2014 ANNUAL MEETING

The 2014 EBMA Annual Meeting was held on January 13-16, 2014 at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in San Diego, CA. The meeting attracted 135 Publisher Members and 70 Wholesaler Members. The theme for the 2014 meeting was Connecting With The Readers of Tomorrow.

Over the three days, publisher and wholesalers met over one-on-one sessions which are designed to faciliate business discussions. The one-on-one sessions have proven to be invaluable to our membership. One wholesaler said about the one-on-one sessions, "The one-on-ones are the core reason we attend, and we took full advantage of every opportunity for discussion."

On the opening night, members enjoyed a cocktail reception, dinner and an award presentation that included the 35th Ludington Award Presentation to Mr. Brian Selznick. Upon graduation from college Brian Selznick set out to be a set designer for the theater, but instead found a job designing window displays at a children's bookstore. This job became his crash course in children's literature and his first book was published here. He is an award winning illustrator and author whose most notable works include The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Wonderstruck, and The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins. To learn more about the Ludington Award, Brian Selznick or past receipients, click here.

The 2014 program brought together authors and industry professionals to help members understand how to continue to connect with their customers in the most engaging and user friendly format. Presenters included:

• Tim Ditlow
• Dr. Rose Brock, School Librarian at Coppell Middle School West in Texas
• DJ MacHale, Author
• Sharon Grover, Head of Youth Services at Hedberg Public Library
• Dr. Marc Aronson,  Lecturer for Library and Information Science at Rutgers University
• Sue Bartle, School Librarian, New York
• Steve DelVecchio, Regional Manager at the Seattle Public Library
• Kelly Fresch, Principal at Guin Foss Elementary School
• Jennifer Holm, Author, Random House
• Jack Gantos, Author, Farrar Straus Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group

In addition to these presentations, Jennifer Allen, EBMA Incoming President, updated the association on current EBMA business,  and how it can best continue to serve its members.  

Presentations were made available, to view these click here.