What's So Special About the Winter Institute? Plenty!

In less than two weeks, booksellers from around the country will be gathering in Portland, Oregon, for ABA's Second Annual Winter Institute, to learn, to network, and to just have fun. This year, the two-day education program is chock full of special events, including festive receptions, a provocative plenary session, a New Media Lunch, and much, much more.

Here's a brief rundown of the special events at this year's Winter Institute:

A Special Reception at Powell's Books, Wednesday, January 31, 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. This year's attendees are invited to join their fellow booksellers for dessert, coffee, and a behind-the-scenes tour of Powell's Books, featuring a sneak peek at its February art exhibit. The reception will be held in the Pearl Room of Powell's Books at 1005 West Burnside, Portland.

Booksellers who take the Powell's tour are sure to enjoy the many highlights, such as:

• The U.S. Department of Literature's official survey marker that declares Powell's City of Books to be the center of the universe; and
  
  
• The Pillar of Books (one of the heaviest features in Powell's 2000 expansion) --which anchors the store's northwest entrance -- is comprised of eight of the world's great books, carved from Tenino sandstone, stacked one on top of another to form a nine-foot column.

Welcome Breakfast, Thursday, February 1, 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. Break bread with your colleagues as you hear a brief preview of the Institute's event schedule.

Plenary Session: A Whole New Mind, With Daniel Pink, Thursday, February 1, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. In this session, Pink will discuss how the future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind -- artists, inventors, storytellers, and caregivers. These right-brained people are the next business elite; the women and men who will power your organization. In this entertaining and provocative presentation, bestselling author Daniel Pink surveys evidence from three continents to reveal the forces that are nudging us into an era defined not by traditional "knowledge workers," but by creators and empathizers.

Author Reception, Thursday, February 1, 6:45 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Booksellers can enjoy wine, beer, and hors d'oeuvres as they meet and greet publisher partner authors, who will be on hand to sign their books. Since last week's Author Reception preview, two authors have been added to the stellar lineup: Andrew Ferguson, Land of Lincoln: Adventure's in Abe's America (Atlantic Monthly Press) and Steven Hall, The Raw Shark Texts (Canongate US). There is also one additional change to the list: Mark Frost, the author of The Second Objective, will not be able to attend. Taking his place will be Cassandra King, author of Queen of Broken Hearts, (Hyperion).

Paz Associates/ABA Emerging Leaders Reception, Thursday, February 1, 9:30 p.m. - 11 p.m. Booksellers who are new to the industry and are committed to independent bookselling are invited to stop by the Oregon room to meet and greet other "emerging leaders." According to last year's attendees, this event was one of the highlights of the 2006 Winter Institute.

ABA Strategic Planning Breakfast, Friday, February 2, 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. ABA is in the early stages of drafting its next five-year Strategic Plan. Hear details of the strategic planning process and participate in front loading exercises at your table, all while enjoying a light breakfast.

New Media Lunch, Friday, February 2, 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. Join moderator Scott Rosenberg (of Salon.com), and panelists Amanda Edmonds (Google), C.J. Rayhill (O'Reilly Media), and Madeline McIntosh (Random House Audio Publishing) as they provide an overview of new technologies affecting independent booksellers and their customers, including digitization, social networking, open source computing, and more.

Here's a look at the presenters:

• Scott Rosenberg: In 1995, Rosenberg co-founded Salon.com, serving as its first technology editor and all-around Web geek for years, and then became managing editor just in time for the dot-com bubble to first over-inflate and then collapse. Taking a leave of absence in 2004 to write a book about software development and its discontents, Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software (Crown Publishers, 2007), Rosenberg is back at Salon.com as vice president of New Projects. He's now helping Salon figure out its place in the conversational, participatory Web, as well as adding some new interactive features to the site.
  
  
• Amanda Edmonds: Edmonds is a strategic partner manager for Google Book Search. She has been with Google for over two years and currently works with Google's publishing partners on maximizing the benefits of their participation in the Google Book Search Program.
  
  
• C.J. Rayhill: Rayhill is the chief information officer for O'Reilly Media and currently manages their new "Tools of Change for Publishing (TOC)" Division. Rayhill spent most of her career doing software development and technology management in the financial services and health care industries prior to joining O'Reilly in 2000.
  
  
• Madeline McIntosh: McIntosh is the senior vice president and publisher of the Random House Audio Group, which includes Random House Audio, Books on Tape, Listening Library, and Random House Large Print.