Thursday, May 28
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
ABA's seventh annual Day of Education will be returning to the convention center as part of a series of innovations designed to invigorate the convention and to give booksellers and other industry professionals more networking opportunities. Sponsored by Ingram Book Group/Ingram Publisher Services, the Day of Education will be held on Thursday, May 28, the day before the exhibit floor opens.

The day will be jam-packed with educational sessions and panels on a number of topics, including everything from using social media and budgeting and monitoring sales and expenses to best practices for handselling and much, much more. The Day of Education continues and builds upon the program begun at ABA's Winter Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah, this past January. The Day of Education curriculum also includes programming for children's booksellers from the Association of Booksellers for Children. Watch for updates on BookWeb.org and in Bookselling This Week. (This free event is for ABA bookseller and provisional members only, but you must register through BEA.)

See below for session descriptions.

ABA Day of Education
Thursday, May 28
Preliminary Schedule
BEA 2009

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York, NY
(As of 5/26/09)

Thursday, May 28, 2009

9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

The Tie That Binds: A Conversation Between Authors & Indie Booksellers (Special Events Hall)
Keynote panel discussion focusing on the importance of the relationship between authors and independent bookstores, and exploring how that relationship can continue to grow and prosper in challenging times. Moderated by Roxanne Coady, owner of R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut, the panel will feature four of today's bestselling authors:

• A much-honored author, poet, and filmmaker, Sherman Alexie is the winner of this year's inaugural Indies Choice Book Award for Most Engaging Author. Among his many literary honors are a Pushcart Prize for Poetry, a National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Young People's Literature, and the PEN/Hemingway Award for Best First Book of Fiction.
  
  Alexie's works are a staple on national and indie bestseller lists. In October 2009, Grove Atlantic will publish War Dances, a collection of Alexie's short stories that range from the heartbreaking to the hilarious.

• Jon Meacham is the editor of Newsweek and author of indie and New York Times bestsellers Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship and American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation. He was awarded a 2009 Pulitzer Prize in the Arts for his latest book, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, published by Random House last November. It was also named a Notable Book of 2008 by the New York Times and has appeared on numerous national bestseller lists.
  
  Meacham is the recipient of honorary doctorate degrees from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale; Emmanuel College, Boston; Loyola College in Maryland; and Wagner College, New York City.

• James Patterson is a finalist for the 2009 Children's Choice Book Awards "Author of the Year" for The Final Warning, the fourth book in his highly praised Maximum Ride series. He is an honorary chair for United Through Reading's 2009 Storybook Ball and the Spokesperson for the American Association of School Librarians' School Library Media Month (April 2009). Patterson is the author of the highly acclaimed Daniel X series as well as the forthcoming Witch & Wizard (December 2009), a book he has spent four years writing.
  
  This past year, Patterson's passion for books and reading led him to launch a new web site, ReadKiddoRead.com, an easy, hassle-free place for parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians to find the very best books to turn their kids into lifelong, dedicated readers.

• Lisa Scottoline is the author of more than 12 legal suspense novels, which have appeared on national bestsellers including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times. Scottoline recently demonstrated her support of local independent booksellers by announcing a special promotion for her latest book, Look Again (St. Martin's), to help boost sales at bookstores throughout the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association region.
  
  A graduate (cum laude) of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, she is the recipient of numerous awards including an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America; a Paving the Way Award from the University of Pennsylvania, Women in Business; and il Leone Di San Marco Award, Italian Heritage and Cultural Committee of New York, for promoting positive images of Italian-Americans.

10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Large-Store Roundtable (Room 1E09)
Aimed at owners and managers of large stores.
A veteran bookseller will moderate this roundtable discussion for owners and managers of large stores. Space is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. Those interested in attending should send an e-mail to ABA's marketing coordinator, Sarah Rettger, (sarah@bookweb.org) with "Large-Store Roundtable" in the subject line.
Materials to download: No materials.

• Cathy Langer, lead buyer, Tattered Cover Bookstore, Denver (moderator)

Viral Marketing in our Viral Culture (Room 1E10)
Aimed at all attendees.
Why do some stories spread wildly and other stories die out in mere days? What ideas should you keep in mind as you create content, online and off, in our viral culture? Come hear Bill Wasik, senior editor of Harper's Magazine, inventor of the flash mob, and author of And Then There's This (Viking), discuss how online content can cause a ripple that turns into a tsunami.
Materials to download: No materials.

• Bill Wasik, senior editor of Harper's Magazine, inventor of the flash mob, and author of And Then There's This (Viking)

Book Club Brainstorming (Room 1E11)
Aimed at events coordinators, book club coordinators, and frontline booksellers who already have book clubs in place at their stores.
Book clubs are the perfect tool for increasing your sales as well as for reaching out to your community. This session will highlight very successful book club programs. Attendees will examine which aspects of these programs make them such huge successes and will learn ways to implement these strategies in their own stores. Booksellers will join together in guided brainstorming exercises to discover interesting ways of setting up, maintaining, and marketing book clubs to customers.
Materials to download: Book Club Brainstorming, Book Club Resources and ReadingGroupGuides.com 2009 Book Group Survey.

• Becky Anderson, co-owner, Anderson's Bookshops, Naperville, Illinois
• Karen Corvello, head buyer, R.J. Julia Booksellers, Madison, Connecticut
• Jennifer Laughran, book fair coordinator and children's specialist, Books Inc., San Francisco
• Carol Fitzgerald, president, The Book Report Network (moderator)

IndieCommerce: The New E-commerce System (Room 1E12)
Aimed at owners, managers, webmasters, and frontline booksellers from stores not currently using the product.
IndieCommerce (the program formerly known as BookSense.com) has been transformed. Specifically, the product has migrated to an open-source content management system called Drupal. This new and improved program provides booksellers with more intuitive and robust administrative tools, allows for much greater control over the look and feel of their websites, and allows ABA staff to roll out new features more quickly. Come see a demo of this new product and have questions answered by ABA's IndieCommerce staff.
Materials to download: IndieCommerce

• Ricky Leung, director, IndieCommerce
• Len Vlahos, ABA chief program officer

Give It Away to Get It Back: Using "Thought Leadership" Marketing to Build Your Children's Business (Room 1E13)
Aimed at booksellers of all levels who are interested in selling children's books.
In today's challenging bookselling climate, it is critical to find and keep your edge over your competition. Covering the basics, providing solid retail service, and putting dollars into traditional marketing strategies is no longer enough. But what if we told you that there is a cost-effective tool available to you that costs very little and will reap huge returns? In this workshop, learn why you and your children's staff are your own best advertising, and how to leverage your collective expertise as a powerful marketing tool to build your children's business exponentially. This workshop will explore the definition of "Thought Leadership" in relation to current trends in New Economy Marketing and why it should be central to any children's marketing plan. We will also discuss the benefits that can come from actively giving away knowledge as a marketing technique, as well as outlining the key elements for crafting a strategic and successful Thought Leadership plan for your children's department regardless of size or staffing level.
Materials to download: Give It Away to Get It Back

• Diane Capriola, owner, Little Shop of Stories, Decatur, Georgia
• Shannon Mathis, children's book buyer, Books Inc., San Francisco
• Shelly Plumb, owner, Harleysville Books, Harleysville, Pennsylvania
• Kristen McLean, executive director, Association of Booksellers for Children (moderator)

1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Using Multimedia to Market Your Store (Room 1E10)
Aimed at all booksellers.
What asset helps most to distinguish your store from the competition? It's you! Learn how to tell the story of your store (store history, staff and owner's bios, your place in the community) in a way that will capture the imagination of your customers. This session will instruct booksellers on how to use sight and sound (video, photos, podcasts) to make their stores interesting, exciting, and a place consumers will want to visit over and over again. Hear from a professional filmmaker and see concrete examples from booksellers who have already taken the multimedia plunge.
Materials to download: No materials.

• Alex Beckstead, owner, 4SP Films and director, Paperback Dreams

Bookstore as the Third Place:  Making Your Store a Community Center Through Innovative Events (Room 1E11)
Aimed at marketing staff, owners, and managers.
In turbulent economic times, there is no more important mission for a bookstore than to serve as a gathering place for members of the community to exchange in the free flow of ideas.  Author signings and readings are often the impetus for such gatherings, but events in your store can be about much more than books. Join this panel of experts as they discuss creating events to position the bookstore as a center for community and political action.
Materials to download: Creating Killer Events, Bookstore Event Checklist

• Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, events coordinator, McNally Jackson Booksellers, New York City, and co-owner of Greenlight Bookstore (yet to be opened), Brooklyn, New York
• Kelly Justice, owner, The Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, Virginia
• Robert Sindelar, managing partner, Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, Washington
• Oren Teicher, ABA chief operating officer (moderator)

Going Digital: An Industry Discussion on Selling E-Content (Room 1E12)
Aimed at all attendees.
A panel of e-content thought-leaders will discuss trends in digital content, including e-books, audio books, and more, and their impact on independent bookstores.
Materials to download: Opportunities in the Digital Arena for Independent Bookstores (BTW article)

• Mark Nelson, digital content strategist, National Association of College Stores, and vice president, strategy and development, NACS Media Solutions
• Jenn Northington, events and marketing manager, The King's English Bookshop, Salt Lake City, Utah
• Andrew Savikas, vice president of digital initiatives, O'Reilly Media, and program chair for O'Reilly's Tools of Change for Publishing Conference
• Len Vlahos, ABA chief program officer (moderator)

2:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Small & Mid-Size Store Roundtable (Room 1E09)
Aimed at owners and managers of small to mid-sized stores.
A veteran bookseller will moderate this roundtable discussion for owners and managers of small to mid-sized stores. Space is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. Those interested in attending should send an e-mail to ABA's marketing coordinator, Sarah Rettger, (sarah@bookweb.org), with "Small-Store Roundtable" in the subject line.
Materials to download: No materials.

• Sue Boucher, owner, Lake Forest Book Store, Lake Forest, Illinois

Handselling: Customer Service with Results (Room 1E10)
Aimed at all booksellers.
Handselling is the key customer service strategy differentiating independent bookstores from all other competitors. In this session you will learn how to use or improve this strategy to grow your reputation, energize your staff, and increase your sales.
Materials to download: Handselling: Customer Service with Results Handout, Workforce Development Checklist, Video Vignettes, Autographed Copy Shelf Talker, Local Author Shelf Talker, Staff Picks Shelf Talker

• Joe Drabyak, Chester County Book & Music Company, West Chester, Pennsylvania
• Avin Mark Domnitz, ABA chief executive officer

Independents Week: Creating a Community-Wide Local First Celebration At Any Time of the Year (Room 1E11)
Aimed at owners, marketing staff, and events coordinators.
We all know how vital it is to create a community that understands and practices Local First.  In this session you will hear examples of existing Independents Week activities, get practical tips on creating an event that fits your size community, and brainstorm with your colleagues to host the best Indie Week--whether it is July, December, or somewhere in between.
Materials to download: Indie Bingo example card, Here's What You Do by Shopping Locally poster, Independents Week events poster, Independents Week PR talking points & shortcuts

• Carla Jimenez, co-owner, Inkwood Books, Tampa, Florida
• Lucy Kogler, manager, Talking Leaves Bookstore, Buffalo, New York
• Paige Poe, ABA IndieBound outreach liaison
• Meg Smith, ABA chief marketing officer
• Other panelists to be announced

Social Media and the Independent Bookseller (Room 1E12)
Aimed at booksellers of all levels who are interested in social media.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and other social networking sites have fundamentally changed the way people approach not only their private lives but, also, their business transactions. Social media networks are not the wave of the future--they are the wave of now, and in today's world you are no longer building relationships with 'customers,' but with 'friends.' Come hear a discussion on these topics, and leave with a greater understanding of where this paradigm shift is taking small business.
Materials to download: Social Media and the Independent Bookstore, Social Media for Booksellers, Social Media Terms, Twitter for Booksellers

• Stephanie Anderson, manager, WORD Bookstore, Brooklyn, New York
• Ann Kingman, district sales manager, Random House
• Megan Sullivan, head buyer, Harvard Bookstore, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Len Vlahos, ABA chief program officer (moderator)

Questions about any of the ABA's events or programs should be addressed to Sarah Rettger at (800) 637-0037, ext. 6645 or sarah@bookweb.org.