The Rise and Fall and Rise of the Publishing Convention, Seminar, and Summit
In the golden years of the publishing conference, 400 people clamoring for access to a panel, summit or seminar, wasn’t unheard of. Some frequenters admit to going to upwards of 10 conferences a year in the late 1990’s techno boom, while others conversant in hot topics like virtual libraries, e-book distribution or the Tablet PC presented at just as many.
As one industry insider put it: “There was a time when you had to go to these things because everything was changing so fast, it was the only way to keep a scorecard of what companies were doing what and in which space – not to mention where everyone was working that month.”
By late 2001, everything had changed: other than a few perennials, conferences were nearing extinction. As companies retrenched after the dotcom meltdown and the aftereffects of 9/11, budget cutting struck both the hosting of conferences, and the attendance at them. Today, however, it looks like the conference is making a comeback for many industries, including publishing. Resounding successes such as The Book Industry Study Group‘s “Making Information Pay,” held last April, have reminded attendees that they can actually learn something, not to mention the networking benefits of spending a day with colleagues and competitors. “Despite everyone’s efforts to cut back on costs,” says one conference devotee, “there are tangible benefits to being able to see people face to face, and compare notes on the business climate.”
So attendance is on the upswing, and new conferences are slowly cropping back up — though the frenzy to book panelists before they commit elsewhere hasn’t yet materialized (organizers contacted for this article seemed downright laissez faire in their hunt for talking heads). This year, partnerships were the word, with AAP & PW, VISTA & BISG, and the upcoming VNU divisions, that encompass Bookstandard & Nielsen, combining forces.
We went to those in charge to see what’s in store for this fall as well as Spring/Summer 2006.
AAP General Annual Meeting & Meeting for Small Independent Publishers
Perhaps two of the most established conferences in the publishing industry, the AAP General Annual Meeting and the Meeting for Small and Independent Publishers, rocketed to popularity with Pat Schroeder‘s arrival as President in 1998. Following the star-studded cast of speakers in 1999 & 2000 (including Hillary Clinton, Michael Milken, Jeff Bezos, Dolly Parton, Bill Frist, Dick Gephardt, Al Franken and Anita Hill) the conference took a slight dip in popularity in 2001 and 2002, only to be revived in 2003 by Oprah‘s presence at the annual dinner, where she announced the launch of her classics book club.
Usually held in Washington DC, this year’s 7th annual Meeting moved to New York to be hosted in conjunction with the PW Summit (see below). Although response to the change was lukewarm, the AAP plans to remain in New York in 2006. The PW Summit ties, however, have been sundered.
AAP also hosts several other events throughout the year including Introduction to Publishing (one of their most popular, says Blough) and a seminar on Compensation and Personnel Policies. also In addition, they host a seminar through the Rights and Permissions Advisory Council, as well as a Tax seminar.
Audio Publishers Association Conference
The Audio Publishers Association Conference, which began in 1995, “has evolved as business has evolved,” said Mary Beth Roche, President of the APA. “In 2000, everyone wanted to talk about digital,” she said, referring to the 200 pre-registered and 100 at-the-door attendees clamoring to discuss the future of audio that year. “Then, last year APAC didn’t even have a separate digital panel, but then this year we did again. But, now that [the technology] has become a larger, more fully formed piece of the business, discussion has returned, and the level of conversation is more sophisticated.”
Roche said that although definitive plans were still in the works, APAC 2005 was so well received, that attendees can expect APAC 2006 to follow much of the same structure. One of the most popular forums at this year’s event, “The State of the Industry Panel,” provided a snapshot of the industry by highlighting the happenings in different channels of sale. Speakers on the panel included “a good cross-section” like Borders’ Pamela Promer, Barnes & Noble‘s Theresa Thompson, Audible‘s Beth Anderson, Ingram‘s Norma Lilly and The Chicago Public Library‘s Megan McArdle.
Joe Hatch, Executive VP Business Development at peer-to-peer network Wurld Media and an avid APAC attendee, said that this year’s event was one of the most productive and informative to date. “Too often trade events consist of merely speeches and presentations with little chance for interaction or dialogue,” he said. “Not only did they assemble the leading retailers and experts in the arena of audio publishing but they created an atmosphere of accessibility to those ‘in the know.'”
In terms of location (APAC usually tails BEA from city to city since the dates always coincide) Roche noted that there weren’t too many differences between hosting the event in New York as compared to DC or Chicago, although it seemed to be attended by a much broader range of staff when hosted in NYC. “2005 was very robust, very upbeat,” Roche said. “Now whether that was the vibe of being in New York, or the fact that business is going well, it’s difficult to say.”
PW Summit
One of the newer additions to the conferencing world, the PW Summit began in 2003 as an “informal but substantial meeting” according to the press.
“Our traditional role is connecting booksellers with the publishing trade,” said Bill McGorry, Executive VP and Publisher of Publisher Weekly’s parent company Reed Business. “More and more when you’ve got consolidation in an industry, it lends itself to getting key decision makers in a forum, in a room,” he said. “We have people who are conversant with the issues, and it makes sense to bring them together.”
Both McGorry and PW‘s editor-in-chief Sara Nelson have been at their posts for under a year, and it is unclear if changes may occur in Summit format and location in coming years. “In terms of a future direction, our role in the marketplace is to provide a voice in this industry, and the PW Summit is an extension of what we do in print and on-line,” Mc Gorry said. “We put forth issues on the table that the industry is interested in discussing.”
Although it depends on the event, PW is one of the few conferences (along with BISG and VISTA) that use sponsors to defray the attendance fee for their events. The lowered cost enables “the right people to attend” according to McGorry, who notes that “librarians, for instance, don’t have big budgets, and neither do booksellers, for that matter.”
Book Summit 2005
Advertised as a place to “share ideas, build relationships, uncover opportunities and help accelerate the growth of the publishing industry” the inaugural Executive Book Summit and Nielsen-data-powered Bookseller Awards will take place on September 22 (see calendar). Jerome Kramer, VNU U.S. Literary Group Managing Director and Editor in Chief of The Book Standard, described the event as an afternoon’s worth of programming, including 4-data-heavy panels, preceding the awards from 2-5:30 – followed by a cocktail party plus an “integrated awards ceremony.”
Relying heavily on Bookscan as well as “other experts and analysts” (says Kramer), the panels will open with a “State of the Book Industry: 2005 By the Numbers,” examining whether publishing is experiencing a “crisis or renaissance…in the face of emerging publishing, reading, entertainment and technology mega trends.”
Other panels will include a session on new technologies in publishing (“Are we heading into the Napsterization of the book world, or into an unprecedented period of opportunity to distribute content?”), a discussion of how to reclaim readership through alternative sales and marketing channels, and a panel on retail channels.
Kramer said that panelists will include many from the mergers and acquisitions side of the business. Mitch Kaplan, President of ABA and head of Books & Books, founder of Miami Book Fair, has signed on to the retail channel panel and Ingram‘s Phil Ollila will be on the readership panel focusing on alternative markets.
Summer in Stanford
At the Stanford Publishing Courses for Professionals that takes place at the end of July each year, more than 150 book and magazine publishers from around the world converge for 8 days of intensive workshops and presentations. Mike Shatzkin of The Idea Logical Company, who spoke for the first time this year on the future of distribution, was impressed by the dedication of those attending who were “willing to take time out of their work lives to network and learn.”
Other speakers included: Marcella Smith (B&N), John Kilcullen (VNU) on brands, Dan Farley (Harcourt). The curriculum was aimed at both book and magazine publishers, although there were specific courses and workshops for each and some of the talks were geared to the entire audience.
