Plans include special hotel room rate

ABA member booksellers can now register [6]for ABA's first annual Winter Education Institute, to be held on Thursday, January 26, and Friday, January 27, 2006, in Long Beach, California. Open to all ABA member booksellers -- owners and staff -- and free of charge, the Institute's comprehensive program includes all of ABA's education sessions from this past June's BookExpo America, as well as two new sessions developed in response to bookseller input gathered through ABA's 2006 Education Survey [7]. The extensive two-day program is designed to serve new and seasoned booksellers alike, and will cover everything from budgeting and monitoring to reevaluating payroll expenses, from understanding best co-op practices to buying and selling non-book product.

For booksellers who are traveling to Long Beach, ABA has negotiated a special hotel room rate of $89 per night at the Long Beach Hilton, available for both Thursday and Friday nights. To receive the special rate, hotel reservations must be made by November 15. [Reservations may be made by calling (800) 445-8667 and asking for the "ABA Education Institute" block of rooms or through Hilton's online reservation form [8], available through the Winter Institute registration page at www.bookweb.org/institute [9]. (The three-letter group/convention code -- "ABA" -- must be used to receive the $89 room rate.)

For more information about the Winter Institute, go to www.bookweb.org/education/ institute [10]. Questions and comments should be addressed to ABA's associate director of programming, Kristen Gilligan, at (800) 637-0037, ext. 6613 or at [email protected] [11].

ABA Winter Education Institute
Program Schedule

9:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. Budgeting & Monitoring

12:00 noon - 12:45 p.m. Welcome Lunch Reception/ABACUS Overview

1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Identifying Competition
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Bookstore as a "Third Place"
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. The 2% Solution

2:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. Renegotiating a Lease
2:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. Outside Sales

3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. Cost of Goods Sold 101
3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. Getting the Most Out of ABA
3:15 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Increasing Margin

4:15 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. It's in the Payroll
4:15 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. E-mail Newsletters

7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Evening Reception

7:15 a.m. - 8:15 a.m. "What Are You Reading?" Breakfast

8:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. Increasing Sale
8:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. Increasing Margin
8:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. Sneak Preview -- New Session #1!

10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. Co-op 101
10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. Co-op 201
10:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Sneak Preview -- New Session #2!

11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Selling Non-Book Product 101
11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Selling Non-Book Product 201

12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Independent Retailing Lunch

2:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. Sneak Preview - New Session #1!
2:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. Sneak Preview - New Session #1!

For a description of each session, click here [12].