MSIBA Fall Trade Show Features Education and Authors

The 2003 Mid-South Independent Booksellers Association (MSIBA) Fall Trade Show will be held September 4 - 7 at the Renaissance Austin Hotel in Austin, Texas.

Attending the trade show from ABA will be CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and Len Vlahos, director, BookSense.com.

The ABA-sponsored programs at MSIBA are:

• Technology as a Bookselling Tool. On Thursday, September 4, at 1:00 p.m., Vlahos will lead a three-hour session. This in-depth presentation addresses the technological needs of today's bookseller. Special focus will be given to getting the most out of ABA's online resources. Topics will include basic computer techniques (downloading attachments, virus scans, etc.); bookseller online discussion forums; the Electronic Book Buyer's Handbook; reporting to the Book Sense Bestseller List; and the e-commerce solution for independent booksellers, BookSense.com.
  
  
• Economic Impact of Locally Owned Businesses will be held on Friday, September 5 from 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m., Steve Bercu, owner of BookPeople in Austin, will host this session. He will discuss a report published last December that provides rigorous analysis comparing local merchants and national chains, and quantifies their respective local economic impacts. The report is the result of important work from Civic Economics, an economic analysis and strategic planning consulting firm, The Austin Independent Business Alliance, BookPeople, and Waterloo Records.
  
  
• ABACUS. Also on Friday from 3:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m. will be the session "ABACUS," led by Avin Mark Domnitz, ABA CEO. The rich data of the ABACUS study -- showing the performance of all participating stores as well as "data slices," grouped by profitability levels, sales levels, area of the country, and much more -- will be presented. Close attention will be paid to those factors of success that are revealed by the study's results.

In addition, the ABA/Book Sense booth on the trade show floor will offer a hands-on demonstration of the new, electronic national Book Sense Gift Card program. Booksellers receiving a demo will be automatically entered in a raffle to win a free $50 electronic gift card training session and a color inkjet printer. (This is the same printer that ABA offers at a discounted price through the association's business affinity program, CDW. For more details on purchasing one of these printers, please visit the ABA member Web site at http://www.bookweb.org/join/affinity/5495.html.) Booksellers are also encouraged to bring a recent photo of a Book Sense 76 display (with store information printed on the back) for a second chance at winning the training session. Stop by to learn about how the Book Sense Gift Card program will benefit your bookstore.

The other events at the MSIBA Trade Show include:

On Thursday at 1:00 p.m, a three-hour session, "Meaningful Marketing," will cover a fresh approach to sales and marketing, focused on making genuine connections with customers. Jeffrey Stamp, PhD, will host. Stamp is vice president of the Eureka! Ranch and is the co-author with Doug Hall of Meaningful Marketing: Selling More With Less Effort (Betterway).

At 4:30 p.m., it's the "Publishers' Show and Sell," a two-hour session where publisher representatives discuss the best of their fall lists. This will provide booksellers a good opportunity to meet sales reps and to hear about some great fall titles.

Friday morning programs will be dedicated to the children's market. The day will begin with the Children's Author Breakfast at 8:00 p.m., which will feature authors Janet Tashjian (The Gospel According To Larry and Fault Line, Henry Holt Books); Greg Leitich (Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo, Little, Brown and Company Children's Publishing); and Betty Lou Phillips (Emily Goes Wild, Gibbs Smith Publisher).

The breakfast will be followed by workshops and roundtables, from 9:30 a.m. - 11:40 a.m. Topics include "Making the Teacher/Librarian Connection" and "Weird and Wonderful Sidelines for Your Kid's Department."

Following the workshops, from 11:45 a.m. -1:15 p.m., is the Children's Author Luncheon, featuring authors D. Anne Love (The Puppeteer's Apprentice, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishers); Keith Graves (Loretta Ace Pinky Scout, Three Nasty Gnarlies, Scholastic Books); and Kathi Appelt (Piggies In a Polka, Harcourt Children's Books).

Following the lunch, the afternoon's programming will include:

From 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. will be the session "Planning Tools for Inventory and Staffing." John Rubin, CEO of Above the Tree Line, will present a Web-based program that helps booksellers hone in on the areas where owners and staff should be spending time and energy -- inventory and staffing -- which are the primary economic drivers of the bookselling business.

At 4:45 p.m., following Friday's educational programming, the MSIBA Membership Meeting will be conducted, where, among other association business, elections for officers and directors will be held. The evening's Humpty Dumpty Dinner and Silent Auction, held from 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at the Austin Children's Museum, will give attendees a chance to bid on and to win author and illustrator prints.

Breakfast with the Authors programs will be held at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, prior to the opening of trade show floor. Scheduled to speak at Saturday's breakfast are authors Jim Hightower (Thieves in High Places, Viking), Clyde Edgerton (Lunch at the Piccadilly, Algonquin), and April Reynolds (Knee Deep in Wonder, Metropolitan).

On Sunday, scheduled authors include Terry Kay (The Valley of Light, Atria Books), H.W. Brands (The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin, Anchor), Jacquelyn Mitchard (Twelve Times Blessed, HarperCollins), and Gregory Curtis (Disarmed: The Story of the Venus De Milo, Knopf).

On Saturday, following the Author Reading Rooms, it's the Gala Author Reception, at 7:00 p.m., which will allow booksellers to become better acquainted with many authors, including those who appeared at MSIBA events. The Reading Rooms begin at 4:00 p.m., and the roster of authors includes Michael Perry (Population: 485 -- Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time, Perennial), Lisa Tucker (The Song Reader, Downtown Press), and Clyde Edgerton (Lunch at the Picadilly, Algonquin).

On Sunday, the trade show floor closes at noon and is followed by the Drawing for Cash Winners. Booksellers who place orders at the show will be eligible to enter and win one of four $250 cash prizes in Sunday's drawing. The more a bookseller orders, the more entry forms the bookseller receives. (Booksellers must be present to win.)

For more information or to register for MSIBA Fall Trade Show, click here.