Connect With Colleagues and ABA Staff at Winter Institute Socials

Booksellers are invited to connect with each other and catch up with American Booksellers Association staff during the 2021 Winter Institute Virtual Hangouts on Thursday, February 18.

From 6:10 p.m. to 6:55 p.m. ET, 15 hangout rooms will appear under the “Sessions” tab on Hopin. Booksellers will be able to click in and out of all 15 rooms as they wish; rooms are divided up by theme and will each be hosted by an ABA staff member.

Themes will include:

• Adaptation Nation: Chat about favorite book-to-movie/TV series adaptations and share what else you’re watching.
• Children’s Books: Picture books, middle grade, and YA — oh my!
• Extraordinary Customer Stories: Share amazing, outlandish, funny, and inspiring stories about your customers.
• Family Friendly Room: Let your kids join the Winter Institute fun in a PG atmosphere.
• Pet Show-and-Tell: Share your furry, scaly, and/or feathered friends with your fellow booksellers.
• Poetry Readers: Discuss your favorite poems and poets with colleagues.
• Random Chatter: No theme, just come to chat with other attendees.
• Readers & Knitters: Come share recent projects, new techniques, and what you listen to or watch while knitting.
• Romance Readers: Join other romance readers and chat about your new favorites, your old favorites, and trends in the genre.
• Scavenger Hunt: The host will call out a random object; be the first to find an example in your home/office.
• Sci-Fi/Fantasy Readers: Join other SFF readers and chat about new favorites, old favorites, and trends in the genre.
• The Great Bookseller Bake-Off: Share your favorite cookbooks and what you’ve been cooking and/or baking this year.
• Wanderlusters: Come talk about the places you’d like to visit when travel isn’t so fraught, and your favorite recent travel writing.
• What We’re Reading Right Now: Come share what you’re reading and loving right now.

The 2021 Winter Institute will be held virtually from Thursday, February 18, through Saturday, February 20. The full Wi16 schedule can be found here. Questions about the event can be sent to [email protected].