Wi7 Registrants to Receive Work Group Assignments

To take advantage of the bookselling brain trust in New Orleans for the 2012 Winter Institute [1], Wi7 will feature a strategy session designed to take a hypothetical bookstore to the next level — programming with the goal of helping booksellers think creatively about the future of bookselling. This week, registered booksellers began receiving their work group assignments via an e-mail from the American Booksellers Association that also includes a few not-terribly-time-consuming tips for gearing up for the January 18 – 20 event, sponsored by the Ingram Content Group.  (All bookseller work group assignments will be sent before the end of next week.)

BOOKSELLERS CONNECT

For this new Winter Institute initiative, ABA has created 22 work groups for peer interaction and collaborative learning, which will be led by a bookseller facilitator. Each group is named for a street in the French Quarter and includes approximately 20 booksellers. Wi7 attendees will receive an e-mail from their group facilitator by the first week of January with a list of their fellow group members and more information regarding the event. In the meantime, each group has been assigned its own unique e-mail address (provided in the introductory e-mail) in case booksellers would like to introduce themselves now.

Wi7’s Wednesday morning breakouts, plus the Thursday sessions, will provide industry perspective to inform the Friday afternoon group strategy sessions, where the bookseller facilitator will lead members through ideas to develop and cultivate the model store. (Booksellers will receive a short briefing memo with all the necessary background about the model bookstore when they check in at the Wi7 Welcome Desk.) In a final session on Friday, Dan Sheehan, vice president and general manager of the Ingram Content Group, will facilitate a summary of the afternoon’s innovative work and will add insight and analysis.

ONE INSTITUTE, ONE READ

New for the 2012 Winter Institute is One Institute, One Read [2]: Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, All The King’s Men. All booksellers who were registered for Wi7 as of December 1 have been sent a copy of the novel, courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Now is the perfect time to read-or to re-read-this classic, replete with Louisiana history and politics, and to share it with other Wi7 attendees throughout the event.

Also included in the mailing, which was sent to registered booksellers last week, was a complimentary copy of Frommer’s New Orleans Day by Day, published by Wiley. New Orleans is a singular city and the Frommer’s guide — which covers everything from neighborhood walks to restaurants, nightlife, and the city’s arts scene — will help Wi7 participants make the most of it.

CONSULTATION STATION AND ASK ABA

At Wi7’s Consultation Station [3], bookseller attendees will be able to meet with representatives of ABA’s affiliated business solution partners, POS vendors, and others. Booksellers are encouraged to make appointments now [3] to ensure they have a face-to-face conversation with all of the vendors they’d like to meet.  

ABA staff members will also be available during Consultation Station hours to answer membership-related questions, help bookstores renew membership (and sign up for ABA’s new monthly payment option), and talk through IndieCommerce [4] questions. Contact ABA’s customer service reps — Nathan Halter [5], Kaitlin Pitcher, [6] Scott Nafz, [7] or Valerie Federici [8] — now.

The Ask ABA table will also feature an “e-reader petting zoo.” IndieCommerce staff and representatives from Google will have a variety of reading devices on hand to demonstrate how to download Google eBooks.

 REP PICKS LUNCH

After the first of the year, booksellers should be on the lookout for an e-mail from ABA Development Officer Mark Nichols with their Rep Pick Lunch table assignment. (Not to be confused with your working group street name!)

Booksellers with questions about anything relating to Wi7, and those who need to cancel their registration, are encouraged to contact ABA staff [9] as soon as possible.