The Emerging Leaders Take-Home From BEA

When the book industry's Emerging Leaders gathered at Floyd, a Brooklyn bar, for a May 30th event sponsored by BookExpo America, they did more than just socialize. "We wanted to have a party, but also have it be productive," said Jessica Stockton, Emerging Leaders NYC organizer and event coordinator for McNally Robinson Booksellers in New York City. "[Parties are] great for creating connections, but we wanted to do more."

Towards that end, the group distributed a "Getting the Most Out of BEA" handout, which offered advice on everything from "Sit next to someone you don't know" to "Choose your take-homes wisely." Organizers also circulated a survey to help the Emerging Leaders project plan its next set of strategic goals. Questions touched on topics such as the need for additional networking events, a database of members and job titles, a mentorship program, personal finance workshops, and more.

Susan Weis of breathe books in Baltimore, an Emerging Leaders event veteran, considered the Floyd party a much-needed icebreaker for first-time BEAers. "For a young bookseller, it makes BEA much less intimidating when you have some socializing to do," she said. "At my first BEA, there was no networking event, so I stayed by myself. This is invaluable."

Sarah Hutton of Village Books in Bellingham, Washington, said that the various conversations at Floyd and at other Emerging Leaders happenings provided a "really good way to know that we're doing a lot of similar things and fighting similar battles in the book business."

Co-owner of Subterranean Books in St. Louis, Missouri, Kelly von Plonski said she regularly attends Emerging Leaders events "to talk to other people in my age group to find out what they're doing in their stores, how their stores are run, and how they market to young people." She added, "Sometimes it feels like I'm making it up as I go along, but then I find out other people's experiences are similar."

For the two winners of the American Booksellers Association's Emerging Leaders Scholarships, BEA was an upbeat educational experience. Angela K. Sherrill of 57th Street Books, a branch of the Seminary Co-op Bookstore in Chicago, was excited to return home with plans to implement ideas from the "Improve Efficiency to Achieve Success" session, led by ABA Information Director Dan Cullen. And with the information provided by the "great team" of Chuck and Dee Robinson from Bellingham's Village Books at a Thursday "Staff Development" session, she said she hoped "to make better use of our current staff, as well as better choices about new hires, based on the cumulative knowledge and suggestions they shared."

Mark Bradshaw of Watermark Books & Cafe in Wichita, Kansas, noted that the "Building and Rewarding Customer Loyalty" session presented by ABA's director of education and BookSense.com, Len Vlahos, gave him solid ideas for keeping customers coming back. "We talked about how customers can give more back to the community by keeping more dollars in the neighborhood. That's something people value above discounts."

Both Sherrill and Bradshaw made time at BEA to develop their social capital, too. Sherill told BTW, "By minimizing my time on the floor, I was able to maximize my time spent making more lasting relationships.  It was nice to see the familiar faces of Chicago-area booksellers and publisher representatives while at the same time forging new connections with authors, editors, publicists, and the wider world of bookselling." --Karen Schechner