Digital Book World Conference – Day 1

by Marian Schembari on January 26, 2010

Today I found out that I am a wimp. And that I would most definitely kill to have the ability to work a room.

Today was Day 1 of Digital Book World’s first annual conference in NYC and it was beyond awesome. You’d think that  a conference starting at 8am and ending at 5pm would bore you half to death but that was surprisingly not the case. I listened with rapt attention to every word and wrote a grand total of 10,000 words of notes (I wish this was an exaggeration).

After the initial speeches by hotshots like Brian Napack of Macmillan, I attended three separate panels:

  1. Getting Comfortable in the Niches: Reports from Publishers Working Their Verticals
  2. Optimizing eBooks: Cost-Effective Enhancements, Updates and Multimedia Options
  3. Synergizing the Book and Web: Books Plus In the 21st Century

I could write about the rock stars in these panels until, well, the cows come home, but that’s what the DBW blog is for so you’ll have to stay tuned. What I want to talk about though (and is really of no interest to you) is the fact that I pretty much only met two or three people today and maybe five yesterday at the Bourbon. Apparently I’m a little shy. Wtf? It’s weird, I didn’t know this about myself until I entered a bar full of publishing gurus and felt like a 12-year-old playing dress up in grownup clothes.

To top it all off I actually recognized most of the faces in the room. Due to my crazy (and probably not so healthy) blog fetish, I’ve read all the things these people have to say. I follow them on Twitter, but we’ve never actually met. And here I go not introducing myself to anyone, totally lacking in the business card department and even when some nice person does engage me in conversation it’s basically like talking to a toddler with all the insight I have to say. These people are geniuses. Well, scratch that. If they were all geniuses publishing wouldn’t be in the pickle it’s in, but still, there were some brilliant speakers today and fingers crossed tomorrow I’ll manage to crawl out of my hidey-hole and make some friends. Please? Anyone?

Tagged as: blogging, digital bookworld, publishers, Social Media, technology, twitter

  • Hey Marian - I overcame a similar issue by making it a point to talk to the speakers at a given event. There are two fairly easy ways to do this:

    1) Ask a question, during the Q&A portion of the event. By asking an intelligent question you should your understanding, that you were paying attention and that you respect their opinion enough to want it.

    2) Generally after the session a bunch of people crowd the front table to talk to the speakers. Join them. You'll get to listen to a ton of interesting cases (many of them will be asking the speakers questions - perhaps you can even venture an answer?) and even if you don't have anything to ask, let the speaker know that you really enjoyed hearing them speak - and maybe even which part of their talk they found most relevant.

    Think of how it will be when you begin presenting social networking tips at colleges - won't you want feedback? To know that this part was helpful and that part less so? It's likely the speakers at the event want the same.
  • Robin Lenz
    Please come find me--I have the same problem in crowds, and I've been in this industry for years.
    I got to meet some of the people I've admired from afar yesterday, and it was so much fun!
  • They're not geniuses, they're just people :-)

    Try talking about something other than work. The conversation will work its way around to that anyway (that's why you're there). But the whole point of networking is that you want to talk to the person - not have a discussion about how amazing they are. It's a two way thing. Saying hi to strangers is always scary, but once you've done it once, you'll find yourself doing it more. And then it's just fun. Business cards don't help unless you've had the conversation first (I've lost count of the amount of PRs who have a 'business card quota' for events and just thrust their card in your face and walk off after barely saying a word). But they are vital so get yourself some. You don't have to hand them out to everyone who asks, and then the next day, after someone has given you a card, drop them an email saying it was nice to meet them. They'll remember you the next time making it so much easier to talk to them at the next event. Et voila, you're networking, without 'networking'.
  • Rachel Vincent
    I suffer from the same complex. People that know me would never ever think that I am shy, but get me in a room of strangers, especially if they are people there I know of and admire, and hello shyness. I make it a goal to talk to a certain number of people during each event. (so maybe during the morning session, I will walk up to 10 people or something). Having a goal that I am trying to meet has helped me to push past that shyness. Don't know if will help, but thought I'd toss it out there. :)
  • Livi
    also, not sure what time it is over there, but go to office depot or something and buy yourself some business cards...go home and print them...NOW
  • Livi
    Dearest Marian,

    So you are a social NETWORKING guru but cant talk to people in person...you cant let people miss out on your awesomeness!! Tomorrow,when you recognize a face I want you to go up to that person, introduce yourself, mention something you recently read on their blog/what you like about their tweets or whatever you remember about them. Possibly mention some panel you went, some issue about the conference you are at... I mean you are at the same conference as them...theres plenty to talk about.

    I expect an email with at least 10 names tomorrow.

    Love,
    your friend who is at awe with you / wants other people to know how great you are
  • Don't let it bug you - I was at least that shy at World's Fair Use Day two weeks ago. If some kind soul hadn't taken pity on me at the happy hour afterwards, I barely would have spoken to anyone.
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