2024 SWCBA Conference
2023 SWCBA Conference
Be our Guest and help us reflect on 50 years as an Association! We are looking forward to seeing all of you at this year’s Annual SWCBA Conference being held in Stillwater Oklahoma, October 15-17, 2023. The meeting will be fun, interactive, and informative. We will have great networking and buying opportunities with vendors and other colleagues in the bookstore industry.
October 15, 2023
Sun 11:00 – 1:00 Board Meeting Presidential Suite
Registration 1:00 -5:00 Council Room 412
Sun 2:30-3:20 “It takes a village”, IA and EA success Council Room 412
Key ingredients to starting and maintaining a successful EA or IA program on your campus. Discussion covering topics like “how to get started”, “key players”, “tools for success”, “pitfalls to avoid” and “must have” campus support. The presenter is Peggy Freeman.
Sun 3:30-4:20 NACS presentation. “Attracting and Engaging Customers All Year” Council Room 412
Promotional tools to create a memorable experience for customers that lead to better engagement and repeat interactions. Build an annual marketing calendar for planning and tracking upcoming events and promotions. The presenter is Jessica Hickman from NACS.
Sun 4:30-5:20 Round-table discussions Council Room 412
Pick your own topic. Sit at a table with your peers to discuss the following topics: -Dealing with Gen Z (customers and employees), -State or National Laws affecting higher education, -Social Media, -New technologies affecting stores like AI, ChatGPT, or even store technologies change (no textbooks), – What can I do with my newly vacated textbook floor space? The presenter is Reggie Coleman.
Sun 6:30 Opening Night at Eskimo Joe’s with Stan Clark speaking Leaving hotel lobby at 6:00pm
Monday October 16, 2023
Registration 8:00 till Noon Council Room 412
Mon 8-8:50 My Favorite Things! Council Room 412
Come prepared to participate in this event. Bring your newest fun (inexpensive) merchandise to show and giveaway during this session (be ready to tell the cost, retail and any “fun facts”. This is a “What’s hot and what’s not” session. Lots of fun discussion, and drawings for giveaways. Definitely a fan favorite event. The presenter is Erin Green.
Mon 9-9:50 Coach Kenny Gajewski Council Room 412
Coach Kenny Gajewski is the Head Coach for the Oklahoma State Cowgirls softball program and has an encouraging message of adversity and success. It is a great privilege to have Coach Kenny speak at our SWCBA session. To quote the coach, “Everything I’ve done throughout my whole life has prepared me for being OK with who I am… You have to struggle through and fight through to get to that point.”
Mon 10-10:50 ICBA Presentation: Independent Store Innovators Council Room 412
See examples of college stores that have developed innovative programs to grow sales, increase services, reduce expenses, and/or improve customer and campus satisfaction. You will leave this session inspired with plenty of ideas to “borrow’. The presenter is Jon Bibo from ICBA.
LUNCH 11-12:00 Update from Debbie Cottrell (new NACS President-Elect) Starlight Lounge 465
Mon 12:30 – 3:30 Tradeshow Ballroom 265
Mon 4:00 – 6:00 Tour Gallagher IBA Arena and T Boone Field
Will leave Tradeshow lobby at 4:00pm
Mon 6:30 – 10:00 Closing Night Starlight Lounge 465
October 17, 2023
Tues 9:00 – 11:00 Board Meeting Presidential Suite
• Hotel accommodations can be made at the Historic Hotel Atherton located on the OSU campus by calling 405-744-6835. Mention you are with the SWCBA for discounted rates ranging from $109.95 – $119.95.
• Closing night at SWCBA is always a don’t miss event. This year’s theme is Be Our Guest – please plan on bringing your Be our Guest t-shirt generously donated by CI Sport. You will find the shirt in your welcome bag when you check in for the conference.
SWCBA – is all about YOU! To have a successful and effective association it takes all of us. We need and want your participation and your feedback! Let us know any suggestions or comments you have – we take them seriously and want to serve your needs. Please get you involved – we would love to have you on a committee or on the board – whatever you might be interested in.
Thank you all for your support of SWCBA and I look forward to seeing you all in Oklahoma!
Sincerely,
Kevin Hannegan
http://www.swcba.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Store-Registration-2023.pdf
http://www.swcba.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Vendor-Registration-2023.pdf
http://www.swcba.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/SWCBA-Scholarship-App-Rvsd.pdf
http://www.swcba.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Sponsorship-Letter-2023.pdf http://www.swcba.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Sponsorship-form-2023.pdf
2022 SWCBA Conference
Let’s glow crazy for Education! We are looking forward to seeing all of you all at this year’s Annual SWCBA Conference being held in Still Water Oklahoma, October 16-18, 2022. The meeting will be fun, interactive, and informative. We will have great networking and buying opportunities with vendors and other colleagues in the bookstore industry. Some of the event highlights are listed below:
- Hotel accommodations can be made at the Historic Hotel Atherton located on the OSU campus by calling 405-744-6835. Mention you are with the SWCBA for discounted rates ranging from $109.95 – $119.95.
- Education sessions planned (see the agenda).
- Opening night (Sunday, October 16th @ 6:30pm) will be held at Stillwaters famous Eskimo Joes
- Closing night at SWCBA is always a don’t miss event. This year’s theme is Let’s Glo Crazy – please plan on bringing your Let’s Glo Crazy shirt generously donated by CI sport. You will find the shirt in your welcome bag when you check in for the conference.
SWCBA – is all about YOU! To have a successful and effective association it takes all of us. We need and want your participation and your feedback! Let us know any suggestions or comments you have – we take them seriously and want to serve your needs. And get you involved – we would love to have you on a committee or on the board – whatever you might be interested in.
Thank you all for your support of SWCBA and I look forward to seeing you all in Oklahoma!
Sincerely,
Terri Mitchell
SWCBA President
2021 SWCBA Conference
Mega Conference 2019
October 7-10, 2019
I was so fortunate to be awarded an SWCBA Scholarship to help pay my registration fee for the MEGA Conference this year in Reno, NV. By being awarded this scholarship it allowed two people from our stores to attend the conference myself and my Director Terri Mitchell. Without this scholarship I would not have been able to attend due to budgetary restrictions. The scholarship helped offset the high cost of my airfare to Reno.
The MEGA Conference was a wonderful experience, it allowed me to be able to network with many schools I was not familiar with such as California and the North West schools. I met some wonderful people and got to attend some fabulous educational sessions. Some of my favorites were Social Impressions where we learned about free and paid for social media advertising and what budget you should start with for advertising on social media; another great session was the Science of Shopping with great keynote speakers Kizer and Bender where we got to talk about the Disney model and got some great tips for remerchandising our stores. A third session I really enjoyed was Violence in the Workplace with campus police from OSU where we learned how to react to an active shooter situation.
I came back home with my head full of great new ideas and some I could immediatly implement in my stores. I hope the scholarship program for SWCBA will continue in the future and help other stores like mine send their staff for fabulous training opportunities.
Sincerely,
Erin Green
Assistant Director Bookstores Ellis County