SIBA’s annual conference returns in August and we want to see you there!

For the last three years, in response to Covid restrictions on in-person gatherings, SIBA held our annual conference virtually. We partnered with NAIBA as “New Voices New Rooms (NVNR),” a virtual event platform that, in addition to our conferences, hosts education, bookseller retreats, and publicity speed dating. Our teams really enjoy working together, publishers have been very supportive of our innovative approaches to programming, and our regions’ booksellers have developed relationships and idea-sharing to much mutual benefit. Engagement has been through the roof during a very challenging time. Building on our successful partnership, we’re combining our strengths and talents once again with a joint in-person conference August 7-10 in Arlington, VA.  For SIBA members, this conference replaces the former SIBA Discovery Show.

We’ve changed up the timing from September to August to avoid, fingers crossed, the worst of peak hurricane season. We’re also respecting that many booksellers prefer to be at their stores during the beginnings of football, school book fair, and holiday seasons. We know the timing is a big change, but we hope you can align your summer plans with ours, as our event is not to be missed.

New Voices New Rooms is, above all,  a networking conference. Each day of our conference supports different areas of networking: bookseller-to-bookseller, industry-to-bookseller, and author-to-bookseller. We’ve created space in our schedule to bring these groups together for brainstorming, innovation, title discovery, and personal connection. We’re offering new twists on the familiar conference environment to let the magic of title discovery and personal connection happen organically.  And we’ve kept the evenings clear for those life highlights: the publisher dinners. 

We invite you to be part of the conference. Being back together, enjoying company, learning and laughing, is what it’s all about. From sharing stories on the bookstore tour bus, meeting your beloved rep on the exhibit floor, discovering your next favorite read at an editor buzz session, or making a personal connection with an author you have long adored, these all contribute to the success of your store, and your own happiness and hopefulness around the dream that first brought you into this bookselling world. Need more nudging?Find out more here and please contact me if you have any questions, need guidance, or just want to chat about it. See you in August!