Winter Institute 2018

Amy Webb is a quantitative futurist. She is a professor of strategic foresight at the NYU Stern School of Business and the Founder of the Future Today Institute, a leading future forecasting and strategy firm that researches technology and answers “What’s the future of X?” for a global client base. She is the author of three books, including The Signals Are Talking: Why Today’s Fringe Is Tomorrow’s Mainstream (PublicAffairs, December 2016) which explains how to predict and manage technological change. It was selected as one of Fast Company’s Best Books of 2016 and was a Washington Post Bestseller. Her bestselling memoir Data, A Love Story (Dutton/ Penguin 2013) is about finding love via algorithms. Her TED talk about Data has been viewed more than 6 million times and has been translated into 32 languages.

Jesse Mecham is the author of You Need A Budget: The Proven System for Breaking the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle, Getting Out of Debt, and Living the Life You Want. YNAB is best-known for teaching “Four Rules” to help people really gain control of their money. Jesse puts his business lessons in action by teaching attendees how they personally can change the way they think about their money. He’ll teach attendees his “Four Rules” walking them through hilarious (because they’re so true!) examples of money mistakes, and what they can do today to start having their money line up with what really matters.

Pre-registration required; for owners and managers only. Morten Hansen, co-author of Great by Choice (Simon & Schuster) with Jim Collins, is a professor of management at the University of California, Berkeley. His forthcoming book, Great at Work, which draws on a longitudinal study of more than 5,000 managers and employees, has already been hailed by organizational psychologist Adam Grant as “the definitive guide to working smarter.” Professor Hansen will lead an interactive workshop on how bookstores and booksellers might find more success not by doing more—not by joining another social media platform, by trying to sell nonbook merchandise, or by trying to be the “everything store” that Amazon has become—but by identifying the work that their bookstore does best, and then effectively obsessing about it. Hansen will lead a discussion for owners and managers who want to maximize their time and increase their job performance and will share his “Seven Work Smarter Practices” and provide an opportunity for booksellers to identify ways to apply them to their daily business lives. Advanced Education registration is closed.

Is your store website working for you? Who’s visiting, what are they interested in, and where are they coming from? Google Analytics is a free tool that can help answer all of these questions and more. It’s not as hard as you think, and the answers might surprise you! We’ll give you a quick tour of the highlights of Google Analytics and show you how to dig in and learn some interesting things about your website and its audience. This course is intended for beginners to Google Analytics and is not specific to any particular type of website or platform.

When your business is hit by a disaster, you need to know you are prepared. Whether you are dealing with floods or fire or other disaster, your business survival will depend on having a solid emergency plan in place and a resilient and adaptable business model. Booksellers who have experienced disaster in their store and community will share best practices, and local and national FEMA and emergency preparedness experts will share tips that will help businesses survive and rebound.

Uh-oh! A customer needs help in the children's department, and not one children's specialist is available to assist. Don't panic — this session is for you! In a workshop setting, children's booksellers will offer advice, tips, and tricks to help the general bookseller expand their repertoire of sales skills to include selling children's books with confidence.

Booksellers have the opportunity to meet with small- and mid-size publishers for informal conversations. These publishers, many of which are first-time ABA event sponsors, will have sample copies of their books, as well as additional copies for giveaways at their discretion. See the list of Meet the Presses participants here.

Booksellers will have the opportunity to meet with small and mid-size publishers for informal conversations. These publishers, many of which are first-time ABA event sponsors, will have sample copies of their books as well as additional copies for giveaways at their discretion. See the list of Meet the Presses participants here.

Enjoy lunch and meet more than two dozen authors from Winter Institute’s small press sponsors.

Join your colleagues for the final reception of Wi13. The Thacker Mountain guests will be on hand to sign books and chat with booksellers. Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served.

The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour is coming to Memphis with a very special lineup of guests! Thacker Mountain ​Radio,​ a weekly live radio show featuring author readings and an array of musical performances, is broadcast on Mississippi Public Radio.
For this special performance, Elizabeth Acevedo will talk about her upcoming title, The Poet X (HarperCollins Publishers); Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain (Grove Atlantic), will discuss his new release, Varina (HarperCollins Publishers); and singer Dar Williams, author of What I Found in a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musician’s Guide to Rebuilding America’s Communities — One Coffee Shop, Dog Run, and Open-Mike Night at a Time (Basic Books), will perform music and discuss her book. House band The Bo-Keys will add musical entertainment throughout the hour.
Thacker Mountain Radio​ is ordinarily taped live at ​ABA member store ​Off Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi.