Planning for the trade’s biggest annual get-together, the ABA conference and exhibition day, is well underway.

The conference, to be held at the Hyatt Hotel Canberra from 11–14 September, will provide bookseller and publisher delegates with four days of collegial and informative sessions. The trade exhibition day, to be held on Tuesday 13 September, will give publishers, distributors and all manner of service providers the opportunity to display their wares to hundreds of bookseller delegates from all sectors of the trade.

‘This year we will be addressing issues that are a significant influence on the book industry’s future.’ says ABA CEO Barbara Cullen. ‘The local impact of global trends, the ageing of our customer base, the bookseller’s role in the community and children’s bookselling are some of the session themes. We’re looking forward to new ideas and productive discussion’.

The conference program is coming together, with four keynote speakers confirmed: Chuck Robinson, former president of the American Booksellers Association; ‘futurologist’ Bernard Salt of KPMG; Deborah Thomas, Editorial Director of The Australian Women’s Weekly; and Jacki Weaver, Author & Actor.

Sessions will cover topics such as ‘Global trends’, ‘Bookselling—the future is here’, the return of the popular ‘BookBuzz’ session from 2004, ‘Publishing—science or magic’, ‘The life of the book’, and a Nielsen Bookscan report on industry trends.

The ABA has changed the exhibition day to include sessions that provide delegates with a full day of in-house activities. Improved signage, revised room layouts and better lighting; a buffet lunch offer; and exclusive access to the Hyatt’s Ambassador’s Courtyard for exhibitors and delegates will keep the focus on the exhibitors’ presentations.

It’s not all hard work—the three nights of the conference will see a booksellers’ dinner and debate at the ANU’s University House, the industry awards dinner at the High Court of Australia and the ABA annual dinner in the Hyatt’s Federation ballroom. Actor and author Jacki Weaver will be the guest of honour for the ABA dinner.

The guest of honour at this year’s ABA dinner is an Australian icon of stage and screen (and gossip column, too!). Jacki Weaver’s career has spanned 38 years of film, theatre, television and music and includes two AFI awards for the film Caddie and Stork; a Logie for ‘Do I Have to Kill My Child?’; and a Variety Club Award for They’re Playing Our Song. Her film credits include Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Perfectionist, Squizzy Taylor, Alvin Purple and Cosi.

Her emotional life has been somewhat of a rollercoaster, to say the least. She is much-married, including an infamous stint with Derryn Hinch. She has one son, Dylan, who was born out of wedlock; and her most lasting partnership was with Richard Wherrett, who was gay. All this can barely be touched on in an after-dinner speech, so we presume her memoir Much Love, Jac (Allen & Unwin, November) will be spilling all the beans.

Chuck Robinson, is a former President of the American Booksellers Association (ABA), and owner of Village Books in Bellingham, Washington’s Historic Fairhaven District. After teaching and consulting for 10 years, he established Village Books which has grown to a 10,000 square foot book haven, that has spawned a paper and paper products off-shoot, Paper Dreams.

Chuck has been an educational and community instigator for over 20 years, he began teaching at ABA Booksellers schools in 1982 and has been active in several book industry organisations. Chuck continues to serve on ABA committees and advisory panels and currently serves on the board of directors of the Independent Booksellers Consortium, an industry buying and idea-exchange group.

Over the years Village Books and its owners, Chuck and Dee have been honoured with a number of community, business and artistic awards. With such an impressive track record, his presentations about bookselling trends, engaging the community and how his bookshop has evolved to meet changing needs is sure to generate a lot of interest and ideas.

In her opening address to booksellers and publishers on Book Industry Day, Deborah Thomas will reveal how the magazine industry researches and segments it market, offering lessons for a fresh perspective on the marketplace. Deborah has a wealth of experience in design, advertising and publishing and is credited with turning around magazines on more than one occasion in tough competitive environments. Her astute insights into the lifestyle market segment and her indomitable style have led to significant increases in magazine advertising revenues and sales growth—setting circulation records.

Deborah had stints at Cleo, Mode and ELLE before being appointed as editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly. Her brief: to make the magazine more contemporary without alienating traditional readers. Deborah will reveal how she fulfilled this brief not only by increasing circulation for the first time in four years in 2001, but also by winning awards in 2002 for Magazine of the Year and Editor of the Year. She has gone on to be appointed Editor-in-Chief of The Australian Women’s Weekly and the Australian Women’s Weekly Books division.

In his keynote address to the conference, author and KPMG partner Bernard Salt will show the link between demographic change and new business opportunity. Salt will elaborate on the argument from his book The Big Shift (Hardie Grant Books) that the shift to the coast by the Australian people is fundamental to their values and will therefore set the business agenda in the first half of the 21st century: out with RM Williams; in with Rip Curl, Quiksilver and Billabong.

Salt says: ‘The reason for this big shift is the combined impact of Australian values and the maturing of the baby boom generation who are now looking for lifestyle. But while the boomers are busy redefining the 50-something stage in life Generation X has been even busier recasting the formation of new relationships. Women have evolved as a bold new consumer force.

‘The implications for book retailing are clear. There are opportunities for new retail stores in coastal locations. New titles should also reflect the shift in Australian values, with less emphasis on high corporatism and more on new notions like work-life balance. Books for women on the formation and dismantling of relationships will also strike a chord with this market.’

One of the conference highlights will be the ‘Global Trends’ session, offering delegates a snapshot of the book scene in three countries from three very experienced book people.

Linda Henderson, CEO of Booksellers New Zealand will join the ABA president Chris Harrington and Chuck Robinson, a former president of the American Booksellers Association and the co-founder and owner of Washington’s Village Books and Paper Dreams.

Linda Henderson has been part of the NZ book trade for twenty years. Starting at the NZ Government Printing Office, she then went on to work for Paper Plus before moving to Whitcoulls, where she managed a number of stores and held senior management positions. She became the CEO of Booksellers NZ and in her time at the helm has seen the small but dynamic New Zealand book industry continue to punch above its weight. With a total population about the size of greater Sydney, New Zealand somehow manages to sustain a number of strong local publishers with extensive lists, a diverse bookselling community with a good mix of chains and independents, and the publishers/bookseller relationship seems to be very close.