We're clearly biased when it comes to extolling the virtues of our books-meet-technology conferences, Tech Forum and ebookcraft. So we've got a guest post from Jenny Bullough, digital workflow specialist, metadata optimization expert and member of the ebookcraft steering committee, to tell you why they're worth attending.
Are you still pondering whether or not to go to ebookcraft & Tech Forum? It’s a big decision, I know. Not just the cost (although it is one of the least expensive conferences in terms of both fees and travel, and it’s especially cheap now if you’re travelling from the US due to the low Canadian dollar), but the time away from work and family. You want to feel certain that you’re making a smart investment of your money and, more valuably, your time.
Sure, the conferences have great reputations—amazing reputations, actually, considering ebookcraft is one of the smaller digital conferences. And they're renowned for being the most useful conferences in terms of gaining practical, applicable knowledge that will help you in your day-to-day, along with inspiring, visionary ideas that leave conference attendees feeling invigorated and excited about the future of digital.
But couldn’t you could skip the conferences and access the videos of the main speakers and keynotes later? BookNet kindly hosts these so those who can’t attend don’t have to miss out on the game-changing information available to attendees. So yeah, you could do that, and just follow the conference via Twitter at #ebookcraft and #techforum instead of attending.
You could, that is, if you don’t mind missing out on the single greatest benefit of any conference: the networking. Being at ebookcraft and Tech Forum is of course helpful in terms of making and meeting up with contacts. Over and above that factor, most ebookcraft attendees are the people actually involved in the day-to-day challenges of producing ebooks—people who are able to commiserate with you about the obstacles you go through in your daily business, because they share your frustrations.
Most of all, they're people who are excited by challenges, who are exhilarated about the future possibilities in the digital world, and who have innovative ideas and solutions to share and do so freely and frankly, whether it’s over coffee in the halls at the MaRS centre between sessions or over pints at the (legendary!) after-parties at the end of the day. People who very likely will become not just your contacts, but your friends.
You can’t put a price tag on that. And you can’t get that benefit unless you’re there.
So… what are you waiting for?
Registration for both conferences is open until March 15. You can find more information and links to register here.
