MPBA Fall Trade Show Preview

The Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association (MPBA) Trade Show will be held from Thursday, October 2, to Sunday, October 5, at the Marriott Denver Tech Center in Denver. This year's event will offer attendees great bookselling seminars and a stellar lineup of authors.

Representing the American Booksellers Association at the MPBA show will be CEO Avin Mark Domnitz, CFO Eleanor Chang, BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos, and Associate Director of Book Sense Marketing Meg Smith.

On Thursday, October 2, MPBA Board member Bob Sommer of Changing Hands in Tempe, Arizona, and ABA's Vlahos will lead "Technology as a Bookselling Tool," from 9: 00 a.m. - noon. This three-part session will start with a presentation featuring live demonstrations and discussing the technological needs of today's bookseller with the goal of increasing efficiency and selling more books. The second part of the seminar will focus on getting the most out of ABA's various online resources and will also include a presentation about Nielsen BookScan, the system that makes reporting to the Book Sense Bestseller List extremely easy. The third part of the seminar is entitled "How to Market Your Web Site," at which Vlahos and an MPBA-member bookseller will present the 10 things booksellers need to do to turn their Web sites into profit centers.

On Friday, October 3, from 11:00 a.m. - noon, Chris Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, will lead the session "From Monica to the Patriot Act: Customer Privacy Today." Finan will discuss the evolution of customer privacy issues, including an update on the status of the fight for the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157), the bill introduced by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), which would restore protections for customer privacy that were eliminated by Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. Additionally, the program will include one of the first screenings of a dramatic documentary about the Tattered Cover case, Reading Your Rights, which will begin appearing on PBS stations around the country this fall.

Later the same day, ABA's Domnitz will present "ABACUS: Year One," from 3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. This session is one that no bookseller should miss. The ABACUS study contains rich data that shows the financial performance of almost 200 participating stores, as well as "data slices" grouped by profitability levels, sales levels, area of the country, and much more. Close attention will be paid to those drivers of success that are so clearly revealed by the study's results.

The final ABA seminar at the MPBA trade show was considered so important by the MPBA Board that it agreed to bend its rule against Saturday educational programming. "Economic Impact of Locally Owned Businesses" will be held from noon - 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 4.

For years, there has been much discussion about the relative value of local merchants and national chains to a community -- but all of it was based solely on anecdotal information. This session will present the results of a recent report that provides rigorous analysis comparing local merchants and national chains and that quantifies their respective local economic impacts. The report is the work of Civic Economics, an economic analysis and strategic planning consulting firm, and was commissioned by Liveable City of Austin, Texas, The Austin Independent Business Alliance, BookPeople, and Waterloo Records. Attendees will have the opportunity to see the results firsthand and to ask questions of BookPeople's Steve Bercu -- one of the leaders of a community campaign in Austin to oppose the granting of public funds and resources to national retailers.

Starting Saturday, at the ABA/Book Sense booth, attendees can participate in a hands-on demonstration of the new electronic Book Sense Gift Card program. Booksellers receiving a demo will be automatically entered into a raffle to win a free $50 training session and a color inkjet printer. (This is the same printer that ABA offers at a discounted price through its business affinity program, CDW. For more details on purchasing one of these printers, click here). For a second chance at winning the training session, booksellers should bring a recent photo of a Book Sense 76 display (with store name, address, phone number, and contact name printed on the back).

New this year, MPBA's Saturday morning "Author Breakfast for Literacy" will be open to the public for the first time. Greater Denver-area stores will be receiving posters and flyers in early September to help promote both the Saturday Breakfast and the Sunday "Author & Illustrator Breakfast" to the public. Also, "Rep Pix" is now called "Pick of the Lists" and has been moved to Friday at noon, and Saturday's reception will include author autographings.

MPBA programming begins on Thursday, October 2, with the 45-minute session "How to Work With Your Sales Rep," starting at 8:00 a.m.

From 12:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., the workshop "Basic Bookstore Operations for Small- to Medium-Sized Stores" will discuss the importance of inventory management. Topics covered will be inventory control through thoughtful buying; using an "open to buy" system to control spending; building and managing an efficient special-order procedure; and developing a regular returns schedule.

At 4:15 p.m., the 45-minute "How to Work the Show" is meant especially for booksellers attending the MPBA trade show for the first time. Veteran booksellers will share tips and techniques to help booksellers get the most from the show.

On Friday, educational programming begins at 8:00 a.m. with the 90-minute marketing session "Meaningful Marketing, Selling More With Less Effort: 100 Data-Proven Truths and 402 Practical Ideas," which just happens to be the title of a new book from Doug Hall and Jeffrey Stamp (Betterway Publications). Stamp will lead a high-energy, interactive seminar to show booksellers how to sell more with less effort, multiplying the impact of every dollar they invest.

From 9:45 a.m. - 10:45 a.m., the "Graphic Novels" panel will focus on one of the hottest new genres, Manga. Later on Friday, from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m., Vintage and Anchor Books sponsor the "Reading Group Panel - On Beyond Oprah!" Two well-known authors will join a panel of booksellers and publishers to discuss how booksellers can market to this growing customer base.

Also on Friday, there will be a number of Trade Show special events. From noon - 2:00 p.m., sales reps will have 15 minutes each to present titles advertised in the MPBA Winter Catalogue and other features from their fall lists in "Pick of the Lists." And, from 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m., Baker & Taylor's Adam Olson and Mike Vella will present "Baker & Taylor TitleSource."

At 4:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m., MPBA will hold its "General Meeting." Following the meeting is the "Welcome Cocktail Party."

On Saturday, the trade show floor is open from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., and, on Sunday, from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

On Saturday, from 7:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m., the "Author Breakfast for Literacy" will feature Peter Sís (The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin, FSG); Joyce Carol Oates (Where Is Little Reynard? HarperCollins); and two more authors to be announced. The cost for this event is $30, and all profits go toward MPBA's literacy programs. Reservations are required.

At 10:00 a.m., 11:15 a.m., and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, authors will read and sign their fall titles in the Iris and Lupine Rooms adjacent to the Columbine Exhibit Hall. The full author schedule will be in the MPBA Trade Show Directory.

Capping off the day, from 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. is the "Saturday Night Reception." The Gordon Saull Bookseller of the Year and Sales Rep of the Year Awards will be presented. New this year, there will be author autographings after the awards.

On Sunday, October 5, from 7:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m., the "Children's Author and Illustrator Breakfast for Literacy" will feature Betsy Lewin (Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, Atheneum) and Rosemary Wells (The Small World of Binky Braverman, Penguin Putnam). Tickets are $25 and reservations are required.

At 9:30 a.m., 10:00 a.m., and 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, there will be author autographings in the Iris and Lupine Rooms.

For more information, contact MPBA at (970) 407-1479, or online at www.mountainsplains.org. --David Grogan