Ninety booksellers, along with 16 authors, 10 sales reps, and the ABA's Oren Teicher and Dan Cullen, enjoyed warm weather and good company at the annual NCIBA Spring Gathering, held on Sunday, March 30 in the Presidio National Park.

The day kicked off with Teicher and Cullen hosting the ABA Forum before an engaged and interested audience of booksellers. Attendees then split into almost-equal groups to attend concurrent education workshops. One was the ABA-sponsored "Conversations That Work" session, which posed a series of tough questions that booksellers deal with regularly and solicited responses from the group. The session included a power point that showed proposed answers given by the ABA's Bookseller Advisory Committee. ABA's Cullen noted that the power point would be updated to include new input from ABA Forum attendees across the country and be made available to NCIBA and other regionals.

The second session featured a bookseller panel discussing best practices for author events. Moderator Ingrid Nystrom was kind enough to take notes and forward the following "Best Event Tips" list, culled from the group discussion:

1. Serve wine, food and drinks (multiple suggestions)

2. Find neighborhood organizations/community groups/businesses to partner and cross-promote with (multiple suggestions)

3. Use an author event as a fundraiser for an appropriate local non-profit (from Pilgrim's Way)

4. For large events, take a little intermission (with the author off the floor) between the author presentation and the booksigning (Books Inc. Mountain View)

5. Try a community focused non-author event (from Napa Bookmine)

6. Keep the intro short, but always make some personal connection (from Mrs. Dalloway's)

7. At least once a month incorporate music into your events (from Books Inc. Alameda)

8. Ask the author ahead of time if there's any question people may not ask that they would like to be asked (from Laurel Book Store)

9.  Make certain the author is also doing promotion (from The Depot)

10. Partner with local schools for in-house book fairs and district-wide Read-a-Thons (from Read Booksellers)

11. Set the stage - and be bold - i.e. turning a bookstore into a record store (from Diesel Oakland)

12. Tell the audience explicitly that book sales (not attendance) are what determines the success of an event for publishers (from Bookshop Santa Cruz)

13. And related to the above, Gallery Bookshop uses the following in their introductions: "When you buy a book at an author event, you're supporting not only this author and this bookstore, but the greater project of writing, selling, and reading books."

Following our popular Author Reception, which featured 15 mostly-local writers and one children's book illustrator, attendees gathered for lunch from the awesome Cafe RX staff, then digested both food and new book information in our Speed Dating Rep Picks session. The day ended with a rousing California Bookstore Day discussion that was equal parts information and motivation. As booksellers plan festivities for the day, they were encouraged to send the office their ideas for posting on the California Bookstore Day website, which bookseller and CBD web designer Zack Ruskin showcased at the gathering. Following the session, there was a brief but concerted run on CBD merchandise, as folks lined up to buy tote bags, t-shirts, and balloons.

Christie Olson-Day of Gallery Bookshop (left) and Ingrid Nystrom from Books Inc. Laurel Village were the height of fashion at the Spring Gathering. Photo by Bridget Kinsella