We learned all the things, we watched the great debate, we glimpsed the future of our industry, and we dined on the legendary snacks!
In short, we had an awesome time at ebookcraft and Tech Forum, and it was pretty momentous; Tech Forum celebrated 10 successful years of being a hub of education and innovation for the Canadian publishing the only way we ever could, with vino and doughnuts!
It was also the second exciting year of ebookcraft workshops, which were a nice hands-on warm-up to ebookcraft proper on March 31st, and the camp theme was really assisted by the sense of community and teamwork experienced by the attendees, not to mention the really cool smores and merit badges.
So You Think You Can Code, our inaugural ebook design competition took off with a bang this year. Rebecca Springer used her e-production talents to take home the big cheque from Kobo, not to mention all the bragging rights. Keep an eye on the blog for a behind-the-scenes look at the EPUB competitors had to work with! In another first, ebookcraft held it's first formal debate, which was much more popular with the crowd than any of us could have predicted (If you have topic suggestions for what should be debated next year, email us!)
At Tech Forum, BookNet Canada's CEO Noah Genner opened the festivities with the highlights of 10 amazing years of Tech Forum, where we've been, what we've discovered, and what the future might look like. We also explored the future through some of our presenters, who showed us what the diverse future of publishing could look like, and what our future generation of readers wants and needs from their books, retailers, and publishers. We also learned about emerging technologies blossoming in publishing right now, how to gain new insight into readers through neuroscience, and pricing models.
When our brains were so full we couldn't possibly manage to pack more knowledge and insight in, we outdid ourselves with possibly the geekiest cookies ever to grace a Tech Forum, indulged in some adult colouring, and got nerdy with each other.
We are proud to say that both Tech Forum and ebookcraft were 50/50 events and we were so happy to bring you amazing sessions and panels from some of the industry's most knowledgeable women.
Iris Amelia Ferbes was taking amazing sketchnotes throughout Tech Forum and she's shared them all with us! Check out her gallery:
Want to relive the magic? We have links for you:
Highlights: Our intern Jordyn Martinez rounded up some great highlights from Tech Forum here.
Delicious: A great round-up of links and resources shared during ebookcraft.
SlideShare: The presentation slides we are allowed to share are up here for your viewing pleasure.
Photos: Our own Zalina Alvi was among you taking photos, see them all here.
We'll be getting videos up in the coming weeks so make sure you watch the blog and social media for updates, or sign up for eNews to never miss an update.
Tell us how you liked Tech Forum and ebookcraft! Your feedback will help us make both events even better next year. If you fill out the survey before April 13, you could win one of these great prizes:
- a Kobo e-reader;
- 1 of 5 $50 iTunes gift cards;
- a free ticket to Tech Forum or ebookcraft 2017, to be held in Toronto;
- a copy of The Canadian Book Market 2015; or,
- your choice of one of our consumer research reports.
Thanks to all the presenters, organizers, sponsors, MaRS Discovery District staff, and all who attended! See you next year
