Sign Up for Upcoming Technology, Marketing Meetups

On Thursday, June 11, at 1:00 p.m. ET, the American Booksellers Association will present a Technology Meetup on using chatbots for online orders.

The event will feature Angela Trigg of Haunted Bookshop in Mobile, Alabama, who has created a chatbot through which customers can place orders on the store’s website. The chatbot can detect if someone wants to order a book and then asks questions (like title, author, etc.) and records the answers to create an order note for the store through a third-party service. In this session, booksellers will hear about the online tools Trigg used and how she set it up, as well as see a demonstration of how it works from the customer side.

On Thursday, June 25, at 1:00 p.m. ET, ABA will present a Marketing Meetup on marketing bookstores to schools.

After receiving a number of requests to revisit the “Marketing Your Store to a School” topic previously covered in March, ABA has decided to cover it again with a focus on what needs to change as businesses are in various states of operation and events are taking place virtually instead of in-person. Booksellers will hear about the changes bookseller panelists have made or are considering making and get fresh points of view from booksellers just beginning the process. Other booksellers with experience on marketing and holding virtual school events are encouraged to attend the call and share their experiences.

The panel will feature:

• Cathy Berner, Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, Texas
• Stephanie Heinz, Print: A Bookstore, Portland, Maine
• Jamie Anderson, Duck’s Cottage, Duck, North Carolina 
• Emily Woods, McNally Jackson, New York City
• Kathy Burnette, The Brain Lair, South Bend, Indiana
• Suzi Hough, Hicklebee’s, San Jose, California

Sign up and learn more about ABA meetups here.