lakes Region

ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz, COO Oren Teicher, and ABA Board member Karl Pohrt of Shaman Drum in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will be conducting an ABA Booksellers Forum, in conjunction with the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA) on Tuesday, March 30, at Emmis Books in Cincinnati, Ohio. The second forum in the Great Lakes region this season (the first was on January 15 in Chicago) offers booksellers the opportunity to ask questions, express opinions, and hear about ABA's activities and plans for the future. Among the topics open for discussion are sales tax initiatives, efforts to amend the USA Patriot Act, net-pricing proposals, programming for BookExpo America, Book Sense and plans for its fifth birthday celebration, the 2004 ABACUS study, and more.

The roughly half-day of programming (from 11:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.) 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 when stores converted from paper to plastic.

The gift card demonstration will be followed by the ABA/GLBA open forum, from noon - 1:45 p.m. Lunch will be provided.

Immediately following the forum, from 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m., Domnitz will present a new financial seminar, "The 2% Solution," based on the results of last year's ABACUS study. The session will demonstrate how booksellers can work on sales, gross margin, compensation, and occupancy expense to improve profits.

Domnitz will also be available for one-on-one meetings to show how easy it is to submit financial data to the 2004 ABACUS study. (To set up a meeting with Domnitz, send an e-mail to avin@bookweb.org. For more information about ABACUS, click here.)

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

Forum attendees will automatically be entered into a drawing to win hotel accommodations and admission to BookExpo America for the next five years.

For the complete Winter/Spring 2004 ABA Booksellers Forum schedule, click here.

Here's a re-cap of what we have planned:

Tuesday, March 30, 2004
11:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Emmis Books
The Old Firehouse
1700 Madison Rd., 2nd Floor
Cincinnati, OH 45206
(513) 861-4045, ext. 11
(Emmis Books is in the neighborhood of East Walnut Hills -- 2 miles south of Joseph-Beth Bookstore, on same road.)

• 11:00 a.m. - Noon -- Book Sense Gift Card Demonstration
  
• Noon - 1:45 p.m. -- ABA/GLBA Open Forum
  
• 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. -- The 2% Solution: A financial seminar
  
• One-to-one ABACUS tutorials may be set up by sending an e-mail to avin@bookweb.org.