EBMA 2025 Annual Meeting
January 27-30, 2025
JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa in Las Vegas, Nevada



The mission of the Educational Book and Media Association is to foster a unique community that brings together a wide range of wholesalers and publishers in order to address the ever-changing book & media buying needs of the educational marketplace. EBMA’s roughly, 30 wholesale and 90 publisher members coordinate to provide informational webinars and gather annually for a conference featuring industry leaders and influencers engaged in one-on-one meetings, keynote addresses and award celebrations. The annual conference also provides vital publisher programming from industry experts and content providers.

The 2025 meeting will be held January 27-30, 2025, at the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa in Las Vegas, Nevada. The EBMA 2025 programming will address the educational publishing landscape currently facing a number of challenges that require us to come together as a collective to solve if we are going to remain successful. Book banning and AI need to be tackled head on as we navigate their implications to censorship and content. Conversations about collection development needs and the tools we use for it, like Edelweiss, can help to arm publishers with key insights into how and why selections are being made for schools and how best to assist wholesalers with data to enable informed decision-making.

The 2025 Annual Meeting Program Committee, Sheila Hennessey of Penguin Random House and Amanda MacDonnell of Steps to Literacy are pleased to announce the 2025 meeting theme:  Building Collaborative Partnerships in a Shifting Marketplace


Click the buttons below for details regarding the agenda, hotel reservations, transportation information, one-on-one session advice and to register. For questions, please contact info@edupaperback.org


SPONSORS

After continued success over the last six years, EBMA will continue to offer sponsor and exhibitor opportunities.  Sponsorship opportunities and benefits may be found here.  Thank you to our 2025 Annual Meeting Gold Sponsors!

CG Printers

Focus Strategic Communications, Inc

HF Group

R & R Bindery Service, Inc.

MEETING AGENDA 



 Monday, January 27th  (All time PST and subject to change)
 9:00 AM Board of Directors Meeting
 3:00 PM Registration Opens and 1-on-1 Set Up Begins
 5:00 PM First Timers Meeting
 5:30 PM Opening Reception
 6:00 PM

Awards Dinner

See old friends, meet new ones, and celebrate the achievements of our Ludington Award recipient.

Ludington Award Recipient: Jason Reynolds, Simon & Schuster

Read Press Release Here

   
 Tuesday, January 28th  
 8:00 AM Breakfast
 9:00 AM Education Session

Edelweiss: Best Strategies and Uses for Wholesalers, Librarians, and Publishers

    This session will be an encompassing view of how wholesalers and librarians are using Edelweiss and how publishers can build the most robust catalog of information to best facilitate their partners in the education world.

      Panelists: 
      Brandi Ivester, Booksource
      Laura Shay, Follett Content Solutions
      Moderator:
      Lynn Hildebrandt, EBMA

       10:30 AM 1-on-1 Session Group A
       10:30 AM

      Publisher Education Session

      Collection Development: Key Insights Across the Industry

      How can publishers present the best, most salient, information to facilitate wholesalers with Collection Development for classroom, school, and public libraries. 

      Panelists:
      Lynn Brennan, Penguin Random House
      Kia Heise, Mackin
      Brandi Ivester, Booksource
      Moderator:
      Amanda MacDonnell, Steps to Literacy

       12:30 PM

      Lunch

      Book Challenges, Book Bans: What Does 2025 Bring to the Educational Book and Media Marketplace? 

      This session will include an update on the current lay of the land and legal cases currently before the courts.  The panelists will discuss strategies going forward and how the 2024 elections (National, State, and Local) will impact the education market.  What are the anticipated legislation changes and what are the best strategies to address them?

      Panelists:
      Skip Dye, Penguin Random House
      Dan Novack, Penguin Random House
      Frederick Sperling, Arentfox Schiff
      Moderator:
      Ben Conn, Classroom Library Company

       2:00 PM 1-on-1 Session Group B
       6:00 PM

      Dinner and Fun Night

         
       Wednesday, January 29th  
       8:00 AM Breakfast
       9:00 AM Education Session

      Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Obstacles for Publishers and Distributors

      This session will discuss how AI is currently being used in content creation across platforms, the challenges of intellectual property protection and how publishers and distributors can utilize this hyper-growth technology to streamline their businesses.

        Panelists:
        Andrew Jacobs, HarperCollins
        Thad McIlroy, Publishing Technology Analyst and Author
        Moderator:
        Rebecca Miller, Media Source Inc.

         10:30 AM 1-on-1 Session Group B
         10:30 AM

        Publisher Education Session

        Collection Development: Key Insights Across the Industry

        How can publishers present the best, most salient, information to facilitate wholesalers with Collection Development for classroom, school, and public libraries. 

        Panelists:
        Lynn Brennan, Penguin Random House
        Kia Heise, Mackin
        Brandi Ivester, Booksource
        Moderator:
        Amanda MacDonnell, Steps to Literacy

         12:30 PM Lunch- No Programming
         2:00 PM 1-on-1 Session Group A
         6:00 PM President's Reception
         7:00 PM

        President's Dinner

        Featured Author Speakers:
        Lin Oliver, Dan Santat and Henry Winkler, Abrams Books

           
        Thursday, January 30th  
         7:30 AM Breakfast
         8:30 AM 1-on-1 Session Groups A & B (1-on-1 sessions ending by 11AM)
         11:00 AM Membership Meeting
         11:30 AM Meeting Concludes

        HOTEL INFORMATION

        Hotel Reservations

        The hotel for this year's meeting is the JW Marriott Las Vegas.  Hotel reservations may be made via the following link: https://book.passkey.com/e/50824704

        Room rates start at $229/night plus a $45/night resort fee.  Resort fees include :

        • Enhanced High Speed Internet Access in the Guest Rooms
        • Complimentary Valet Parking
        • Two (2) Well Drinks at any Casino Bar
        • Access to the Fitness Center
        • Access to Spa Aquae’ s Relaxation Areas & Fitness Center
        • One (1) Hour Bike Rental

        Hotel Activities

        The hotel has golf, spa, exercise, walking, and gaming activities.

        TRANSPORTATION 

        Harry Reid International Airport is the primary airport servicing this location.  We suggest using a rideshare app or taxis to and from the hotel and the airport.

        ONE-ON-ONE SESSION ADVICE

        Several EBMA members have indicated on their evaluation forms that it took them a few years to make their One-on-One sessions really pay off, especially since they are only eight minutes long. To get everything possible out of these brief meetings, you really have to plan ahead. Here are some tips that may get you up and running more quickly.

        1. In early January, you will receive from EBMA, by e-mail, registration lists for the 2025 EBMA Annual Meeting.
        2. Complete the Profile Form by December 14, 2024: The Profile Forms are offered as an electronic web form that you will fill out online (Publisher Form or Wholesaler Form). The material collected on the form has also been updated and reduced to pertinent information about your company. During the registration process you will be given the option to select receiving an online profile book only prior to the meeting or a hard copy bound profile book onsite at the annual meeting.
        3. Be sure to characterize your business clearly—EBMA members are NOT all alike!
        4. Be certain that the people who read your Profile Form will know who to contact for what service.
        5. EBMA One-on-One sessions have no agenda. Think of ways to use your session profitably. Time is short but, among the possibilities, you could:
          • Bring printouts and do a business review with each firm. Printouts could include sales figures, marketing plans or an overview of the prior year’s highlights. 
          • Evaluate your year-to-year growth with each other.
          • Discuss new promotions or marketing efforts.
          • Come up with ways that you can work better together or do cooperative marketing.
          • Ask for suggestions as to how your firm can be more helpful to the other.
          • Suggest better ways to use posters, teaching guides, and bookmarks.
          • Discuss creative ways to involve reps.
          • Ask about new trends, new markets, new products--EBMA is the place to hear about them.
          • Bring news from editorial about new books and publishing programs.
          • Find ways to use authors regionally or nationally.
        6. Remember that all EBMA members are not alike. Don’t assume you know what another business focuses on. Read the Profile Form.
        7. And don’t forget that “the other side” has an agenda too! Sometimes one side does all the talking and none of the listening.
        8. What if you have run out of time and there’s more to discuss?
          • There is time each afternoon to continue talking at the wholesaler’s table. Keep a calendar and schedule additional time during one of these time periods.
          • If time runs out, set up ways to keep talking by phone or e-mail when you’re both back at work.
        9. Establish a system for taking notes and keeping track of each discussion. The days are long and the there is too much input to leave everything to memory.

        OTHER DETAILS 

        Shipping Instructions

        Information will be shared in November 2024.

        Attire

        EBMA has naturally adopted a business or smart casual dress code, although we have been known to mix it up in the past.  We just ask that things like flip-flops, shorts, tank tops and t-shirts with any provocative pictures or words be avoided. If you’re more comfortable in business casual or dressy attire please dress in this manner.

        The opening awards dinner and the President's dinner are a little more formal.  We will be doing another group picture this year and we want you to look your best.




        Educational Book & Media Association is a 501(c)6 non-profit organization.

        P.O. Box 3363, Warrenton, VA 20188
        Ph. 540-318-7770

        admin@edupaperback.org

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