IndieCommerce Institute Registration to Open Next Week

Registration for the American Booksellers Association’s second IndieCommerce Institute (ICI) will open next week. The institute will take place in White Plains, New York, on Thursday, September 13, 2012, with a reception on the evening of Wednesday, September 12. In addition, there will be opportunities for hour-long one-on-one sessions with IndieCommerce staff on Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning, September 14.

The IndieCommerce Institute is geared toward ABA member bookstores that have live IndieCommerce websites, or will have live websites by September 1, 2012.  Material to be presented will be useful to new and experienced users alike, but attendees should have completed basic training and have a fundamental understanding of the tools for managing content and processing orders on sites.

The ICI program will feature two separate courses for the bulk of the day on Thursday: a main session of interest to booksellers at all levels and an advanced workshop for very experienced users.

The main session will go beyond basic training and will provide actionable information useful to both new and experienced stores, coupled with real-world examples on IndieCommerce sites. The day will focus on best practices that have emerged over the past 12 to 18 months, little-known and underutilized features, and common points of confusion experienced even by seasoned IndieCommerce stores.

The advanced workshop will be limited to highly experienced IndieCommerce users. Participants will spend most of the day in an intimate workshop setting, learning directly from each other and providing critiques of each other’s sites. Master Class attendees will be required to spend a significant amount of time reviewing their peers’ websites and writing critiques before the session begins. Thus, every attendee will also receive written feedback from all participants about their site. Booksellers must apply for the master class, and there are likely to be more applicants than available spaces.

Total enrollment for the ICI is capped at 100 booksellers and a maximum of two attendees per store to create an engaged and interactive learning environment.  Registration will close on August 22.

Watch for complete program costs, session details, and hotel information in next week’s registration announcement.