Booksellers Forum Tour Begins in Minneapolis, Los Angeles & San Francisco

The American Booksellers Association's Booksellers Forum Tour will begin on Saturday, March 8, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, followed by stops on Monday, March 10, in Los Angeles, and on Wednesday, March 12, in San Francisco, California. The owners and staff of all ABA member stores, as well as those of the respective regional associations, are invited to attend. Each event will feature an education component and an opportunity to discuss concerns and hear the latest news about the association's programs and initiatives from ABA Chief Executive Officer Avin Mark Domnitz, Chief Operations Officer Oren Teicher, Chief Program Officer Len Vlahos, and Chief Marketing Officer Meg Smith. ABA Board members Collette Morgan of Wild Rumpus and Michael Tucker of Books Inc. will also be on hand at the Minnesota and San Francisco programs, respectively.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, March 8

The first ABA Booksellers Forum program will be held in conjunction with the Midwest Booksellers Association (MBA) Spring Meeting during the weekend of the Minneapolis Spring Gift Show. In addition to the forum, the program, at the Park Plaza Hotel in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington (4460 West 78th Street Circle, Bloomington, MN 55435), will include two ABA educational offerings, "Authorless Events: Enhancing Experiential Shopping" and "Booksellers at the Tipping Point: Leveraging Localism and Independence to Promote Your Store," and more than five MBA events.

Here's the schedule to date:

Saturday, March 8

• 8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.: Registration Coffee, tea and muffins available.
• 9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.: "Midwest Connections: Making the Most of MBA's Regional Marketing Program in Your Store" Midwest Connections, MBA's year-round regional marketing program, highlights books and authors of special interest to the area. Learn how the program ties together all of MBA's marketing support for member stores: award winners and bestsellers; cross-promotion with the MBA catalog; author and authorless events; Trade Show and Spring Meeting author events; rebates and more. MBA Board members and Executive Director Susan Walker will discuss the program's many benefits and how booksellers can use them to creatively and effectively sell more books.
• 9:35 a.m. - 10:50 a.m.: ABA's "Authorless Events: Enhancing Experiential Shopping" One of the best ways to stand out from the competition is to make your store a place where something is always happening, and the way to do that is with a robust schedule of events. Author events are great, but they aren't the only answer. This session will feature a panel of bookseller experts, including Sarah Bagby of Watermark Books & Caf in Wichita, Kansas, and Collette Morgan of Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis, who will describe their best, most innovative authorless events. Attendees will break into discussion groups at the end of the session, so bring your own best ideas and questions.
• 11:00 a.m. - noon: MBA "Pick of the Lists" -- Publisher/Rep Presentations
• 12:10 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.: MBA "Let's Talk" Lunch With Publishers & Reps This "moveable feast" event offers booksellers and participating publishers, distributors, and reps a great opportunity for small group conversations about their working relationships and about book industry topics of mutual interest. The publishers, distributors, and reps in attendance will move from table to table at 20-minute intervals to talk with booksellers; each publisher will talk with two to three different table groups.
• 1:10 p.m. - 2:10 p.m.: MBA "Pick of the Lists" -- Publisher/Rep Presentations
• 2:20 p.m. - 3:50 p.m.: ABA's "Booksellers at the Tipping Point: Leveraging Localism and Independence to Promote Your Store" The concepts of localism, independence, and sustainability are gaining traction with consumers. In this session, booksellers will hear how the retail market place has evolved to allow these phenomena to take root and grow. They'll also learn how to leverage and exploit these powerful tools to more effectively market and promote their stores.
• 4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.: ABA/MBA Booksellers Forum ABA Board member Collette Morgan will join Domnitz, Teicher, Vlahos, and Smith to provide members, and prospective members, with updates on association programs and initiatives, as well as an opportunity to voice concerns and offer input on the future direction of the association. Owners and store staff are encouraged to attend to gain a broader perspective on how their stores fit into the larger industry, as well as to exchange ideas with their fellow booksellers.
• 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.: MBA Authors Reception

Questions about ABA programming should be addressed to sarah@bookweb.org; questions about MBA programming should be addressed to MBAofficeKT@aol.com. For planning purposes, booksellers who will be attending the forum program are asked to SVP to sarah@bookweb.org.

Hollywood, California, on Monday, March 10

The ABA Booksellers Forum in conjunction with the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association will be held at the 2008 Hotel ABA, the Renaissance Hollywood (1755 North Highland Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90028).

In addition to the Booksellers Forum, the event will feature the ABA education session "Booksellers at the Tipping Point: Leveraging Localism and Independence to Promote Your Store," as well as SCIBA programming.

Here's the schedule to date:

Monday, March 10

• 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.: ABA's "Booksellers at the Tipping Point: Leveraging Localism and Independence to Promote Your Store" The concepts of localism, independence, and sustainability are gaining traction with consumers. In this session, booksellers will hear how the retail market place has evolved to allow these phenomena to take root and grow. They'll also learn how to leverage and exploit these powerful tools to more effectively market and promote their stores.
• 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.: ABA Forum Over Lunch ABA's Domnitz, Teicher, Vlahos, and Smith will provide members, and prospective members, with updates on association programs and initiatives, as well as an opportunity to voice concerns and offer input on the future direction of the association. Owners and store staff are encouraged to attend to gain a broader perspective on how their stores fit into the larger industry, as well as to exchange ideas with their fellow booksellers.
• 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.: SCIBA's "Tools to Do Business Better" An overview of popular POS systems, Above the Treeline, and services provided by SCIBA distributor partners Baker & Taylor, Ingram Book Company, and PartnersWest. After presentations, booksellers will have an opportunity to take part in roundtable discussions regarding the pros and cons of the services they use in their stores.
• 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.: "Martinis for the Mind: SCIBA Annual Meeting, Reception, and Reps Picks" Participants are invited to the SCIBA Annual Meeting for updates on regional programs, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and Book Review, and a look forward to BookExpo America. Following the meeting and reception, some of SCIBA's favorite sales reps will be presenting the best of their lists for spring and summer. (Contact the SCIBA office for more information.)

Questions about ABA programming should be addressed to sarah@bookweb.org; questions about SCIBA programming should be addressed to office@scbabooks.org. For planning purposes, booksellers who will be attending the forum program are asked to RSVP to sarah@bookweb.org.

San Francisco, California, on Wednesday, March 12

The ABA Booksellers Forum in conjunction with the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association will be held at offices of Books, Inc. (1501 Vermont St., San Francisco, CA 94107). The program will also feature ABA's education session "Booksellers at the Tipping Point: Leveraging Localism and Independence to Promote Your Store."

Here's the schedule to date:

• 10:30 a.m. - noon: "Booksellers at the Tipping Point: Leveraging Localism and Independence to Promote Your Store" The concepts of localism, independence, and sustainability are gaining traction with consumers. In this session, booksellers will hear how the retail market place has evolved to allow these phenomena to take root and grow. They'll also learn how to leverage and exploit these powerful tools to more effectively market and promote their stores.
• Noon - 2:00 p.m.: ABA Forum Over Lunch ABA Board member Michael Tucker will join Domnitz, Teicher, Vlahos, and Smith to provide members, and prospective members, with updates on ABA's program and initiatives, as well as an opportunity to voice concerns and offer input on the future direction of the association. Owners and store staff are encouraged to attend to gain a broader perspective on how their stores fit into the larger industry, as well as to exchange ideas with fellow booksellers.

For answers to questions about the program and to RSVP, send an e-mail to sarah@bookweb.org.

Look for news about NCIBA's Spring Gathering to be held in late March in an upcoming edition of BTW.