NVNR Bookseller Orientation Recording and Recap

The New Voices, New Rooms (NVNR) Bookseller Orientation on July 15 drew nearly 60 booksellers, interested to hear about the highlights of the upcoming NVNR 2026 conference in Baltimore. Topics included the expanded number of education tracks, the return of some favorite author programming, including the late night "Sip and Sizzle" Romance Authors Reception, and details about the NVNR's Accessibility policy and how the conference is working to remove barriers to attending.

The overall theme was "connection." Facilitating connections between booksellers and vendors, booksellers and authors, booksellers and other booksellers:

Key takeaways and action items:

Have a specific goal for the conference
Goals will help provide focus and allow you to make more efficient use of your time. They can be as broad as "find new books to stock" and as specific as "open three new accounts with publishers" or "find one new author for an event."

• Bring business cards, financial information, and other necessary materials to the conference.
• Schedule meetings with publishers and sales reps in advance using the conference app.
• Divide and conquer education sessions if attending with multiple staff members: there are sessions for buyers, for event managers, for owners, and for frontline booksellers.
• To jump-start your creative thinking, attend one session you know nothing about.

Use the tools NVNR provides
The NVNR Team works hard to make resources and tools available to conference attendees so they can concentrate on what's important.

• Download and familiarize yourself with the NVNR conference app before arriving. It will be the fastest and most up to date way to find information.
• Attend the in-person orientation session on Sunday evening: hear hands-on advice from conference veterans.
• Use a journal or other note-taking option to keep track of interesting ideas as you hear them. There is a conference journal in your welcome bag and note-taking options in the conference app.
• Fill out a few of the Reminder Postcards available at the Registration desk. Write a note to yourself about anything you want to follow up on, and NVNR will send it to you after the conference is over.

Network Network Network
Your best resource is your fellow attendees. Make a point of connecting with people.

• Have both digital and print business cards available and keep a few print cards in your badge holder.
• Have your store's financial and shipping information available on a sheet to give vendors with whom you want to create new accounts.
• If you have multiple staff at the conference, spread out instead of sitting together at the same table or in the same sessions.
• Visit the "Ask Me Anything" Tables on the Exhibit Floor where your colleagues share their expertise on a wide variety of topics.
• Reach out to your board members for advice. They are more than happy to help.

Take breaks and have fun!
An NVNR conference is a high-energy event, so be sure to schedule in some down time. Take advantage of the amenities in the program designed to help people decompress, and punctuate your working time with some of the fun "social" activities.

• Note any accessibility concerns you have in your registration.
• Make a note of where the gender-neutral bathrooms and the Quiet Room are located.
• Check the schedule for which events include live transcriptions.
• Bring store merchandise for the swag swap and pick up some of the cool things other bookstores create.

And most importantly, share your conference experience on social media using the hashtag #nvnr26.