On Thursday, March 27, the American Booksellers Association will be holding a Booksellers Forum, an ABACUS "Sneak Preview," and a "Succession Planning/How to Value Your Business" seminar in Chicago. The events will be held in conjunction with the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA) Spring Meeting at the Transitions Learning Center in Chicago.

From 11:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m., ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz will meet with booksellers who have already submitted their financial data to the ABACUS survey and those who bring their financial information to the meeting, to preview data gathered since ABA reintroduced the study last year. (Instructions and an online form for submitting data are available at http://www.bookweb.org/read/5786 [6]. Questions about ABACUS should be addressed to Domnitz at [email protected] [7].)

Following the ABACUS session, ABA President Ann Christophersen of Women & Children First in Chicago, Domnitz, and ABA COO Oren Teicher will provide an update on ABA business and gather bookseller input at a Booksellers Forum from noon - 2:00 p.m. The forum is open to all ABA and GLBA members. Lunch will be served.

From 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., the seminar "Succession Planning/How to Value Your Business" will be facilitated by Ivan Barkhorn, a consultant to ABA on strategic matters and formerly a partner at McKinsey & Company. Among the questions to be addressed at this session are: How much is my business worth now? How can I make it worth more? What are my alternatives if I want to exit the business? When should I begin working on my exit strategy? Who should I be selling to if I choose to sell? How do I negotiate successfully? How do I minimize the government's share of the proceeds?

On Friday, March 28, from 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., ABA will host a reception for Chicago area booksellers with the ABA Board of Directors at Women & Children First (5233 North Clark Street, Chicago). The ABA Board will be meeting in Chicago from March 28 - 30.

To RSVP or for more information, contact Kristen Gilligan at ABA [(800) 637-0037, ext. 1286 or [email protected] [8]] or GLBA [(616) 847-2460 or [email protected] [9]].