Registration Begins for Winter Institute Advanced Learning Sessions, Bookstore Tours

Starting today, November 12, Winter Institute 11 registrants can sign up for Advanced Learning Education (ALE) sessions for store owners and managers and for Denver-area bookstore tours, which are open to all bookseller attendees and international guests. Space for each is limited, and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Interested booksellers are encouraged to register as soon as possible.

• Wi11’s four Advanced Learning Education sessions, which are designed to provide in-depth explorations of management and operational concerns, are aimed at store owners and managers. The American Booksellers Association will try to accommodate all interested stores with at least one ALE placement, and assignments will be e-mailed the week of January 11, 2016.

  The ALE sessions are:

  Human Resources Essentials for Bookstores, to be held on Sunday, January 24, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Dr. John Sherlock, director of the Master of Science Program in Human Resources at Western Carolina University, will present an overview and best practices for small businesses on the topics of recruiting, judging staff performance, and what you need to know about the law.

  Advanced Topics in Human Resources, to be held on Sunday, January 24, from 4:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. Dr. John Sherlock will lead a group workshop to help booksellers map out a human resources strategy that will work in their stores.

  The Open-Book Management Method and the Bookstore, to be held on Monday, January 25, from 9:15 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Panelists who will be discussing the various ways that open-book management has helped them to empower employees, establish a better working environment, and build a cohesive team are Bradley Graham of Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C.; Carole Horne of Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Peter Schertz of Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, Colorado.

  Effective Leadership for the Retail Setting, to be held on Monday, January 25, from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Ed O’Malley, the president and CEO of the Kansas Leadership Center, will facilitate a conversation and workshop exercise to help owners and managers embrace their leadership positions. Participants will learn and practice a set of skills that helps transform the way they exercise leadership in their stores and communities and will be introduced to a mindset and approach that will help them make progress on daunting challenges as well as gain tools they can introduce to their employees.

  Registration closes at 9:00 p.m. EST on December 7, 2015. Register for an Advanced Learning Education session now.

• Reservations for full- and half-day tours to Denver-area bookstores on Saturday, January 23, are open to all Winter Institute bookseller registrants and international guests.

  The full-day tour, which costs $25 per person, departs from the Wi11 host hotel, the Denver Sheraton Downtown Hotel, at 9:00 a.m. Stops include Boulder Book Store, BookBar, Second Star to the Right Books, Tattered Cover Book Store in Historic LoDo, and City Stacks Books & Coffee.

  The half-day tour, which costs $15 per person, departs from the hotel at 12:15 p.m. Stops include HearthFire Books & Treats in Evergreen, Tattered Cover at Aspen Grove, and The Bookies Bookstore.

  The order of store stops on the tours may vary. Both tours will end at 5:30 p.m. at the Tattered Cover on Colfax Avenue, the site of the Winter Institute’s Opening Reception.

  Registration closes January 6, 2016, or upon the tours reaching capacity. Register for a full- or half-day tour now.

There is also still time for booksellers and publishers who would like to spend a day filled with fun and outdoor activities at Colorado’s Copper Mountain resort to make their reservations for Wi11’s Après Institute Ski Trip. The fee for the full-day trip, on Wednesday, January 27, is $130 per person and includes a lift ticket and round-trip bus transportation from Wi11’s host hotel, the Sheraton Denver Downtown, to the resort, 75 miles west of Denver. An equipment rental discount code will be provided prior to the trip. Meals are not included.

ABA reserves the right to cancel the ski trip if the buses are not fully booked by November 13; interested Winter Institute attendees who would like to attend along with their families and friends should sign up now.