ABA Heads to Wisconsin for Third Spring Forum

Booksellers are invited to join ABA CEO Oren Teicher and COO Len Vlahos at an American Booksellers Association Spring Forum on Saturday, March 19, in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. The program, presented in conjunction with the Great Lakes [1] and Midwest [2]booksellers associations, starts at 9:30 a.m. at the Four Points Sheraton Milwaukee North [3] and ends with an evening wine reception at Next Chapter Bookshop [4] in Mequon.

ABA’s program includes:

•  10:30 a.m. IndieCommerce Demo and Q&A
  This session will provide information on e-books, the relationship between IndieCommerce and Google Local Shopping and Above the Treeline [5], the HarperCollins E-Commerce Support Program [6], future plans, and more. It is intended for new and current IndieCommerce users alike.

• 12:00 p.m. ABA Booksellers Forum
  Booksellers are invited to join ABA for lunch, an open forum, and discussion of industry issues. The ABA Board and staff want to know what’s on members’ minds, and the forum provides a direct way for the association to listen to booksellers’ concerns and to answer questions and exchange ideas on industry issues and ABA’s programs and initiatives. Attendees are encouraged to come with questions and comments.

Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP to MBA’s Kati Gallagher [7] no later than March 7 with the name of the bookstore, city, state, number of attendees, and any special lunch requests (i.e., vegetarian).

A second forum in the GliBA region is being held on Thursday, March 3, in Indianapolis, Indiana. The program, to be held from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Big Hat Books & Arts [8], includes a sales tax fairness workshop aimed at Indiana booksellers and other indie retailers as well as a Booksellers Forum for all ABA and GLiBA members. (Learn more. [9])

Questions about the full Booksellers Forum schedule [10] should be addressed to ABA Meetings and Planning Officer Jill Perlstein via e-mail [11] or at (800) 637-0037, ext. 6642.