Regional Shows Wrap Up Next Weekend With NEBA and SCBA

The New England Booksellers Association's (NEBA) 30th Annual Meeting & Trade Show and the Southern California Booksellers Association (SCBA) Authors Feast and Fall Seminars will take place next weekend. NEBA's trade show will be held in Providence, Rhode Island, at the Rhode Island Convention Center from Friday, October 24, to Sunday, October 26, and SCBA will hold its authors feast and seminars on Saturday, October 25, at the Westin Hotel in Pasadena, California. ABA will be offering educational programming and demonstrations of the Book Sense Gift Card Program at both.

NEBA

NEBA's trade show floor will be open from 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. 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 automatically be entered into a raffle to win a free $50 gift card training session and a color inkjet printer. For a second chance at winning, 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).

On Saturday at 10:15 a.m., Ivan Barkhorn, a partner at the Meridian Strategy Group and a consultant to ABA on strategic matters, and Fran Keilty, of Atticus Bookstore in Connecticut and Massachusetts, will lead "Succession Planning II: Business Valuation." This session is being presented at the request of participants in "Basic Succession Planning," presented at last year's show. Those who bring year-end income statements and balance sheet can learn to value their businesses via several appraisal methods. Advance tickets are required and are available through NEBA.

Congressman Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who introduced the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157), which seeks to restore the privacy of library and bookstore records that was taken away by Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, will bring booksellers up to date on recent developments at an hour-long session on Saturday, from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. The session, sponsored by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, will be moderated by the foundation's president, Chris Finan.

On Saturday afternoon, from 12:45 p.m. - 1:15 p.m., is the first of two presentations of "Book Scan: The Next Chapter in the Industry." The session, which will be repeated on Sunday from 10:15 - 10:45 a.m., features Ruth Leibmann, director of independent bookselling at Random House, Susan Taylor of Wellesley Booksmith in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and moderator Chris Muratore, director of retail relations, Nielsen BookScan. Attendees will learn about the ease and benefits of reporting to BookScan.

The NEBA Annual Meeting will begin at 4:45 p.m. with the introduction of NEBA's new Board of Officers for the 2003-2005 term. Refreshments will be provided. At 5:30 p.m., ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz, ABA Board member Suzy Staubach (UConn Co-op, Storrs, Connecticut), and Booksellers Advisory Council members Dale Szczeblowski (Concord Bookshop, Concord, Massachusetts) and Linda Ramsdell (Galaxy Bookshop, Hardwick, Vermont) will respond to questions and comments at the ABA Open Forum.

On Sunday, at 10:15 a.m., the BookScan session will be repeated, and, at 11:00 a.m., ABA CEO Domnitz will present the findings of the first year of the ABACUS study on the financial operations of independent bookstores using data from close to 200 booksellers. Close attention is paid to drivers of success identified in the study.

For more on the NEBA trade show, click here or go to the NEBA Web site at www.newenglandbooks.org.

SCBA

On Saturday, October 25, SCBA will hold a day of educational workshops and seminars and capped by the 11th Annual Authors Feast.

The day's events begin with a 9:30 breakfast with Book Sense Marketing Director Mark Nichols who will discuss a wide range of Book Sense opportunities and initiatives designed to increase savings and profitability. The session, "New Opportunities With Book Sense," will include information about the new Book Sense Gift Card program, BookSense.com Co-op Reimbursement Program, Book Sense Audio Library, Book Sense Bestseller List reporting options, and more. Nichols will also be available for demonstrations of the new Book Sense Gift Card Program from 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. in the San Gabriel Room. Booksellers interested in setting up an appointment for a gift card demonstration should send an e-mail to Nichols at [email protected].

Later that afternoon, from 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., the ins and outs of Nielsen BookScan will be discussed by a panel including Christian Waters, vice president, associate director, retail field sales, Random House, Inc.; Charlie Trachtenbarg, Western regional sales manager, HarperCollins and an SCBA board member; Book Sense's Nichols; and others. The session will focus on BookScan's benefits for booksellers, including how easy it makes reporting to the Book Sense Bestseller List.

Immediately after this session will be the SCBA General Meeting at which ABFFE board member Kerry Slattery of Skylight Books in Los Angeles will lead a discussion about the Patriot Act amendments pending in Congress.

For more on SCBA's programming, click here or contact SCBA at (626) 791-9455 or via e-mail at [email protected].