Ten
highlights from the Virtual Spring Conference programme
Ahead
of our Spring Conference on 2 and 3 June, here are some of the
sessions we’re looking forward to
1. Leaders’ keynotes
The Conference will have sessions from two
publishers with long experience of leading both small and large businesses:
Bloomsbury founder Nigel Newton and
DK’s Rebecca Smart. They’ll be
setting out the pandemic’s impacts on publishing and business models and some
of the lessons they’ve learned.
2. James Daunt on bookselling in lockdown and beyond
James
Daunt of Waterstones and Barnes & Noble is
always a popular and honest speaker at IPG Conferences. He’s joining us now to
talk about the huge short-term impacts of the pandemic on bookselling, plus
longer-term economic and cultural implications.
3. Breakouts on change across publishing
How is the pandemic affecting different
parts of publishing? We’ll find out in four parallel breakout sessions: on
trade with Atlantic’s Will Atkinson and Scribe UK's Sarah Braybrooke,
children’s with Nosy Crow’s Tom Bonnick and
Kate Wilson, academic with Berghahn
Books’ Vivian Berghahn, and
professional with Globe Law & Business’ Jim Smith.
4. Tips for smarter sales and marketing
Several Conference sessions will walk us through
ways publishers can grow sales at home and abroad. Consultant Andrew Sauerwine has advice for selling
in to retailers, Ingram’s Ruth Jones shows
how to use data to drive sales, and Kogan Page’s Louise Dickens and Alison
Middle explore agile marketing techniques.
5. A
look up and down the supply chain
As the book supply chain prepares for a new
normal, there’ll be views on changes and challenges from three leaders:
Ingram’s David Taylor, the
Booksellers Association’s Meryl Halls and
The Paperback Shop’s Caroline Summers.
We’ll be exploring other parts of the books ecosystem too, including agenting
with Curtis Brown’s Jonny Geller and
audio with Zebralution’s Carla
Herbertson and The Do Book Company’s Miranda
West.
6. Advice on staying safe and sane at work
At a difficult time for employers and employees
alike, the Conference welcomes Melissa
Doman MA to suggest ways to promote mental health and positive working
environments. Fox Williams’ Jane Mann will
be with us to set out what businesses need to know about reopening offices
post-lockdown and keeping staff safe and well. And there’ll be tips on making
working practices more sustainable too, from Paula Owen of Eco Action Games.
7. The ups and downs of starting a business
What’s it like to get a new publishing
business off the ground in 2020? The people behind two start-ups—Jenny Broom of Magic Cat Publishing and
Adrian Hobart of Hobeck Books—will
tell us about the highs and lows of their journeys so far.
8. The
latest on Open Access and more
We’ll get the very latest on the lockdown’s
impact on Open Access and a review of other pressing policy issues in a special
academic session with UKRI’s Helen
Snaith, UCL’s Margot Finn and
the IPG’s academic and policy correspondent Richard Fisher. Other speakers focused on the academic sector
include ProQuest’s Helene Stewart, with thoughts on optimising
discoverability for libraries.
9. Opportunities
abroad
For publishers who haven’t yet properly
exploited rights, help to manage and trade them is on hand from a Conference
group of four: agent Isobel Dixon,
PLS’ Marjon Esfandiary, Kogan Page’s
Amy Joyner and Virtusales’ Kat Coveyduck. Other international
dimensions to the Conference include talks from Michael Gordon-Smith
of the Australian Publishers Association and Peter
Schoppert of the Singapore Book Publishers Association.
10. Views from beyond publishing
As always at IPG events, we’ll be getting
the perspectives of experts in worlds other than our own. There’ll be a keynote
from popular tech and media analyst Benedict
Evans, plus a session on staying productive from Mark Leruste, a specialist in leadership and entrepreneurship.
The
full programme can be found in our special Virtual Spring Brochure.