NCIBA Show: Authors, Education, & the Chocolate Factory

The Northern California Independent Booksellers Association's (NCIBA) 2006 Fall Trade Show will be held on Friday, October 6, through Sunday, October 8, at the Oakland Convention Center and Oakland City Center Marriott in Oakland.

This year's events include ABA and NCIBA educational programming; a keynote address by Michael Shuman, co-founder of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies; a welcome reception featuring Seattle radio personality John Moe; author breakfasts; NCIBA bookseller awards; the Fifth Annual Moveable Feast; and a tour of the Scharffen Berger chocolate factory in Berkeley.

"We are especially pleased to be partnering with the American Booksellers Association on our educational sessions and to have them so involved in the program that we're presenting," said NCIBA Executive Director Hut Landon.

Among changes instituted by NCIBA, this year the trade show has been moved from the Jewett Ballroom to the convention center's main showroom, and the autographing area has been moved onto the trade show floor and will take place on both Saturday and Sunday, from 10:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Also new this year, attendees can purchase $5 Author Autograph tickets at registration or at the NCIBA booth, and the Autograph Area will be open early, from 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m., exclusively for booksellers who attend the morning's author breakfast. In addition, at Friday's "Lunch With a Buzz," which features 15 reps talking about their favorite titles, attendees will be provided with tickets to be redeemed at publishers' booths for galleys.

ABA COO Oren Teicher and Associate Director of Book Sense Marketing Meg Smith will be attending the show to present educational programming and to meet with booksellers at the ABA booth, which will feature information about the 2007 Winter Institute, the Book Sense marketing program, and more. In addition, there will be in-booth demonstrations of Above The Treeline and Constant Contact. ABA Board member Michael Tucker of Books Inc. in San Francisco will also be available to discuss any issues of concern to members.

ABA member booksellers who stop by the booth and drop off a business card will be eligible to win prizes. In a random drawing, ABA will award a color inkjet printer. The printer winner will then be entered into a grand prize drawing with the eight printer winners from the other fall trade shows. The grand prize winner will be awarded airfare to, and up to a three-night hotel stay at, the Winter Institute.

In addition, ABA members will have a chance to win up to a four-night stay at Hotel ABA in Brooklyn for BookExpo America 2007 in New York City, compliments of BEA. Booksellers can enter the drawing for the BEA prize at the ABA booth.

ABA is asking all member booksellers at this year's shows to participate in the formulation of the association's next Five-Year Strategic Plan by filling out a strategic planning survey. Surveys will be available in the ABA booth.

ABA's education sessions, which are free to all show attendees, are:

• Shop Local: Forming Business Alliances in Your Community, on Friday, from 10:15 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.
  Moderated by ABA COO Oren Teicher and featuring panelists Betsy Burton of The King's English in Salt Lake City; Stacy Mitchell, senior researcher for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance; and Michael Shuman, vice president of Enterprise Development for the Training & Development Corporation
  Not only do locally owned businesses have far greater economic impact on their communities than do national chains, there is growing evidence that by working with other independently owned businesses, retailers can become more profitable. At this panel, booksellers will learn about the important role that bookstores can play in the creation of independent business alliances and how they can organize local merchants and concerned citizenry to convince communities to institute zoning and other policies to support businesses owned and operated locally.
  
  
• Making Magazines Profitable, on Friday, from 1:45 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
  Presented by ABA COO Oren Teicher with Christine Crowley of Trofie, a magazine consultant to retail businesses
  Attendees will learn the basics of how to manage a bookstore's magazine section, including how to set and control draws, how to claim rack display allowances, and how to maximize the store's relationship with a distributor.
  
  
• Above the Treeline: An Introduction, on Friday, from 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
  Presented by Bob Steele of Above The Treeline
  Above the Treeline is an online software product designed to help bookstores improve finances by optimizing inventory selection. This introductory session will provide booksellers with a demonstration of the product and basic information, including the special discount for ABA member booksellers who subscribe to the product. This session is designed for booksellers who are not currently Above The Treeline users.

NCIBA's education sessions on Friday, October 6, include "Peer Eye Review: Seeing Your Store Through Fresh Eyes," presented by a panel of NCIBA Peer Eye Review Committee members; "The Nuts and Bolts of Business Costs," with Michael Barnard of Rakestraw Books in Danville, who will help attendees identify and review the costs of doing business and ways to reduce some nagging expenses; and "Manga: What It Is and How to Sell It," featuring a panel of under-30 booksellers and librarians who will discuss ways in which to market manga.

Also on Friday, NCIBA is hosting three workshops for small publishers and authors. The program -- created by Cynthia Frank, president of Cypress House, and Margaret Speaker Yuan, co-president of the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association -- costs $35 and includes one-day access to the trade show on either Saturday or Sunday. Workshop topics are "Authors, Booksellers, and Publishers Panel Discussion"; "From Passion to Publicity"; and "What First-Time Publishers & Authors Need to Know About Tradeshows."

NCIBA's trade show will also be chock full of special events. Friday's educational programming will kick off with a keynote address, "10 Arguments Against Local First (And How to Blow Them Out of the Water)," presented by Michael Shuman (The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition, Berrett-Kohler), a leading spokesman in the Local First movement.

At noon on Friday will be the event, "Lunch With A Buzz: Winter/Spring Rep Quick Picks." Following the day's education programming will be the "Emerging Leaders Get-Together," from 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.; and at 5:00 p.m. will be the "Welcome Reception With John Moe."

Capping off an already rich day, from 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., will be the Scharffen Berger Factory Tour. Space for the tour is limited and must be reserved in advance (only two booksellers per store location).

On Saturday, the day will kick off with the Author Breakfast, featuring Carly Fiorina, Tough Choices: A Memoir (Portfolio); Michael Connelly, Echo Park (Little Brown); and Amy Goodman, Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back (Hyperion).

Following the breakfast, the trade show exhibit opens at 10:00 a.m. and closes at 4:00 p.m. Other Saturday programming includes "Rep Picks" sessions at 11:00 a.m. and at 2:00 p.m.; NCIBA's Annual Membership Meeting; the "Cocktail Party and Bookseller Awards," at AJ Toppers at the Oakland Marriott; and the "Fifth Annual Moveable Feast," where booksellers will get the chance to meet four authors at dinner and then have the opportunity to collect signed books from all 12 featured authors after the Feast.

Sunday morning will get underway with the "Children's Author Breakfast," featuring Lisa Brown, How to Be (HarperCollins); Judy Sierra, The Secret Science Project That Almost Ate the School (S&S); and Patrick McDonnell, Just Like Heaven (Little Brown).

Following the breakfast, the trade show exhibit opens at 10:30 a.m. and closes at 3:30 p.m. From 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on the trade show floor will be the ever-popular "Cookbook Celebration," where sample recipes from some of this fall's cookbooks are served free to attendees.

Full listings of educational programming and events, registration information, and more is available on NCIBA's website, www.nciba.com.

Questions and requests for information about ABA's participation at the show may be directed to Kristen Gilligan, ABA's associate director of programming and constituent groups liaison, at [email protected]. --David Grogan