ABA to Meet With Booksellers at Four Forums Next Week

The American Booksellers Association will be hosting four Spring Forum programs for booksellers and prospective booksellers in the Great Lakes, Midwest, and Southern regions between Monday, March 10, and Friday, March 14. The programs, in conjunction with the regional booksellers associations, will be held in Cleveland, Ohio; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Iowa City, Iowa; and Memphis, Tennessee. Each program is designed to provide attendees with an opportunity to share ideas, discuss industry issues, and receive updates on various association projects in an open forum. Each also features the ABA Education session “Conversations That Work,” which focuses on what to say and how to handle a variety of irksome situations in the store, including showrooming, aggressive customers, and those who use store inventory to copy information.

ABA programming is free and open to all booksellers — ABA members and non-members alike. Though the deadline to RSVP for these four programs has passed, any booksellers who are interested in attending should contact their ABA Member Relationship Manager (Catherine Cusick in the GLIBA and MIBA regions; Nathan Halter in the SIBA region) as soon as possible.

Monday, March 10: Cleveland, Ohio

Join ABA CEO Oren Teicher and Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger for a Booksellers Forum program in conjunction with Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association (GLIBA), at the Harold Rice Branch of the Cleveland Public Library, 11535 Shaker Boulevard, Cleveland

• 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Conversations That Work
• 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Booksellers Forum discussion. Lunch will be provided.

GLIBA will be hosting an author reception following the forum at Loganberry Books, located at 13015 Larchmere Boulevard, just down the street from the meeting location.

Tuesday, March 11: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Join ABA CEO Oren Teicher and Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger for a Booksellers Forum program in conjunction with Midwest Independent Booksellers Association (MIBA) at a new location: the Coffman Memorial Union (Mississippi Room), University of Minnesota, 300 Washington Avenue S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455

• 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.: Conversations That Work
• 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.: Booksellers Forum discussion. Lunch will be provided.

MIBA will also be hosting an author reception directly after lunch. For more information, visit MIBA’s dedicated webpage for the event.

Wednesday, March 12: Iowa City, Iowa

Join ABA CEO Oren Teicher and Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger for a Booksellers Forum program in conjunction with Midwest Independent Booksellers Association, at Prairie Lights Bookstore, 15 South Dubuque Street, Iowa City

• 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.: Conversations That Work
• 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.: Booksellers Forum discussion. Lunch will be provided.

MIBA will also be hosting an author reception directly after lunch. For more information, visit MIBA’s dedicated webpage for the event.

Friday, March 14: Memphis, Tennessee

Join ABA CEO Oren Teicher for a Booksellers Forum program in conjunction with the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, at The Booksellers at Laurelwood’s Booksellers Bistro, 387 Perkins Road Extended, Memphis

• 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.: Conversations That Work
• 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.: Booksellers Forum discussion. Lunch will be provided.

Over the years, the forums have become invaluable opportunities for members to share best practices with their colleagues and with ABA, and for ABA to garner meaningful feedback on a wide range of topics. The complete list of 2014 Spring Forums is available on BookWeb.