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The O'Reilly Tools of Change Conference wrap-up
For Immediate Release For more information contact: Dawn Applegate dapplegate@oreilly.com (707) 827-7111 The O'Reilly Tools of Change Conference Documents New Era in Publishing Sebastopol, CA - The Tools of Change for Publishing Conference (TOC), held June 18-20 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, was the first of its kind: a conference dedicated to utilizing technology to create and maximize publishing opportunities. Drawing nearly 500 attendees, this event was produced by O'Reilly Media, Inc. Attendees included book publishers, editors, marketing and production managers, publishing consultants, authors, and business managers in publishing. "This conference seemed to mark a shift in industry attitude: while publishers have been wary of digitization and change in general, attendees at TOC were genuinely excited about the potential for growth and new opportunities. Witnessing the shift from fear, to acceptance, to enthusiasm is exhilarating," said conference co-chair Sarah Milstein. Faced with those same industry changes, O'Reilly long ago moved beyond being "just a publisher" by diversifying the distribution of information and knowledge. No longer is publishing as simple as the notion of putting ink on paper and books into bookstores. With the changes in publishing, every medium can become a distribution channel. Tim O'Reilly, company founder and CEO, gave the opening keynote presentation and had this to say: "As we see many publishers and retailers facing declining book sales, we wanted to remind everyone of the success stories, to bring together the people who are reinventing publishing, and celebrate what we've learned so far. TOC was a great forum to do just that, celebrate the successes and explore new technology." The program consisted of keynotes, presentations, and break-out sessions that covered nearly all aspects of traditional book publishing. Some of the presentations were from a more global, business-minded approach while others were based on new technology that helps modern day publishers stay on the cutting edge. Topics presented included: -"Retooling Harper Collins for the 21st Century," Brian Murray, Harper Collins -"bLink: Completing the Connection Between the Analog and Digital Worlds," Manolis Kelaidis, Designer, Royal College of Art -"Free Culture and the Future of Publishing," Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia -"Social Software: What is it? How Can it Work for Publishers?" Gavin Bell, The Nature Publishing Group -"FREE: The Economics of Abundance and the Price of Zero," Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief, Wired Magazine -"Publishing in a Web 2.0 World," Tim O'Reilly, Founder and CEO, O'Reilly Media, Inc. -"Four Decades of 'Tools of Change,'" John Ingram, Chairman, Ingram Book Group A key component to any OÂReilly conference is providing attendees an opportunity to network, share ideas, and information. At TOC, conference goers were able to choose from a variety of extra events surrounding the sessions themselves. Specifically: -Lightning Demos: Fast-paced introductions to new publishing technologies and the companies behind them -Birds of a Feather sessions (BOFs) allowed any participant to lead an informal evening session -The sponsor reception gave attendees another opportunity to network while enjoying drinks and snacks Sponsors and exhibitors were able to share information, demonstrate products, and make announcements. The exhibit hall at TOC 2007 included sponsors Ingram, Adobe, Mark Logic, Blurb, Copyright Clearance Center, iRex Technologies, LibreDigital, Malloy, Microsoft Live Search Books, Qoop, Safari Books Online, and SharedBook. The following sponsors/exhibitors made announcements at the conference: -Ingram Digital Group announced alliance with Microsoft Corporation -O'Reilly Media, Inc. announced a new "chapter-at-a-time" purchasing approach -Adobe announced the availability of their new Digital Editions product -Copyright Clearance Center announced Rightslink The feedback from the first TOC conference has been very positive, with many attendees inquiring about the 2008 event. Although the exact date and venue is being planned currently, the event will be located in the New York Area for 2008. The call for participation will be issued in the coming months. Conference co-chair and O'Reilly Radar blogger, Andrew Savikas had this to say about the outcome of this year's event: "As you might expect at a conference on the future of publishing, a common discussion running through many of the keynotes and conversations here has been the future of print in a digital world. What I hadn't expected is the richness and texture of that discussion. We will be working to develop and enrich that discussion in 2008." Here are a few kudos for the First TOC Conference: "A festival of practical geekery" -- Publishers Weekly "A techie-meets-publishing idea extravaganza" -- Marci Alboher "Eye-opening" -- Booksquare "TOC has come along not a moment too soon...If you have any interest at all in the future of books and/or the publishing industry and you didnÂt make it to TOC, well, youÂll just have to try harder next year" -- Medialoper "It's a big week and I suspect a much more relevant one these days than the recently held BookExpo." -- Book Patrol "Day two brought out the stars and visionaries of the digital publishing universe"-- Publishers Weekly Additional Resources: For complete Tools of Change 2007 details, visit: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/toc/ For a complete list of speakers and their session topics visit: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/57/speakers.html For speaker presentations, visit: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/57/presentations.... Read the TOC blog for the news, photos (available for use with attribution): http://www.oreillynet.com/conferences/blog/toc/ For information about exhibiting or sponsoring at the TOC 2008 event, contact Sharon Cordesse at (707) 827-7065 or scordesse@oreilly.com If you would like to form a media partnership with O'Reilly for an upcoming event, contact Avila Reese at (707) 827-7116 or avila@oreilly.com To read the OÂReilly Radar, visit: http://radar.oreilly.com/ Upcoming O'Reilly conferences: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/ O'Reilly conferences bring together forward-thinking business and technology leaders, shaping ideas and influencing industries around the globe. For over 25 years, O'Reilly has facilitated the adoption of new and important technologies by the enterprise, putting emerging technologies on the map. About O'Reilly O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism. O'Reilly is a registered trademark of O'Reilly Media, Inc. Other products mentioned may be trademarks of their respective companies. ### (Log in to post comments)
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