Spring Forums Generate Discussion and Ideas Among Booksellers

Schedule continues next week with forums in Portland, Oregon, and Redondo Beach and San Francisco, California

The American Booksellers Association’s Spring Forum schedule continues throughout March and April with five upcoming forums. More than 200 current and prospective booksellers have attended the six forums held throughout the first half of March in Denver, Atlanta, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Iowa City, and Memphis. Attendees included employees and owners from well-established stores, new stores, and stores still in the process of opening.

The educational program “Conversations That Work” generated constructive dialogues among booksellers regarding what to say and how to handle a variety of trying situations in their stores, and the forum discussions brought up many industry topics, including e-books, bestseller reporting, censorship, self-publishing, and credit card processing options, said ABA Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger.

Jan Weissmiller, co-owner of Prairie Lights bookstore in Iowa City, Iowa, which hosted a Booksellers Forum on March 12, said the event went incredibly well, and she particularly noted the enthusiasm of the attendees during the “Conversations That Work” educational presentation. “It’s a lot of fun to be discussing these questions that we’ve all had,” she said.

One of the most helpful topics for Weissmiller was a forum discussion about the need for booksellers to put more emphasis on developing their store websites and to actively promote them to customers. Among the suggestions regarding the latter, she said, was to post extra signage in the store to direct customers to the site. Weismiller said that the forum discussion led her to think beyond “the bottom line and how hard it is to compete with online sales” to see the value in having a store site to reach the many people who are used to buying online and “think about where they like to buy things” and want to support local businesses.

Having many booksellers from around the region gathered at Prairie Lights was a pleasure, added Weissmiller. “It was nice to meet some booksellers from other places as well as to have the real local ones here.”

ABA’s Spring Forum schedule continues throughout March and April with five more forums to be held in the PNBA, SCIBA, NCIBA, NAIBA, and NEIBA regions. ABA programming is free and open to all booksellers — ABA members and non-members alike.

Wednesday, March 26: Portland, Oregon
Join ABA CEO Oren Teicher and Content Officer Dan Cullen for a forum program in conjunction with Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, at McMenamins Kennedy School, 5736 NE 33rd Avenue, Portland.

• Conversations That Work: 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
• Booksellers Forum: 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Lunch will be provided.
• PNBA Edelweiss Users Group: 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• Reception at Green Bean Books: 4:15 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

For planning purposes, booksellers who will be attending the program in Portland are asked to RSVP to ABA Member Relationship Manager Nathan Halter by the end of the day on Friday, March 21, with PNBA Spring Forum RSVP in the subject line.

Thursday, March 27: Redondo Beach, California
Join ABA CEO Oren Teicher and Content Officer Dan Cullen for a forum program in conjunction with the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association, at Mysterious Galaxy Books, 2810 Artesia Boulevard, Redondo Beach.

• Coffee Social: 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
• SCIBA Introduction/Greeting: 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
• Conversations That Work: 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• Booksellers Forum: 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Lunch will be provided.
• Books and Brews (or wine): 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

For planning purposes, booksellers who will be attending the program in Redondo Beach are asked to RSVP to ABA Member Relationship Manager Nathan Halter by the end of the day on Friday, March 21.

Sunday, March 30: San Francisco, California
Join ABA CEO Oren Teicher and Content Officer Dan Cullen for a forum program in conjunction with the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association’s Spring Gathering, at NCIBA’s offices at the Presidio, 1007 General Kennedy Avenue, San Francisco.

• Registration and continental breakfast: 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
• Booksellers Forum: 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
• Conversations That Work: 10:15 to 11:30 a.m.

NCIBA Spring Gathering programming continues:

• Author reception: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• Buffet lunch: 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
• “Speed Dating” Rep Picks: 1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
• Maximizing California Bookstore Day: 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

For the complete NCIBA Spring Gathering schedule and to RSVP for the forum, download the NCIBA Spring Gathering & ABA Forum Form and send it to NCIBA via fax to (415) 561-7685 or e-mail to [email protected] by the end of the day on Friday, March 21.

Tuesday, April 29: White Plains, New York
Join ABA staff for a forum program in conjunction with New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association, at the American Booksellers Association’s office, 333 Westchester Avenue, White Plains.

• Conversations That Work: 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
• Booksellers Forum: 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Lunch will be provided.

For planning purposes, booksellers who will be attending the program in White Plains are asked to RSVP to ABA Member Relationship Manager Catherine Cusick by the end of the day on Tuesday, April 22.

Wednesday, April 30: Boston, Massachusetts
Join ABA CEO Oren Teicher, Content Officer Dan Cullen, Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, and Member Relationship Manager Catherine Cusick for a forum program in conjunction with New England Independent Booksellers Association’s All About the Books! at Bordy Theater at Emerson College, 216 Tremont Street, Boston.

• All About the Books!: 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
• Conversations That Work and Booksellers Forum: 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

For planning purposes, booksellers who will be attending the program in Boston are asked to RSVP to ABA Member Relationship Manager Catherine Cusick by the end of the day on Wednesday, April 23.