A Look at Children’s Programming at Wi6

ABA’s Winter Institute will feature programming for children’s booksellers on Thursday, January 20, in Salon A/B. Developed in conjunction with the Association of Booksellers for Children – now the ABA’s ABC Children’s Group, the sessions will offer valuable information ranging from creative ideas for displays and events, to insights regarding what drives consumers’ purchasing decisions. The sessions with descriptions and presenters are detailed below.

Ideas That Work: Communications, Events and Displays for Great Children’s Departments

10:15 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.

The children’s department of your store offers stellar opportunities for creative outreach to customers, but it is often difficult to come up with fresh concepts on a tight deadline. This session will present a variety of proven ideas to showcase your children’s expertise, no matter the size of your store. From creative and cost-effective newsletter features to offbeat displays, authorless events, and alternative holidays, this session will provide a toolkit of great ideas that you can use as soon as you get home.

“Ideas That Work” will be presented by Cynthia Compton of 4 Kids Books in Indianapolis, Indiana.

What Really Drives Choice in the Children’s Book Market: The 2010 ABC & Bowker PubTrack Survey

2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

How do consumers value children’s books, and what makes them choose one over another? In the fall of 2010, Bowker PubTrack and the Association of Booksellers for Children set out to understand these questions in collaboration with children’s publishers. Focusing on purchasing for three core groups, and covering everything from how much input children have in buying decisions to trends in digital book content, these key findings present the first real data about what is driving today’s children’s book market.

This session will be presented by Kristen McLean, former ABC executive director, and Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publisher services for Bowker/PubTrack.

Children’s Roundtable (Salon B)

4:15 p.m. - 5:45 p.m.

Join your bookselling colleagues in a discussion that will cover many aspects of children’s bookselling.

This roundtable will be moderated by Leslie Reiner of Inkwood Books in Tampa, Florida.

The Winter Institute is made possible by the generous support of lead sponsor the Ingram Content Group and Wi6’s publisher sponsors.