- MEMBERSHIP
- Join
- Renew
- About Membership
- Membership Types
- Benefits Chart
- Dues Information
- Opening a Bookstore
- Member Directory
- MEMBERSHIP
- for BOOKSELLERS
- for PUBLISHERS
- EVENTS
- ADVOCACY
-
NEWS
BTW News for evolve nav
- ABOUT
Winter Institute 2024
37 results. Results may be paginated. Select one or more topics and filter by tag, format, or conference to focus results. Some resources are visible only to logged-in, ABA bookseller members.
Closing Keynote with Doris Kearns Goodwin
Recorded February 14, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
Doris Kearns Goodwin is an acclaimed presidential historian, international keynote speaker, and Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times #1 bestselling author of books including Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Leadership: In Turbulent Times, and the forthcoming An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History.
Speakers
Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s (On sale April 16, 2024 from Simon & Schuster)
Philomena Polefrone, Advocacy Associate Manager for ABA's American Booksellers for Free Expression
Files & Links
Developing De-escalation Skills
Recorded February 14, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
As booksellers continue to be on the front lines of many consumer and human rights issues, the need for professionally-led training to keep booksellers safe has never been more important. In this session, participants will learn essential de-escalation skills and strategies to gracefully handle difficult customer interactions and defuse tensions while prioritizing staff safety. Empower yourself with the tools you need to navigate challenging situations with confidence and professionalism, fostering a welcoming and supportive atmosphere in your bookstore.
Speakers
Chasity Rush, Talbert House - Cincinnati, OH
Files & Links
Bookstore Resilience: Stories from Venerable Booksellers
Recorded February 14, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
Nearly half of small businesses fail within the first five years, and only 25% make it to 15 years or more - and bookselling can be a particularly tough industry to crack. This makes it all the more impressive when a bookstore manages multiple decades in business, with no sign of stopping. This panel features five indomitable booksellers with more than 100 years of combined bookselling experience. They will share their stories and the ups and downs of their careers in bookselling, what motivates them to keep going, and their hopes for the future of the industry. Come learn from our bookselling veterans!
Speakers
Kris Kleindienst, Left Bank Books - St. Louis, MO
Janet Jones, Source Booksellers LLC - Detroit, MI
Rick Simonson, Elliott Bay Book Company - Seattle, WA
Brein Lopez, Children's Book World - Los Angeles, CA
Shirikiana Gerima, Sankofa Video and Books - Washington, DC
Files & Links
Powering Indies with Edelweiss Analytics
Recorded February 14, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Edelweiss Analytics, a tool created uniquely for indie booksellers, allows you to easily manage your inventory by integrating POS data into Edelweiss to analyze your stock, view order & sales history, and access aggregate market data without missing a beat. Whether your store uses Square or a bookstore-specific POS system, this conversation is for you. An Edelweiss team member in collaboration with bookseller panelists will examine each tier of Edelweiss Analytics and explain the value of utilizing these tools for better collaboration with publishers, and for amplifying the power of the indie market as a whole. If you’re not currently signed up, remember Edelweiss Analytics’ base tier — Basecamp — is free for ABA members the first year so come check it out! If you’re already signed up, come hear best practices and ways to optimize it for your store.
Speakers
- Jeanne Costello, Maria's Bookshop - Durango, CO
- Jenny Cohen, Waucoma Bookstore - Hood River, OR
- Dan Brewster, Prologue Bookshop - Columbus, OH
- Nicolette Siclare, Edelweiss by Above the Treeline - Ann Arbor, MI
Files & Links
Labor Trends in Retail
Recorded February 14, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
The world of work has changed. New worker expectations, growing labor movements, pandemic trauma, increased need for de-escalation skills, and pandemic-induced skill gaps are creating new challenges and opportunities for managers and frontline employees. In this session, hear from an expert on current labor trends to consider when hiring, developing, and supporting staff.
Speakers
Nicolas Williams, University of Cincinnati - Cincinnati, OH
Files & Links
Strategies for Employee Retention
Recorded February 14, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
The heart of a bookstore is the bookseller in the stacks, on the floor, behind the counter, or in the back room. These are the dedicated professionals who create the welcoming environment your community experiences every day. How do you keep this team? This session will cover important factors that impact employee retention today. You will be asked to consider your store culture, the openness of store-wide communication, your diversity and inclusion efforts, and conditions around compensation, among other important factors that drive employee satisfaction and retention. Come prepared to listen, engage, and leave with the beginnings of an action plan.
Speakers
Suzanna Hermans, Oblong Books - Millerton, NY
Jamie Thomas, Women & Children First - Chicago, IL
DJ Johnson, Baldwin & Co. - New Orleans, LA
Lyn Roberts, Square Books - Oxford, MS
Files & Links
Getting Clarity: What Business Are You In?
Recorded February 14, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
The changing landscape of bookselling brings new challenges every day, and it is essential to learn how to respond without losing sight of your goals or purpose. Join Bonnie Wan, author of The Life Brief, for a workshop that creates space to declare your ambitions/focus for 2024 and design a brief for how you will achieve growth, engagement, and concentrate on what matters most deeply to you and your business.
Speakers
Bonnie Wan, author of The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living (available now from Simon Element)
Files & Links
Increasing Sales With IndieCommerce 2.0
Recorded February 14, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Channeling ten years of feedback from booksellers, IndieCommerce 2.0 is an entirely new platform built from the ground up with new features and a fresh new design. Learn how you can harness the power of IndieCommerce 2.0 in this panel discussion with three booksellers who are using the new platform. Each panelist will showcase their site and share their first hand experiences with the new platform. They will discuss strategies for effectively matching their IndieCommerce 2.0 site to their in-store business model, highlight their favorite new features, and offer tips and tricks for maximizing the potential of IndieCommerce 2.0.
Speakers
Geetha Nathan, ABA - IndieCommerce - White Plains, NY
Kazemde Ajamu, The Black Dot Cultural Center & Bookstore - Lithonia, GA
Steve Iwanski, Charter Books - Newport, RI
Sophie Nogar, Second Star to the Right - Denver, CO
Files & Links
Tracking ROI for Events
Recorded February 14, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Although you may be creating events that look successful, your return on investment might not be. Come to this session to learn what information you should be tracking, how to track it, and how to analyze this data so you can evaluate whether or not an event is worth your staff’s time.
Speakers
Cindy Dach, Changing Hands Bookstore - Tempe, AZ
Files & Links
Leading Leaders: Developing Staff Leadership Skills
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
Investing in the leadership skills of your staff has both short-term and long-term benefits, from building a better culture for your team to identifying potential successors when you retire. In this session, Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor and the forthcoming Radical Respect, will teach you how to nurture staff into leadership roles, and evaluate the process for success!
Speakers
Kim Scott, author of Radical Respect : How to Work Together Better (On sale May 7, 2024 from St. Martin's Griffin)
Files & Links
Making Numbers Count: Quantifying Success with KPIs
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
You’ve meticulously curated your inventory, designed the perfect displays, and developed an events program for your community — but how will you know if what you’re doing is working? Tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will give you the answer. KPIs are specific outcome-based targets that support your strategic plan and can be measured quantitatively, such as inventory turnover ratios, sales per square foot, and average transaction value. By the time you leave this session, you will: (1) understand the meaning and value of critical retail KPIs and how to track them, (2) understand how to compare your store’s KPIs against financial metrics found in the ABACUS report, and (3) be able to apply this data to create an improvement plan for at least one area of your store’s performance.
Speakers
Cynthia Compton, MacArthur Books - Carmel, IN
Melissa DeMotte, The Well Read Moose - Coeur d'Alene, ID
Candice Anderson, Tombolo Books - St. Petersburg, FL
Files & Links
ipage® Fundamentals: How to Save Time, Order Strategically & More
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Join Ingram for an informative workshop with ipage tips that can help you manage your account and store more efficiently. Whether you’re new to ipage or an experienced user, gain a clearer understanding of our platform’s full capabilities allowing you to spend less time navigating and more time selling. Learn about our streamlined stock box and cart, Direct-to-Home improvements, IPS publisher direct discounts and cart, and so much more!
Speakers
- Johanna Hynes, Publishers Group West/ Two Rivers - Louisville, KY
- Leslie Jobson, Ingram Content Group - La Vergne, TN
- Marsha Wood, Ingram Content Group - La Vergne, TN
Files & Links
Banned Book Preparedness
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
This session presents practical ways to prepare to fight book bans before they come to your area. Staff from the American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE), ABA’s free expression initiative, will advise attendees on what they can do locally: how to engage with their community and local government, and what actions to take if attempted book bans do arrive. Presented by the ABA Children’s Group.
Speakers
Cathy Berner, Blue Willow Bookshop - Houston, TX
Leah Johnson, Loudmouth Books - Indianapolis, IN
Philomena Polefrone, American Booksellers Association - White Plains, NY
Angela Cooper, ACLU of Kentucky - Louisville, KY
Files & Links
Batch for Books: The Easy Invoice Management Solution
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Every bookseller in the UK uses Batch to simplify their Accounts Payable and publisher invoice management and over 300 US booksellers (and growing!) are now using it. Come learn more about this free platform to:
- Automatically and electronically organize publisher invoices to reduce paperwork and free up time.
- Provide access to invoice information 24x7, enabling you to manage invoices when it’s most convenient for you.
- Provide electronic invoices, allowing you to verify shipments and raise claims for damages or shortages at the point of delivery.
- Allow payments to be prepared and remittances received and stored electronically.
- Link with QuickBooks, enabling automated entry of invoice data directly into QuickBooks.
The more booksellers that sign up for Batch, the more publishers that will sign up! Saving everyone time and money.
Speakers
Kathy Burnette, Brain Lair Books - South Bend, IN
Kate Layte, Papercuts Bookshop - Boston, MA
Zachary Matelski, McLean and Eakin Booksellers - Petoskey, MI
Nathan Halter, Batch for Books - Hartford, CT
Files & Links
Project Management for Booksellers
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Keeping a bookstore running can feel like having too many tabs open in your brain at once. Luckily, there are project management tools and strategies that can help with that. In this presentation, booksellers who have cracked the code on project management will share the tools and strategies that have helped them set goals and timelines and stay organized with their short- and long-term projects. You’ll leave this session with a better understanding of effective project management, which tool or approach is right for you, and what your next steps are for getting started!
Speakers
Kirsten Hess, The End & Let's Play Books Bookstore(s) - Emmaus, PA
Angela Schwesnedl, Moon Palace Books - Minneapolis, MN
Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop - Athens, GA
Cori Theroux, The Green Dragon Bookstore - Fort Dodge, IA
Files & Links
Featured Talk: Beyond the Binary
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
Contemporary fiction increasingly invites the reader to see race, gender, and sexuality not as binary identities, but as a vibrant spectrum of diversity. This year's new fiction is opening up space for new ideas about how we might expand our understanding of identity and what myriad of relational dynamics are possible beyond the normative concepts of race, gender, and sexuality. In this keynote panel, four authors share their thoughts and experiences writing for a world that has moved beyond the traditional binary definitions of identity and belonging.
Speakers
Miranda July, author of All Fours (On sale May 14, 2024 from Riverhead Books/Penguin Random House)
Danzy Senna, author of Colored Television (On sale September 3, 2024 from Riverhead Books/Penguin Random House)
LaDarrion Williams, author of Blood at the Root (On sale May 7, 2024 from Labyrinth Road/Penguin Random House)
Maysoon Zayid, author of Shiny Misfits: A Graphic Novel (On sale April 16, 2024 from Graphix/Scholastic)
Anton Bogomazov, Politics and Prose Bookstore - Washington, DC
Files & Links
Lunch and Booksellers Present: Indies Introduce Authors
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
The Indies Introduce program is about what independent booksellers do best: discovering exciting debut authors and sharing the best with readers across the country. Enjoy lunch while learning about the title selection process from the bookseller panelists who curated the Winter/Spring 2024 Indies Introduce list. Many of the Winter/Spring 2024 Indies Introduce debut authors will be present to read a short passage and answer a question posed by one of the bookseller panelists. Authors will be available to sign copies of their debut books following the presentation.
Files & Links
Education for Authors: Best Practices for Bookstore Events
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
Developed for author guests in the early stages of their writing careers, this panel features booksellers who have formulated best practices for creating events that benefit both stores and authors. This session will cover a number of issues, from author publicity to dealing with pre-event nerves.
Speakers
Paul Hanson, Village Books - Bellingham, WA
Linda Kass, Gramercy Books - Bexley, OH
Errol Anderson, Charis Books and More - Decatur, GA
Bunnie Hilliard, Brave + Kind Bookshop - Decatur, GA
Javier Ramirez, Exile in Bookville - Chicago, IL
Files & Links
Starting a Worker Owned Co-op
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
According to the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC), “Worker cooperatives are values-driven businesses that put worker and community benefit at the core of their purpose. Worker members…participate in the profits, oversight, and often management of the enterprise using democratic practices.” If you are interested in opening a worker-owned co-op bookstore or transitioning to one, this conversation is for you. In this session, a representative from USFWC will talk about the benefits of a worker-owned model as well as the drawbacks. They will review legalities of incorporation, decision making, financial operations, and more. Leave this session with the knowledge you need to evaluate if this shift is the right fit for you.
Speakers
Cullen Nawalkowsky, Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse - Baltimore, MD
Talia Whyte, Rozzie Bound Books - Boston, MA
Ellen Vera, Co-op Cincy - Cincinnati, OH
Files & Links
Mental Health First Aid
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
Most of us know how to help when we see someone in cardiac arrest — we start CPR, or at the very least, call 9-1-1. But too few of us might know how to respond when we see a customer having a panic attack, or if we are concerned that a co-worker shows signs of alcoholism. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is a training program that takes the fear and hesitation out of starting conversations about mental health and substance use problems. It helps to improve understanding and provides an action plan that teaches people to safely and responsibly identify and address a potential mental illness or substance use disorder. Rich Palmer, a certified MHFA instructor will provide an introduction to basic MHFA skills on how to navigate hard conversations, tackle stigma in the workplace, and address what resilience truly means – with strategies to alleviate burnout.
Speakers
Rich Palmer, Mental Health America of Northern KY and Southwest OH - Blue Ash, OH
Files & Links
Beyond Allyship: Supporting LGBTQIA2S+ Staff Members
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Join this bookseller-led panel for a discussion on supporting trans and nonbinary staff and colleagues. With LGBTQIA2S+ (particularly trans) rights under constant siege, it is more important than ever to have procedures in place that protect our staff and colleagues. Panelists will discuss what active allyship means for all employees, and will review best practices for responding to anti-trans legislation and community hate.
Speakers
Gretchen Treu, A Room of One's Own Bookstore - Madison, WI
Kai Burner, Bookworm of Edwards - Edwards, CO
Linda Sherman-Nurick, Cellar Door Bookstore - Riverside, CA
Brein Lopez, Children's Book World - Los Angeles, CA
Files & Links
Increasing Book Sales and Building Community Online
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
This panel session, led by Andy Hunter of Bookshop.org, will feature a panel of booksellers discussing how they use digital platforms to sell books, build an online audience, and drive in-person and online sales. The panel will discuss selling with e-commerce, highlighting events and community through social media, reviewing and acting on website traffic to increase the visibility of your store with search engine optimization (SEO), and engaging customers through Edelweiss to create email marketing.
Speakers
Veronica Liu, Word Up Community Bookshop/Librería Comunitaria - New York, NY
Amanda Lepper, Dog-Eared Books - Ames, IA
Evisa Gallman, Uncle Bobbie's Coffee and Books - Philadelphia, PA
Andy Hunter, Bookshop.org - Brooklyn, NY
Files & Links
Seasonal Buying: Calibrate for Success
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
A well-planned seasonal inventory can result in big profits, while missing the mark can be a costly mistake. Buyers from a large urban store, a medium-sized store in a college town, and a bookmobile will discuss how they plan their seasonal inventory while keeping in mind store budgets, physical space, and more.
Speakers
Elese Stutts, Flyleaf Books - Chapel Hill, NC
Kim Brock, Joseph-Beth Booksellers - Cincinnati, OH
Zsamé Morgan, Babycake's Book Stack - Saint Paul, MN
Emily Schroen, Main Street Books - Saint Charles, MO
Files & Links
Breakfast Keynote with Michele Norris: Race. Your Thoughts. Six Words. Please Send.
Recorded February 13, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
Michele Norris is one of America’s most trusted voices in journalism, earning numerous honors over a long career, including Peabody, Emmy, Dupont, and Goldsmith awards. As founding director of The Race Card Project, a Peabody Award–winning narrative archive where people around the world share their reflections on identity—in just six words, she ignited the conversation with the seemingly simple prompt: Race. Your Thoughts. Six Words. Please Send. The responses she received have been challenging and complicated, intimate and candid, revealing fear, pain, triumph, and humor. Her transformative new book, OUR HIDDEN CONVERSATIONS (Simon & Schuster) and her work with The Race Card Project reminds us that even during times of great division, honesty, grace, and a willing ear can provide a bridge toward understanding and maybe even empathy.
Speakers
Michele Norris, author of Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think about Race and Identity (available now from Simon & Schuster)
Files & Links
Your Store, Your Story: A StoryBrand Workshop
Recorded February 12, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
Independent bookstores are unique — your story, history, values, causes, and specialties are what differentiate you from others. Your “About Us” section on your website should be unlike anyone else’s too! It’s the easiest way, and one of the most important ways, to promote your store. Join this workshop on how to shift from a generic description about community and curation to one that reflects your store’s personality, makes loyal customers, entices new customers, and helps ABA pitch your store to the media, publishers, and others.
Speakers
Matt Banker, Banker Creative - Saint Paul, MN
Files & Links
Fly Like a Helicopter & Run like a Lemonade Stand
Recorded February 12, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
In this interactive session, as a follow-up to his morning keynote, James Rhee will lead a discussion on measurements and operational processes enhancing balance, agility, and goodwill as it relates to the business of life and the life of business.
Speakers
James Rhee, author of red helicopter—a parable for our times : lead change with kindness (plus a little math) (On sale April 9, 2024 from HarperOne/HarperCollins)
Files & Links
Financial and Environmental Sustainability Through Used Books
Recorded February 12, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Used books can meet a variety of needs for you and your customers. They offer customers a deeper selection with more accessible pricing, they reduce your cost of goods, and they reduce your carbon footprint. This panel will feature experienced booksellers from used bookstores who understand the process of curating used books and will walk you through best practices for buying, pricing, managing, and marketing used books. Specifically, this panel is designed for booksellers from used bookstores or for stores that curate a used section.
Speakers
Danielle King, Left Bank Books - St. Louis, MO
Pete Mulvihill, Green Apple Books - San Francisco, CA
Amy Hall, Hudson Valley Books for Humanity - Ossining, NY
Files & Links
Strategies for Direct Ordering
Recorded February 12, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
In an industry with such slim margins, direct ordering can make all the difference to your bookstore’s bottom line. In this session, Ted Hill of Pubnet/Pubeasy, Deidre Dumpson of Edelweiss, and a bookseller panelist will guide you through the key elements of creating a direct ordering strategy, and show you how to use Edelweiss to order frontlist and Pubnet/Pubeasy to order backlist directly from publishers and distributors. If you’re a new bookstore who has primarily sourced your inventory from wholesalers and are now looking to diversify your ordering, this session is for you! You’ll leave this session with the ability to: understand the importance of balanced ordering from both wholesalers and publishers; create a customized ordering strategy; leverage the technology of Edelweiss, Pubnet, and Pubeasy to streamline direct ordering; and build lasting publisher relationships.
Speakers
Jill Hendrix, Fiction Addiction - Greenville, SC
Ted Hill, Pubeasy & Pubnet - Brooklyn, NY
Alison Langlois, Edelweiss by Above the Treeline - Ann Arbor, MI
Files & Links
Lunch Keynote with William Ury: Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict
Recorded February 12, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
How can we survive—and even thrive—in this age of conflict? Negotiation expert William Ury, coauthor of the best-selling Getting to YES, introduces a transformative mindset in his upcoming book, Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict (to be published by Harper Business on February 20, 2024). Drawing on 45 years of experience, Ury presents an actionable framework, a “Path to Possible”, for navigating conflicts of any scale—from boardroom battles to large-scale international conflict —by sharing a range of personal stories intermixed with practical takeaways. Whether you’re facing a family feud, a workplace dispute, or a political crisis, Possible will help you turn any challenge into an opportunity. Equal parts memoir, manual, and manifesto, Possible empowers us all to be “Possibilists”: those who believe in the human potential to transform today’s toughest conflicts creatively and constructively.
Speakers
William Ury, author of Possible : How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict (Available now from Harper Business)
Files & Links
Writing Standard Operating Procedures
Recorded February 12, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
Clearly defined systems save time and mental energy and can set clear expectations for everyone on a team which means great (consistent!) results. These systems are the start of any training program and can even help improve employer/employee communication and increase sales! Sounds great, right? But where do we start with defining these systems? We start with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Join this session for practical education on writing and following SOPs for your store. Presented by ZingTrain.
Speakers
Arianna Téllez Léon, ZingTrain - Ann Arbor, MI
Files & Links
Leverage Spreadsheets For Bookstore Success
Recorded February 12, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
During this session, we will explore various use cases and best practices for using spreadsheets in your bookstore. Whether you use Excel or Google Sheets, you will come away from this session with new ways to analyze, evaluate, and apply information. This session will provide an overview of the basics of spreadsheets and formulas, before delving into more advanced functionalities that are particularly useful for bookstores.
Speakers
Hannah Oliver Depp, Loyalty Bookstores - Washington, DC
Emma Kaas, The Norwich Bookstore - Norwich, VT
Beth Seufer Buss, Bookmarks - Winston-Salem, NC
Maddie Ciliotta-Young, Watchung Booksellers - Montclair, NJ
Files & Links
The New Marketing and Media Strategy
Recorded February 12, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
The media landscape and consumer reading and listening habits have changed considerably in recent years. We have witnessed the growth of new and existing social media channels and many traditional media outlets have disappeared or reduced coverage and content. What are the most effective channels for bookstores to reach their customers, market to new customers, and engage with their community? This session will break this down, answer your questions, and provide some guiding principles to help you make the right choices for your store.
Speakers
Kassie King, The Novel Neighbor - Webster Groves, MO
Cris Siqueira, Lions Tooth - Milwaukee, WI
Kalli King, Rediscovered Books - Boise, ID
Laura Trujillo, USA TODAY - Tysons, VA
Files & Links
Introduction to Book Fairs
Recorded February 12, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
In-person book fairs are a fantastic way to build relationships with your local schools and can be a profitable undertaking for a bookstore. If you’ve never done one before, knowing how to start is the first step to success. This session is for bookstores that are new to book fairs and will feature booksellers with established relationships with their local school districts. They will present how to build a realistic timeline for a book fair, manage people’s expectations based on a school’s needs, and create a checklist to ensure your fair goes off without a hitch. Presented by the ABA Children’s Group.
Speakers
Molly Olivo, Child’s Play - Washington, DC
Rebecca Crosswhite, Rediscovered Books - Boise, ID
Holly Weinkauf, Red Balloon Bookshop - Saint Paul, MN
Files & Links
Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Bookselling But Were Afraid to Ask
Recorded February 12, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
This information session hosted by the ABA team and your bookseller colleagues will answer questions like: What is Batch? What is license plate receiving? What are event grids? And more! ABA will begin the discussion by reviewing industry opportunities you may not know about like RISE scholarships for booksellers and bookstore owners to visit international conferences and bookstores; Books Across Borders opportunities; the Professional Booksellers School; ABA opportunities like the Board, Nominating Committee, Audit Committee, Governance Committee, Indies Introduce, Education Task Force, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, Booksellers Advisory Committee, ABA Children’s Group Advisory Council, etc. No question is too basic — come as you are and leave a little more enlightened!
Speakers
Christine Bollow, Loyalty Bookstores - Washington, DC
Tegan Tigani, Queen Anne Book Company - Seattle, WA
Camden Avery, Booksmith - San Francisco, CA
Ryan Quinn, American Booksellers Association
Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, American Booksellers Association
Files & Links
Opening Keynote with James Rhee: Goodwill Found. Goodwill Measured
Recorded February 12, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Using his seven years as the unlikely and heralded Chairman and CEO of Ashley Stewart, a business with deep roots in Black American communities, as the basis for his narrative, James Rhee weaves together a tapestry of ideas including humanism, neuroscience, race, economics, and capitalism to paint a picture of what is possible through the mutually reinforcing forces of kindness, math, and goodwill. His book, red helicopter, empowers readers to lead change in business and in life. As all booksellers know, what we read shapes our society, and James offers a simple path to a world that is at once kinder and more successful. As a long-time private equity investor, an educator as the Johnson Chair of Entrepreneurship at Howard University and Senior Lecture at MIT Sloan School of Management, and student of life, James implicitly and explicitly makes the case for a set of measurements that captures and scales what’s best in us. It is there, alongside a few financial and accounting formulas, where life, money, and joy can be valued.
Speaker
James Rhee, author of red helicopter—a parable for our times : lead change with kindness (plus a little math) (On sale April 9, 2024 from HarperOne/HarperCollins)
Files & Links
Introduction to Open Book Management
Recorded February 11, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
A radical approach to running a business, Open Book Management empowers everyone in an organization to actively participate in tracking metrics that directly contribute to business success. By tracking key numbers and learning the story behind the scoreboard results, employees get a real sense of how they directly impact the success of the business. Explore what Open Book Management is, why it works, and what it looks like in the day-to-day of your store. Presented by ZingTrain.
Speakers
Elnian Gilbert, ZingTrain - Ann Arbor, MI
Files & Links
Human Resources Essentials for the Bookstore
Recorded February 11, 2024 for Winter Institute 2024
Description
It’s critical that owners and managers understand Human Resources (HR) practices. This three-hour seminar will be divided into three 45-minute segments with a ten minute break between each segment. In segment one, booksellers will receive a foundational understanding of what HR is, what it is not, and clarity on federal HR rules and regulations that are in place to protect a business. Segment two will provide booksellers with more specifics on HR hot-topics in the small business space including onboarding, employee record keeping, termination, communication and more. The seminar will conclude with a panel discussion with plenty of room for Q&A.
Speakers
Randy Egolf, Joseph-Beth Booksellers - Cincinnati, OH
Chonteau McElvin, Spiral Circle - Orlando, FL
Eileen McCormick, Green Apple Books - San Francisco, CA
Martin Patrick, GTM HR Consulting - Clifton Park, NY
Files & Links
About ABA
American Booksellers Association is a national trade association that supports and advocates for the success of independent bookstores. We provide members with education, networking opportunities, advocacy, resources, and technology. In turn our members support local schools through book fairs, donations and author visits; promote literacy; provide inclusive community centers; connect readers and books; add character to neighborhoods; champion and center diverse and new voices; and contribute to the local economy. We feel honored to support them in their work.
Contact
- Phone: 800-637-0037
- Email: [email protected]
PRESS INQUIRIES: [email protected]
INDIECOMMERCE: [email protected]
ALL OTHER INQUIRIES: [email protected]
Copyright 2024 American Booksellers Association. BookWeb is a registered trademark of ABA.
Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Accessibility Statement