Before the holidays, we released a list of some pretty impressive speakers that you can see at Tech Forum 2016, but we know you're thirsty for more. Let us be the oasis in your mid-January blahs because we have even more cool people talking about cool things, an exciting keynote to announce, and some session titles to tease you with.
Dan Gardner is one of our keynote speakers for 2016. He's a journalist and the author of Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear, Future Babble: Why Pundits are Hedgehogs and Foxes Know Best, and Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction, co-written with psychologist Philip Tetlock.
Meghan MacDonald is the Director of Digital Product Development and Consumer Insights at Penguin Random House Canada. She has many years of experience launching new products like Hazlitt and PenguinRandomHouse.ca. Most recently, she has taken on the challenge of building a consumer insights team and opening a store.
Teresa Elsey is Digital Managing Editor in the Trade division at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She directs a group that produces and updates more than a thousand ebooks yearly, including adult fiction and non-fiction, YA titles, picture books, and e-only projects. She began her career in print publishing (though she likes ebooks better!), and has also worked at O'Reilly Media, Let's Go, and Cengage. Find her asking #eprdctn questions on Twitter as @teresaelsey.
Sarah MacLachlan has worked in publishing for over 25 years. She began her career in 1986 running the publicity department for Oxford University Press in Toronto. Subsequently she worked for Little, Brown Canada as VP Publicity and Marketing and in 1998 was hired by the American distributor, Publishers Group West, to run their Toronto operation as President. In December 2003 she was hired by Scott Griffin to become the president of the literary publisher, House of Anansi Press. In 2005, Anansi acquired the children’s publisher, Groundwood Books, and Sarah oversees both companies. In 2010, Publisher of Anansi was added to her title.
Ryan O'Sullivan is the Director of Content Analytics at Rakuten Kobo, where he is responsible for Business Intelligence, Reading Data Analytics, and optimization of pricing & promotions. For over 18 years, he has been working in book retail, utilizing data to get the right book into the right hands while also optimizing the bottom line. Previously, Ryan was the Director of Online Supply Chain at Indigo Books & Music Online.
And just because we love to keep you guessing, see if you can match these knowledgeable industry experts to some of the panels and sessions we have planned:
- Sneaking in Innovation at a Legacy Publisher
- Case Study: Technology as Equalizer
- Consumer Study on Millennials
- Superforecasting
- Building Brand Ambassadors
There is almost too much to look forward to for Tech Forum's 10th anniversary (the snack rumours flying around the office alone are of epic proportions) but we aren't done yet! Check out the full speakers list, the movers and shakers coming to ebookcraft, the first annual ebook design contest just announced, and remember that you only have two more weeks to take advantage of early-bird pricing before it ends on Jan. 23, so register before it's gone.
