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ABA Day of Education at BookExpo America
Each year at BookExpo America, ABA offers a full day of targeted, free, educational programming for ABA bookstore and provisional members. This year's Day of Education was held at Hotel ABA, the Renaissance Hollywood, in Los Angeles, and featured 15 seminars, a round table discussion for established stores, and two keynote speakers.
8:30 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. Opening Plenary Session Keynote Address: Ed Begley, Jr. (Fifth Floor Grand Ballroom) -- Ed Begley, Jr., is the co-star of the hit HGTV series Living With Ed, a look at the day-to-day realities of "living green," and author of Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life (Clarkson Potter). He has been chairman of the Environmental Media Association and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and serves on the boards of numerous organizations including the Thoreau Institute, the Earth Communications Office, Tree People, and Friends of the Earth. His work has garnered awards from environmental groups including the California League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Coalition for Clean Air, Heal the Bay, the Santa Monica Baykeeper, and the Southern California Gas Company. Begley has appeared in numerous movies, TV shows, and theatre projects. His feature film work includes A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, Batman Forever, The Accidental Tourist, and The Inlaws. Upcoming projects include the theatrical comedy Pineapple Express and the HBO feature Recount, starring Kevin Spacey. This event was originally billed as including breakfast. Due to scheduling issues, the event will now include only coffee. Please make your own breakfast arrangements. 9:30 - 10:45 a.m. | Booksellers at the Tipping Point: Leveraging Localism and Independence to Promote Your Store (Hollywood Ballroom AB) -- The concepts of localism, independence, and sustainability are gaining traction with consumers. In this session you'll hear how the retail market has evolved to allow these phenomena to take root and grow, and you'll learn how to leverage and exploit these powerful tools to more effectively market and promote your store. | |
| Buying, Merchandising, and Selling Graphic Novels, 101 (Hollywood Ballroom C) -- Graphic Novels and Manga are here to stay. A panel of experts will discuss how you can get the most out of your graphic novels section. | |
| Building and Rewarding Customer Loyalty (Hollywood Ballroom DE) -- Books are sold everywhere, so how do you keep customers coming back to your store? This session will explore what customers really want, and how you can foster loyalty by responding to consumer needs. An in-depth discussion of the pros and cons of implementing and marketing a customer loyalty program will be featured. | | Large-Store Roundtable (Silver Lake) -- What can established stores do to increase sales? Roundtable discussion topics to include: Marketing to new customers and increasing sales from existing customers. What are customers expecting from independent bookstores; what are they looking for? Making full use of the Internet; are independent booksellers dedicating enough store resources to it? How can indies get more people to click onto their sites instead of Amazon.com? What new services can independents offer inside and outside the store to increase traffic and sales? Space is on a first-come, first-served basis. Those interested in attending should send e-mail to Chief Program Officer Len Vlahos (len@bookweb.org) with "Round Table" in the subject line. 9:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. | Budgeting & Monitoring Workshop (Doheny/Beachwood/Runyon) -- This program examines how bookstores, like other businesses, are best operated within a system of financial controls that allow the owner/manager to predict performance and then measure outcomes against those predictions. Special attention is paid to the control of cash flow and the information needed to obtain an operating line of credit. Through the use of a series of Excel worksheets (available to ABA members on BookWeb), booksellers will be shown how to integrate such a system into their store operations. Special attention will be paid to issues relating to small- and medium-sized stores. This session is open to all ABA bookstore members and is recommended for Bookseller School registrants. | | 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. | Green Retailing (Hollywood Ballroom AB) -- Booksellers have known about the importance of being environmentally conscious since at least 1962, when Rachel Carson published Silent Spring. But we also operate in an industry that uses metric ton upon metric ton of paper, and barrel after barrel of gasoline to transport goods from the warehouse to the store -- not to mention air conditioning, lighting, and all of the other modern conveniences we take for granted. This session will present a panel of experts from bookselling and beyond who will discuss how we can all be smarter, cleaner, more efficient retailers, and how we can save money by going green! | | | Print on Demand: Part Two (Hollywood Ballroom C) -- At the Winter Institute, attendees heard how booksellers could become print-on-demand publishers with very little financial risk. This new business opportunity will be explored further through a continuation of the case study presented at the Winter Institute. (Attendance at the Winter Institute session is not a prerequisite.) | | | Give It Away to Get It Back: Using "Thought Leadership" Marketing to Build Your Children's Business (Hollywood Ballroom DE) -- In today's challenging bookselling climate, it is critical to find and keep your edge over your competition. Covering the basics, providing solid retail service, and putting dollars into traditional marketing strategies is no longer enough. But what if we told you that there is a cost-effective tool available to you that costs very little and will reap huge returns? In this workshop, learn why you and your children's staff are your own best advertising, and how to leverage your collective expertise as a powerful marketing tool to build your children's business exponentially. This workshop will explore the definition of "Thought Leadership" in relation to current trends in New Economy Marketing and why it should be central to any children's marketing plan. We will also discuss the benefits that can come from actively giving away knowledge as a marketing technique, as well as outlining the key elements for crafting a strategic and successful Thought Leadership plan for your children's department regardless of size or staffing level. | | 12:30 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. Lunch Speaker: Amy Goodman (Fifth Floor Grand Ballroom) -- Amy Goodman, co-host of the global news hour Democracy Now! and co-author with her brother, David Goodman, of Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times (Hyperion), will be this year's lunch speaker. Standing Up to the Madness, a timely and inspiring look at everyday people who take a chance and stand up for what they believe, offers advice on what the average citizen can do to help. Democracy Now!, which Goodman hosts with Juan Gonzalez, is broadcast on more than 600 radio and TV stations around the world and on Democracynow.org. Because it is the only national radio/TV news show free of all corporate underwriting, Goodman and Gonzalez are able to present a range of independent voices not often heard on the airwaves. 2:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. | Renegotiating Your Lease (Doheny/Beachwood/Runyon) -- This presentation uses real-world examples to show how a savvy bookseller can create a plan for entering into a discussion about an existing lease. The material includes using ABACUS benchmarks to frame discussions with your landlord and covers issues such as paying by the square foot vs. paying a percentage of sales, why you need to begin a lease renegotiation well in advance of it becoming a necessity, and more. | |
| Buying, Managing, and Selling Non-Book Items, 101 (Hollywood Ballroom AB) -- They are often ghettoized in bookstores, but the judicious use of gift and other non-book items can help propel a store into the black. At this session, attendees will hear about the merits of adding gift items to the product mix, and will see concrete examples of buying, merchandising, and selling gift items. | |
| Creating Killer Events (Hollywood Ballroom C) -- With books sold in more and more outlets each year, independent booksellers are finding new and innovative ways to distinguish themselves from the competition. One of the most effective tools to set yourself apart is offering a schedule of compelling events. In this session, you'll review an event prep checklist and hear experienced booksellers describe what makes a killer event. This session focuses on events for small- and medium-sized stores. | |
| Managing Blockbuster Events: The Logistics of Events for 500 or More (Hollywood Ballroom DE) -- How do you prepare for an event likely to draw 500, 1,000, or 5,000 people? Hear a panel of bookseller experts discuss best practices for large-scale events, including planning, insurance, security, line management, and more. | | 3:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. | Loss Control: How to Stop Profits From Running Out the Front (and Back) Door (Doheny/Beachwood/Runyon) -- Ever wonder why your inventory and payables don't match the numbers spit out by your computer? Does your gross profit margin seem lower than it should? Every bookstore incurs some losses due to customer theft, employee theft, and accounting errors. In this session, you will learn best practices to identify and control loss to help keep your bookstore profitable. | |
| Independent Retailing in 2008: A Report on the Shop Local Movement (Hollywood Ballroom AB) -- A panel of booksellers who have been actively involved in a local business alliance in their communities will report on current trends in the Shop Local movement. Hear how you can grow your store's visibility and sales by leveraging your most precious commodity: Your independence! | |
| RFID: What You Need to Know (Hollywood Ballroom C) -- This session will demystify Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and show how item-level tagging -- putting tags on each book -- has the potential torevolutionize the book industry supply chain at the warehouse and retail level. Learn about one European bookseller that has introduced RFID at every level of its operations and why it's been such a success. This is a chance to understand this technology before it comes to the U.S.! | |
| Introduction to Co-op Advertising (Hollywood Ballroom DE) -- The ABACUS study shows that profitable booksellers spend much less on advertising than unprofitable booksellers. This does not necessarily mean profitable bookstores advertise less, but it does mean they claim more co-op. In this session, you'll learn what co-op is, the difference between "pool" and "exempt" co-op, where to find each publisher's co-op terms and policies, how to claim co-op, and more. This session is aimed at booksellers that have little or no experience with co-op. | |
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