The Northern California Independent Booksellers Association will move its annual trade show from Oakland to the South San Francisco Conference Center and shorten the length of the event from three days to two. It will take place this year Thursday, October 11 – Friday, October 12, 2012.
The announcement was made in the association’s January newsletter by NCIBA’s executive director Hut Landon, who explained that the Oakland Marriott, where the trade show has been held for the last 23 years, could not accommodate the new proposed date and format. The intention of Landon and the NCIBA board was to move to a two-day schedule to maximize show floor traffic and allow attendees to get back to work a day earlier.
“Attendance on the third day of the show has been dwindling for several years,” Landon said, “and frankly last year it was awful. This change will tighten things up and keep the floor busier at the same time.” Foremost in Landon’s mind when making this change was his commitment to the programming at the show, which will remain intact with the exception of the now-scrapped Cookbook Celebration. Landon also noted that despite eliminating a day from the event, the show floor would still be open for the customary eleven hours. The host hotel will be the Holiday Inn, located next door to the conference center in South San Francisco.
