NCIBA Trade Show Sure to Create a Buzz

The Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) Annual Trade Show will be held Friday, October 7, through Sunday, October 9, in Oakland, California, at the Oakland Convention Center.

One new event, said Hut Landon, NCIBA's executive director, is the "Lunch With a Buzz: Winter/Spring Rep Quick (and We Mean Quick) Picks." Landon explained that the idea for the session grew out of the conflicting agendas of publishers and booksellers attending the fall show. Booksellers, he noted, are excited about fall titles, "the books they are selling this season," while publishers are interested in generating a buzz for spring releases. For the 90-minute lunch, NCIBA created 15 slots, each five minutes long, for a rep to talk about a great book, or books (if they're fast), for 2006. As the NCIBA program notes, "It's a little like speed dating, only safer."

The Trade Show Exhibit will take place over two days. Exhibit Hall hours will be 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. ABA will have a booth on the trade show floor, where the focus will be on education and information. Booksellers are encouraged to stop by the booth to meet with ABA staff, including ABA COO Oren Teicher, BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos , and ABA Marketing Director Jill Perlstein.

Visitors to the booth can drop off their business cards for a chance to win airfare and hotel accommodations for ABA's Winter Institute, to be held on Thursday, January 26, and Friday, January 27, 2006, in Long Beach, or an inkjet printer. (ABA is encouraging booksellers to contact ABA staff members prior to the show if they have questions, suggestions, or comments. Questions and requests for information about ABA's participation at NCIBA may also be directed to Associate Director of Programming and Constituent Groups Liaison, Kristen Gilligan at [email protected].)

Special events at the NCIBA trade show will include Friday evening's "Welcome Reception" with Naula O'Faolain (The Story of Chicago May, Riverhead); the "Author Breakfast" on Saturday morning; a "Cocktail Party," followed by the "Fourth Annual Moveable Feast" on Saturday evening; the "Children's Author Breakfast" on Sunday morning; and the "Cookbook Celebration" on the trade show floor on Sunday afternoon, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

The trade show kicks off on Friday with NCIBA's "Bookseller to Bookseller: Customer Service," from 10:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. in the Simmons Ballroom. The bookseller-to-bookseller discussions are a reprise of a session that earned very positive feedback at the regional's spring workshops.

The morning will feature revolving roundtable discussions among booksellers about different aspects of customer service. Scheduled topics include "The Problem With Problem Customers"; "Challenging Children and Clueless Parents"; "Store Deportment"; and "Non-Author Events." Booksellers will rotate tables at 15 to 20 minute intervals.

From noon to 1:30 p.m. will be the "Lunch With a Buzz: Winter/Spring Rep Quick (and We Mean Quick) Picks" at AJ Toppers at the Oakland Marriott Hotel.

From 1:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. there will two concurrent sessions: "The Bookseller/Sales Rep Relationship," a panel discussion with sales reps and book buyers that will focus on how both sides can make the buying process as useful, efficient, and productive as possible; and "SFLOMA and Local Business Alliances," a workshop that will study the creation of the San Francisco Locally Owned Merchant Alliance (SFLOMA) and discuss how the information gathered, materials created, and lessons learned during its formation can be used by others interested in local business alliances in their community.

From 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. will be: "How to Connect With (and Sell to) 18- to 34-Year-Olds," a panel of local, under-35-year-old booksellers, who will discuss how independents can connect with a new generation; and "Turning Your Customers into Missionaries," an unorthodox look at marketing your store led by Howard Seidel, whose Seidel Advertising agency created the SFLOMA log, decal, and poster.

Following these concurrent sessions will be the "Welcome Reception" with O'Faolain.

On Saturday, the Exhibit Hall opens directly following the "Author Breakfast," which runs from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. From 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. will be NCIBA's "General Membership Meeting." All members and interested guests are invited to meet with the NCIBA Board of Directors for the annual membership meeting.

Following the meeting will be a cocktail party at AJ Toppers, followed by NCIBA's popular "Fourth Annual Moveable Feast" in the Simmons Ballroom, a highlight for many attendees. The feast will give each bookseller a chance to eat and converse with four separate authors, and then collect signed books (or, in one instance, galleys) from all 12 participating writers after the Feast.

On Sunday, the "Children's Author Breakfast" starts at 8:00 a.m., and the trade show floor opens directly following the breakfast at 10:00 a.m. From 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on the trade show floor -- near the NCIBA booth -- will be the "Cookbook Celebration," a huge hit over the past seven years. Celebrate some great cookbooks the right way -- with a tasting.

For more information about the NCIBA trade show, go to http://www.nciba.com/trade show2005.html.