MPIBA Fall Trade Show Puts Education to the Forefront

August 12, 2009

This year's Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association (MPIBA) Fall Trade Show is scheduled for Wednesday, September 23, through Saturday, September 26, at the Crowne Plaza Denver International Airport in Colorado. The show will provide a plethora of educational offerings, geared to old-timers and newcomers alike.

Lisa Knudsen, executive director for MPIBA told BTW via e-mail that this year there will be "more programming and a re-design of the show floor to facilitate that all-important 'face time' between publishers and booksellers. In the exhibit hall, every exhibitor is being given at least one additional round table with chairs free, which will be placed adjacent to their display tables so that a bookseller can actually sit down to peruse the books or to have a discussion with the rep, rather than having to lean across the table full of books."

Knudsen said that she is looking forward to the "Reading the West Breakfast," which will serve as the official launch of a new regional promotion program that will look to promote regional authors in the MPIBA newsletter and with promotional materials. "Reading the West [RTW] is an important launch for us," she said. "This is another way for us to serve our members."

Four RTW authors who will be present at the breakfast are: Rick Collignon (Madewell Brown, Unbridled Books); Jacqueline Kelly (The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, MacMillan), Judy Shepard (The Meaning of Matthew, Penguin/Hudson Street Press); and Sara Zarr (Once Was Lost, Little, Brown).  RTW committee members Joe Foster of Maria's Bookshop in Durango and Meghan Goel of BookPeople in Austin will host the event.

MPIBA President Andy Nettel of Arches Book Company, Inc. in Moab, Utah, is looking forward to a busy show. "I'm of the mind that because we're back in Denver [the trade show was in Colorado Springs last year] and that a lot of members didn't participate in BookExpo America due to the economy, we're going to have a pretty vibrant show. There's a psychological feeling that things are turning around, and I think we're going to ride that surf."

In fact, due to the troubled economy, Nettel said that MPIBA considered cutting a day from the trade show schedule, "but when we sent out a draft agenda, people didn't want less education, so we've put education on the forefront."

New this year, Nettel told BTW, the exhibit hall will be open Thursday from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. "This will give attendees a chance to have a nice, informal time on the trade show floor," he explained. "There will be an open bar and hor d'oerves."

Also, in the past, MPIBA has held two author receptions, but this year there will be one. The Author Reception and Gordon Saull Awards will be held on Friday evening at 5:00 p.m. At present, 35 authors have signed up to appear at the event, Nettel noted. At the event, the authors will sign comp copies of their new fall titles and visit with booksellers. In addition, the Bookseller of the Year and Sales Rep of the Year will be honored. This also serves as a fundraiser for the MPIBA Literacy Grant project. Booksellers are asked to donate $2 for each book they receive.

Among the many highlights of this year's show, Nettel made special mention of the sessions, "Book Distribution 2.0," a two-hour look at the future of book distribution, and the hour-long "Indie Publishers and Indie Booksellers Working Together," to be held on Wednesday afternoon. "Book 2.0 looks at the future of the distribution of the book, whether it's electronic or the Espresso [print-on-demand] machine," Nettel said. As for the Indie Publishers session, which will be moderated by Catherine Weller of Sam Weller's Bookstore in Salt Lake City, Utah, he noted: "We're trying to strengthen the forces there [between indie booksellers and indie publishers]."

In addition, after a short hiatus, MPIBA has revisioned and renamed its traditional "First-Timers" session offered on the first afternoon of the Trade Show. Now dubbed "Navigating the Trade Show," this 45-minute primer will be presented by former MPIBA President/ABA immediate Past President Gayle Shanks with assistance from members of MPIBA's Independent Publisher Advisory Committee. "We did that for years and years, but we dropped it over the last two years," Nettel said. "Now, we have enough new booksellers -- which is good -- that we realized we can bring back that introductory session."

Knudsen also spotlighted the "Mentoring Program for Novices -- Booksellers and Publishers." During the Navigating session, first-time bookseller and exhibitor attendees who have signed up for the mentoring program will receive a short course from the bookseller or publisher who has offered to guide them through the show on how to maximize their time there. "This is another way to conduct outreach," she said. "We're pleased to say we have a lot of first-time exhibitors this year... with 15 new exhibitors, all small publishers."

Wednesday's programming will conclude with the Books West Reception, where attendees can enjoy food, drink, and a tour of the Books West facility, which is just five miles from the Crowne Plaza (transportation will be provided).

On Thursday, programming will kick off at 7:30 a.m. with the RTW Breakfast and will run until 5:00 p.m., when the exhibit hall will open. Sessions will include "Building Sales Through an Integrated Marketing Campaign"; "Pick of the Lists"; "General Meeting and Lunch"; roundtable sessions for booksellers; and "Introduction to Book Buying."

On Friday, programming begins with the Children's Author & Illustrator Breakfast, featuring Berkeley Breathed (Flawed Dogs: The Shocking Raid on Westminster, Penguin), and will be followed by two ABA education sessions on Friday, open to all MPIBA attendees:

9:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. Surviving Tough Times
Aimed at owners and managers
Financial markets are strained, energy prices are soaring, and your customers are scared. This isn't the first time, and it won't be the last, that your business has to navigate tough times, and while the road may be bumpy, there are proven strategies to help you emerge stronger. Hear from bookseller experts as they discuss the value of cash reserves, controlling expenses, managing inventory, managing staff, and providing leadership skills. Moderated by ABA COO Len Vlahos.

11:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. IndieCommerce:  The New System
Aimed at booksellers currently using the product
IndieCommerce (the program formerly known as BookSense.com) has been transformed.  Specifically, the product has migrated to an open-source content management system called Drupal. This new and improved program provides booksellers with more intuitive and robust administrative tools, allows for much greater control over the look and feel of their websites, and allows ABA staff to roll out new features more quickly. Come see a demo of this new product and have questions answered by ABA staff.  Presented by ABA COO Len Vlahos.

At noon on Friday, there will be the Regional Book Awards Luncheon, with the year's winners accepting their awards in person. Saturday programming kicks off with the Author Breakfast for Literacy. Speakers are Allison Hoover Bartlett (The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession, Riverhead/Penguin); Patrick McDonnell (Wag!, Little, Brown); Mark Spragg (Bone Fire, Knopf); and Helen Thorpe (Just Like Us, Scribner).

The exhibitor hall will be open on Friday from 1:30 p.m. until 5:00 p.m., and on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Booksellers are encouraged to stop by the ABA tables on the show floor to discuss their concerns and to find out about ABA programs and services that can help them better manage their businesses. In addition, ABA is offering booksellers attending regional shows an extra chance at winning one of more than two-dozen publisher-sponsored scholarships to the Fifth Annual Winter Institute, to be held at the Doubletree San Jose in San Jose, California, from February 3 - 5, 2010. Scholarship winners will be selected from among all ABA bookseller members, with booksellers who drop off a business card at the ABA booth at the regional shows earning an extra entry in the scholarship drawings. Scholarships cover the cost of reasonable airfare and up to a four-night hotel stay at the Doubletree San Jose.

And from 2:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. on Saturday, Edelweiss will be conducting a two-hour session immediately after the show floor closes. The session will consist of a 30-minute overview of Edelweiss along with an hour-long demonstration of a buy using Edelweiss by Nicole Magistro of the Bookworm of Edwards (Edwards, Colorado) and Eric Boss from Penguin.

For the latest MPIBA program details, including participating authors, and to register, visit http://www.mountainsplains.org/.

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