UMBA Fall Trade Show Preview

The Upper Midwest Booksellers Association (UMBA) will hold its fall trade show from Friday, October 1, to Sunday, October 3, at the RiverCentre in St. Paul, Minnesota. Exhibit hours are 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Education programming, all free this year, will be held on Friday, with one program, ABA's "Book Sense Gift Card Users Group," on Saturday. UMBA's three-hour "welcome" cruise on the Mississippi, which was such a hit last year, will be offered again this year.

UMBA executive director Susan Walker told BTW via e-mail that "UMBA is working hard to enhance the value of the 2004 trade show for both our booksellers and our exhibitors. New features of our free bookseller education programming include publisher and commission sales group 'pick of the list' presentations, plus seminars and sessions by retail experts on inventory management, competing with the retail giants, customer service, and more. In our Trade Show Exhibit, we're establishing a 'Booksellers Only' period during the first 90 minutes on Saturday to give booksellers and exhibitors a chance to focus on working together.

"We want our attendees to have fun, too, so our book and author meal events feature plenty of well-known and up-and-coming authors who promise to have plenty to say. And we're taking our Friday Welcome Party out on the Mississippi River again this year, in response to all the raves about last year's riverboat excursion. All in all, we're putting together an UMBA trade show that will be well worth attending!"

At the UMBA trade show, ABA will provide educational programming, as well as an exhibit on the trade show floor. This year's exhibit will focus on "Book Sense Gift Cards: One Year Later," featuring live demonstrations. Association staff, including CEO Avin Mark Domnitz, Marketing Director Jill Perlstein, and Associate Book Sense Marketing Director Meg Smith, will also be on hand to gather member input concerning ABA education initiatives, as well as to provide general ABA information.

The Book Sense Gift Card Program, just completing its first year of operation, has already helped more than 200 bookstores dramatically increase their sales. The ABA exhibit will give booksellers the opportunity to see firsthand how the gift card program works. As an incentive to try the gift card, ABA will waive the one-time $25 set-up fee for booksellers signing up at the show. (Booksellers planning to sign up at the show need to bring their checking account information. For more details about the gift card program, click here.)

The number-one goal in ABA’s strategic plan is to "provide independent professional booksellers with access to the education, information, and business services they need to succeed in a changing world." With this in mind, ABA staffers will be seeking bookseller input about how best to construct the association’s educational offerings moving forward. The "ABA Education 2005 Survey" has been sent to booksellers via e-mail, is available on BookWeb.org, and will be available at the show. (Booksellers returning surveys at the trade show will be entered into a sweepstakes to win a color, inkjet computer printer.)

On Saturday, October 2, from noon - 1:00 p.m., ABA is sponsoring the "Book Sense Gift Card Users Group," an in-depth review of the gift card program and a discussion about future growth. Booksellers will be asked to share their experiences regarding the operation of the program, as well as their marketing ideas.

Highlights of the UMBA education sessions include, on Friday, October 1, from noon - 3:45 p.m., "Retailer Momentum: Inventory Management -- How Does Your Store Measure Up?" led by business consultant and trainer Bob Steele. Steele will focus on increasing the ability to measure and monitor inventory effectively. From 1:00 p.m. - 2:45 p.m., "Competing With the Retail Giants" will be presented Kenneth E. Stone, professor emeritus of economics, Iowa State University and author of Competing With the Retail Giants (Wiley).

On Friday night from 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. is the UMBA Trade Show Welcome Party on the Mississippi River onboard the riverboat Anson Northrup, featuring hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar including wine, beer, and cocktails. On Saturday night, from 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., UMBA will host its Book & Author Dinner with guest authors Diane Mott Davidson (Double Shot, Morrow); Gretel Ehrlich (The Future of Ice: A Journey into Cold, Pantheon); Bob Greene (Fraternity: A Journey in Search of Five Presidents, Crown); and Marilynne Robinson (Gilead, FSG).

Other special events include the 13th Annual UMBA Book & Author Breakfast, on Saturday, October 2, from 7:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Scheduled to attend are Dean Bakopoulos (Please Don’t Come Back From the Moon, Harcourt); Phebe Hanson (Why Still Dance: 75 Years: 75 Poems, Nodin Press); Wilma Mankiller (Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections of Contemporary Indigenous Women, Fulcrum Publishing); and Miriam Toews (A Complicated Kindness, Counterpoint/Perseus Books Group).

The 18th Annual Children's Book & Author Breakfast will be on Sunday, October 3, from 7:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m., and will feature James Howe (Bunnicula: 25th Anniversary Edition and Bunnicula and Friends: #2 Hot Fudge, Atheneum); Peter Sis (The Train of States, Greenwillow); Mark Teague (Detective LaRue: Letters From the Investigation, Scholastic); and Rosemary Wells (My Kindergarten, Hyperion, and Bunny Mail, Viking).

For more information on the UMBA fall trade show, go to www.abookaday.com or e-mail [email protected]. --Karen Schechner