Four Days in Minneapolis: A Winter Institute Itinerary

By ABA Membership and Marketing Officer Meg Smith

Urban and urbane Minneapolis, where you don’t have to be cool to rule my world and the folks are truly Minnesota nice, even in the cold of winter. What a perfect locale for book people—a naturally friendly, curious, and adventurous bunch—to gather for the annual book bacchanal known as Winter Institute. This year’s abbreviation is Wi12 (#Wi12), as in the 12th winter that ABA has produced the event. Take note: the four days from January 27 through January 30 are jammed!

Friday, January 27

8 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Hyatt Regency Minneapolis is home base for Winter Institute activities, and more than 1,000 booksellers, industry colleagues, and international visitors—from 11 countries!*—are staying there or at other hotels connected by Minneapolis’ famed skyways. Your feet barely need to touch the ground in this town! The Hyatt Regency, at least, has a 72-hour cancellation policy, so if the unfortunate occurs and you need to cancel, be sure to check your hotel’s policy and contact them directly.

What your Friday looks like depends on whether you’ve just flown into town; registered for the Paz School, Leadership Workshop, or IndieCommerce Institute; signed up for one of the four bookstore tours; are going to the Used Bookstore Forum; or none of the above! The Ask ABA Desk is open from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., so pick up your badge, printed program (with all the details I couldn’t cover in this e-mail), and the Candlewick-supplied welcome bag before setting out. (Paz students and IndieCommerce Institute and Leadership Workshop registrants should go straight to their assigned rooms and pick up badges and bags there.) Oh, and grab a yummy, city-appropriate Wi12 scarf, courtesy of lead sponsor Ingram. No complaining about chilly winds, please! (You will be able to drop off swap and donation books and bookmarks near the Ask ABA Desk. See below for more about that.)

5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday culminates with the Welcome Reception (5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.) co-sponsored by Shelf Awareness at Open Book, where booksellers, publishers, authors, and industry friends will feel at home. Indeed, Open Book bills itself as “a space for everyone, a meeting place of quiet sanctuary, a destination for all who are interested in or inspired by the literary and book arts.” (Caution: If you’ve ever been to a Winter Institute, you will know not to expect “quiet” at the Welcome Reception, where booksellers sometimes party like it’s 1999…)

There will be shuttle buses every 15 to 20 minutes between the Hyatt Regency and Open Book from 4:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.; the Bookstore Tours end at Open Book in time for the 4:30 p.m. Scholarship Winners Meet & Greet.**

The Backlist Book Swap Party (8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.), sponsored by HarperCollins and Harlequin, is back at the Hyatt in the Exhibit Hall. There will be a photo booth (sponsored by Harper in honor of its 200th anniversary!), so keep your Wi12 scarf handy to use as a prop for the ultimate selfie experience and a bit of a giggle. There is still time to let us know what book you’re swapping. Don’t forget to bring a store bookmark to tuck inside—with a way to contact you—so your book-taker can be in touch. Books should be at least five years old and still in print. Suggestions for topics include regional titles, books with strong female characters, and books set in winter, but let your passion be your guide.

Speaking of bookmarks, to add to the fun, we are expanding the swapping to include store bookmarks. Leave one in your swap book, and bring 50 or so more to share with your colleagues. We will display them at the party; this is your opportunity to exchange, borrow, and steal good ideas. And speaking of photos, we would LOVE a group shot, or many group shots, of booksellers and colleagues wearing scarves. Nothing says unity, community, and influence like neckwear! The ABA photographer will be on the case throughout the institute; thank you in advance for posing.

If you have some free time on Friday afternoon, the University of Minnesota Archives and Special Collections’ Kerlan Collection, one of the leading repositories of the works of children’s book creators, is hosting an open house just for Winter Institute attendees from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The collection includes manuscripts, editorial correspondence, and original and process art, as well as rare first editions. Lisa Von Drasek, the curator of the Kerlan Collection, will be hosting. On view will be original art from Wanda Gag, Clement Hurd, Melissa Sweet, Tomie dePaola, and Gustaf Tenggren, as well as manuscripts from Kate DiCamillo, Walter Dean Myers, Marguerite Henry, Katherine Paterson, and Sharon Creech. There will also be tours of the underground, temperature-controlled cavern where the collection is stored.

Another destination that is primed to greet Wi12 attendees is Mill City Museum. Built into the ruins of what was once the world’s largest flour mill, Mill City Museum, just a mile and a half from the Hyatt Regency, is located on the historic Mississippi Riverfront. Visitors will learn about the intertwined histories of the flour industry, the river, and the city of Minneapolis, and, best of all, the story of the Great Mill Disaster and exploding flour! Your Wi12 badge will get you $2 off admission, Friday through Tuesday. (The museum is closed on Monday.)

10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Still awake? Then you must be part of the crowd intended for the Young Professionals Afterparty, sponsored by Literary Hub and new ABA partner the National Book Foundation with help from all nine regional associations. Put on an Indies Forward button and you’ll be supporting a new organization dedicated to cultivating, supporting, and sustaining the emerging generation of innovators and leaders in the bookselling industry. (There’s more about Indies Forward in your Welcome Bag, and you can visit them at the Consultation Station.)

New this year: Get to know your fellow booksellers before heading to Minneapolis. As a little sneak preview for first-timers and 12th-timers alike, attendees can join a Facebook group for pre-Institute bookseller-to-bookseller networking. Just sign into Facebook, request to join the group, then introduce yourself and let everyone know where you’ll be on social media for Wi12. If you have any questions about the Facebook group or social media at #Wi12, e-mail ABA Social Media Manager Catherine Cusick at [email protected]. And if Facebook isn’t your thing, you can see the full list of attendees here  (you’ll need a BookWeb.org account to view the list). Let the date-making begin!

Are you feeling the literary vibes yet?

Saturday, January 28

 7:00 a.m. However you greet the Wi12 morning—with coffee in bed, yoga with Jessamyn Stanley, or with Friends of Bill—take a moment to get ready for the heady days of the institute, and download the Wi12 app while you’re at it. (Visit this link from your smartphone, or if you downloaded the app at the last Children’s Institute, just open it up to find Wi12.) You came for authors, learning, conviviality, and community, and that’s what Winter Institute will provide. If you are feeling a little overwhelmed by said conviviality and signed up for a mentor, come a little early to breakfast (7:30 a.m.), and meet him or her outside the ballroom or at the reserved tables upfront.

Wi12 is the first Winter Institute for more than one-third of booksellers, so here are...

5 Tips for First-Timers 1. Do not be afraid! Booksellers are an amazingly generous and welcoming group. Talk to strangers—someone you sit next to at a session or bump into at a reception. Prepare a few lines about you and your store to get the conversation going. If you get nothing else out of Wi12, forging personal relationships will make the trip worthwhile. 2. Wear your badge at all times…but don’t forget that strangers on the street may look at you funny if you wear it out in the real world! 3. Take advantage of the full time allotted to meet with publishers: Rep Picks Lunches and the Publisher Focus Groups. Connections made at a large table in the din of a hotel meeting room may prove fruitful in ways you can’t imagine now. 4. Help yourself in the Galley Room but also be a good Wi12 citizen and only take one copy of a title; if the pile is low, take only one for the store to share. 5. Your opinion matters to ABA. Complete session evaluations on the app, talk to staffers in purple badges, and ask for what you need and want. How else will we know? An extra tip: Pace yourself! Between early mornings, late nights, and lots of food and drink, Wi12 is a bit of a marathon. Oh, and bring Tums.

7:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. The opening breakfast keynote speaker is the inspiring bestselling author and social commentator Roxane Gay. Roxane will focus on how to proactively address the need for more diversity—in representation and in thought—in our industry and beyond.

9:15 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Roxane’s talk sets the stage for the Bookseller Discussion Groups that follow. (Check your badge to see where you belong. Sit next to someone you don’t know, and if you can’t think of anything to say, compliment your neighbor on their Wi12 scarf.) Publishers get a unique publisher-only education session, and it’s about Edelweiss+. Fun to be a student again, isn’t it??

Something very special will be happening during Wi12—a community book drive. Everyone has the opportunity to donate books to any of three local charities: the Minneapolis Community Education – Adult Education North Campus Day Program, the Hennepin County Medical Center’s Children’s Literacy Program, and the Women’s Prison Book Project. Bring your book to the Hyatt Regency Exhibit Hall on Saturday or Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., or on Monday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.. We’ve included descriptions of each organization in your welcome bag. Read about this wonderful community-minded project in Bookselling This Week.

10:15 a.m. Here is a sweet treat: The Galley Room is open from 10:15 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Yes, you read right, it is opening just after the Bookseller Discussion Groups and will stay open all day. No long lines or dashed hopes. And there’s more: Mark Nichols, who many booksellers and publishers know as the hardest working (and nicest) man in show business, the man who created the Galley Room concept and who has been moving boxes to perfection for many, many years, is retiring from ABA, and this is his last Winter Institute. This year’s collection of galleys is sure to be one of the biggest and best ever. As a thank you to Mark, we are collecting memories and good wishes in a book that will alternately be at the Ask ABA Desk and in the Galley Room. We invite everyone to leave a note, make him a bookmark (you’ll see), drop off a photo—anything, really—to express your affection and appreciation. This isn’t a surprise, but Mark, if you’re reading this, DON’T PEEK!

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Six all-new education sessions for booksellers make up a stellar education block. There is something for everyone: kids’ booksellers, beginning booksellers, used books booksellers, booksellers wanting to learn about technology, finance, and marketing. And if none of those things interest you, scoot over to the Skyway Room to meet with someone from the IndieCommerce team for a one-on-one appointment. IndieCommerce has a very exciting new program to talk about called IndieLite. I’ll let the experts do the rest of the talking.

11:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Lunch! ABA booksellers head to Rep Picks Speed Dating, Day 1. Check your badge for your table assignment and pick up a box lunch on the way in. International guests will lunch and listen to a report about the U.S. book industry.

3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. After another incredible education block, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., everyone is invited to a Wi12 Featured Talk, this one showcasing Indies Introduce Authors & Booksellers. What does that mean? It means that you’ll have a chance to see 14 of the current crop of debut authors being nurtured by indies and to hear the authors read from their books, and the booksellers who nominated them articulate what makes being a bookseller always new, always fresh, and always surprising: discovering new talent.

4:30 p.m. to 6:20 p.m. They say turnabout is fair play and since you listened to the publishers during Rep Picks Speed Dating, now they can listen to you during the Publisher Focus Groups! Reps get 20 minutes with each assigned table and you’ll meet with reps from four different publishers. Even if you haven’t done business with a certain company, you never know when that might change, so come prepared to ask questions, tell them all about your store, and get better acquainted with the folks who help to keep the lights on at Winter Institute.

What a perfect segue to thank to all of this year’s sponsors, and particularly lead sponsor Ingram, a longtime supporter of ABA education. And thank you all the publisher sponsors for continuing to publish books that inspire, amuse, inform, anger, and entertain.

6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Another perfect segue: Ingram is hosting an open reception for all Wi12 attendees. A perfect close to a busy day and another scarf-wearing op. Only here will you be served the especially created for this party cocktail, the “Book Love Potion,” a concoction of Prosecco, vodka, OJ, and cranberry juice. It’s magic! There will also be beer, wine, and soft drinks, and nibbles to sop up excess potion.

9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Wait, there’s more! Save room for dessert at the always-spirited Scholastic Meet & Treat Afterparty. You know, the party after the party, which in this case is after a whole bunch of other things as well. Nicely named. Guest Scholastic authors and illustrators will attend.

Sunday, January 29

7:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Imagine being at your favorite breakfast spot, sipping coffee and eating eggs, when your ears pick up a bit of the conversation at the next table. You listen closely. You are mesmerized. Now, imagine you are in a hotel ballroom eating breakfast with hundreds of other people and the mesmerizing conversation is between Lesley Stahl and Ann Patchett. No need to eavesdrop; you are invited to listen in as they talk about life, bookstores, and books–-who knows where it will lead!

There will be some surprises at Wi12 and, while I can’t tell you what they are or they wouldn’t be surprises, I can tell you that Judith Rosen, longtime (and soon to be retired) senior writer for Publishers Weekly may have something to say about booksellers and the PW Bookseller of the Year Award. Mummmmm.

Starting at 9:00 a.m. and continuing for varying periods of time Take your pick: Consultation Station, MIBA Hospitality Suite, Galley Room and Shipping Desk, IndieCommerce One-on-One Appointments, and six new educational sessions—including one of the two Advanced Education Sessions for owners and managers—all open for business. This is why we print up the program and encourage the app. We’re doubling the signage for Wi12, so don’t worry if you lose track of where you are. Another useful function of the app is the session evaluations. They are easy to find and we look VERY carefully at all comments and suggestions, so be frank! We will have a small supply of printed evaluations if you are going to Wi12 smartphone free.

If you’re new to ABA institutes, a word about the Consultation Station, held on Sunday and Monday. These groups provide services and programs of interest to ABA member booksellers. Take a look at the listings in the program and make an appointment with those you’d like to know more about or have some business with already. Some participants are offering special giveaways, including BookExpo, which is doing a hotel giveaway for this year’s convention.

10:40 a.m. to 11:40 a.m. Come one, come all to the ABA Town Hall! Ask questions about industry news, trends, and the many activities and programs that ABA offers year-round, through snow, sleet, and purple rain. The ABA Board very much wants to hear from you.

Two program notes for the afternoon following Rep Picks Speed Dating, Day 2, and Author and International Guest education: Paul Currie, CEO of Foyles bookstores in the U.K. addresses “retail of the future” in a Featured Talk from 2:20 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. We are mighty curious to hear how his company is preparing for the years ahead. And while I hesitate to play favorites among the excellent education breakouts from 3:50 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., MSNBC journalist and host Chris Hayes will interview Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, on the topic “Amazon’s Stranglehold and Bookseller Advocacy.” (Disclosure: This writer is a major Stacy Mitchell fanwoman.)

5:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. The Author Reception just can’t be beat: More than 80 authors signing books and tons of people eating bacon-scallion mac-and-cheese bites! So many authors have been introduced to indie booksellers at the Author Receptions over the years… I remember meeting Anthony Doerr before he was a perennial bestselling author, wondering who Adam Johnson was (just before he won the Pulitzer Prize for The Orphan Master’s Son), and seeing a young guy named Anthony Marra, who was blowing us all away with A Constellation of Vital Phenomena… I also remember gushing at Nathan Englander, Colson Whitehead, Sally Mann, and Azar Nafisi, to name only a few, when they appeared at the Author Reception. It is truly a who’s who. 

The next and last day….

Monday, January 30

7:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. The final breakfast keynote is Kim Scott, who we love for her notion of Radical Candor, i.e. Being a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity. Her talk should be as interesting and varied as her CV.

8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Ah, the sound of tape guns in the morning… as Wi12 comes to a close the PartnerShip shipping desk will be humming non-stop through the day and early evening. They, and we, strongly advise all bookstores to bring their own pre-printed FedEx shipping labels to help speed things along and get the boxes out the door!

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Principles of Bookstore Finance Seminar is for all levels of booksellers, presented masterfully by ABA Vice President Robert Sindelar and ABA CFO Robyn DesHotel. Preregistration was required, so if you missed out this time, look for a reprise of this informative session in the future. Cash or accrual accounting, anyone?

9:05 a.m. to 10:05 a.m. This education block reminds me of being a kid in a candy store, with only one nickel. But, hopefully, you brought additional nickels (aka staff members) with you to Wi12, so the store can benefit from the lessons of Maximizing Margins, Navigating Family Relationships in Business, or whatever is your pleasure.

10:25 a.m. to 11:25 a.m. As with the many great authors who have graced the Author Receptions, Indie Next List authors represent quintessential independent bookstore discovery. Which is why we are thrilled to present the Featured Talk: Indie Next List Authors. In addition to showcasing six incredible #1 Indie Next List authors (Kate DiCamillo, Alice Hoffman, Joshilyn Jackson, Ann Patchett, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, and Ben Winters), we will be talking about the ABA partnership with Shelf Awareness that provides stores with a new monthly e-newsletter version of the Next List for their customers.

Two small schedule changes to note: The Small and University Presses Lunch, where 10 of said publishers will share the highlights from their lists, will start at 11:35 a.m. and now end at 1:00 p.m. That means that the newest opportunity for booksellers to meet with small- and mid-size publishers, the Publisher Consultations, will begin at 1:15 p.m. and end at 5:00 p.m. Check out the interesting and eclectic mix of publishers presenting their wares Consultation Station-style.

1:55 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. After three days of absorbing new information, don’t be surprised if you are feeling a bit overloaded. Set a goal to retain two or three ideas that you can put into action as soon as you return to the store. A good way to refine your takeaways is through the Idea Exchanges offered in the final education block. See the program or app for details about topics.

3:05 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. A last chance to learn from Wi12’s host city is the final Featured Talk, Minneapolis Arts and Business Leaders “Partnering to Create a Dynamic City,” moderated by the lovely former ABA President Gail See. Whether your town is 2,000 or two million people, strategic partnerships are vital for a rich community, and Minneapolis is a successful example of how they work. Let’s all copy! What these leaders may not mention, but should, is that Minneapolis is also home to The World’s Quietest Place, an elf door, and The Broken Crow and OverUnder Mural. More such obscura can be found here.

4:20 p.m. to 5:20 p.m. The Wi12 Debrief is not, in fact, a military operation, but another way to focus on what learning and goals are important to you and your store, right now. And it’s super fun, too! The Debrief is led by folks from the Kansas Leadership Center, who totally understand booksellers.

No matter how much your energy may be flagging, the Small and University Presses Author Closing Reception (5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.) is sure to reinvigorate your enthusiasm for the wonderful profession of independent bookselling: More authors signing more books, drinks, food, and the company we love best, book people.

Thank you again to all the Winter Institute sponsors, large and small, and to the many outside experts who are giving their time and knowledge on panels and presentations. Once again, we received some terrific ideas from the Education Task Force and local booksellers that informed the content choices. And a HUGE thank you in advance to the many booksellers who volunteer and offer their wisdom in the hopes that all independent bookstores will thrive for another year.

While you’re getting ready, why not do what we are doing here at ABA’s offices? Packing boxes and listening to Algonquin’s Winter Institute playlist. Thank you Lauren Moseley and Craig Poplars! (You do have to have a Spotify account to access this playlist, but signing up for Spotify is free and easy. Once you’ve signed up and have Spotify on your computer, open it up and click on the playlist link again; it should play instantly.)

All best wishes for smooth travels,

Meg Smith and the ABA Wi12 Team

PS: Check the printed program and message monitor on-site for the final word on times and places.

* Welcome! Bienvenue! Willkommen! Velkomst! Välkommen! Welkom! Velkommen!

** Not to harangue, but each year ABA’s publisher sponsors are disappointed when their scholarship recipient doesn’t show up at the Meet & Greet. And sometimes vice versa! Booksellers and publisher reps, if you know you can’t make it, please tell us beforehand or as soon as you know, so we can pass along the message.