On a personal level, the day started off interestingly enough. On my way into my car, I dropped my iPhone. It only fell about 2 feet (the case slipped off my hip and onto the driveway) but when I checked it was showing the white screen of death. Various reset tricks didn't work (although I could still take phone calls using a Bluetooth headset - suggesting it was just the display that was fried and everything else was working)
But the result was that I wasn't able to use my smartphone for all the normal things I usually would.
First, GPS for navigation checks (normally only used when traffic issues led to a change in route plan - which, fortunately didn't happen on the way in).
Second, for checking in to the venue on Foursquare (mostly for the gamification of going places, and seeing who else is checked in)
Third, for the ability to quickly dip in to my inbox and scoop out the most urgent emails. Yes, I was away at a conference - but that doesn't mean messages coming in to my inbox didn't need to be considered.
Fourth, for the opportunity to snap some really quick pictures of speakers, groups of people, the crowd, interesting and amusing slides (mostly for sharing in social media)
Fifth, for the entire Twitter back-channel of conversation that has become an important part of these events (Not being able to easily follow the #TechForum12 hashtag along was strangely disconcerting - almost like being denied access to a particular track.
(Okay, I just noticed that I didn't mention making phone calls -- although I do also make phone calls on my mobile phone . . .)
But I didn't let the lack of an operational smartphone stop me from absorbing the great presentations, discussions, ideas and sharing that took place at BNC TechForum 2012. I ended up taking 9 pages of notes, in fact. (Likely more notes than usual since I wasn't as occupied with following the Twitter stream and typing neat things I heard said, responding to other people's comments or re-tweeting the gold nuggets.
There's lots to say about how wonderful this day was, and I would love to expand upon several of the things captured in my notes (which I might just do in a future blog post), but I thought I'd simply quickly dip back into my notes to highlight . . .
10 Neat Quotes from BookNet Canada Tech Forum 2012:
1) "We love to declare the death of everything."
- Liz Ross
2) On the drive towards the bottom for ebook pricing: "The $1.99 Solution is a momentary spark thrown at the fumes of gasoline."
- Evan Schnittman
3) "Print must thrive for publishing to survive."
- Evan Schnittman
4) "Books are objets. Ebooks are pure reading."
- Evan Schnittman
5) With regards to the experimentation many self published authors perform with ebook price points: "What is the thrill of the unknown actually worth?"
- Michael Tamblyn
6) "Discovery happens in a lot of ways, but there is no magic bullet."
- Kyusik Chung
7) "Agile is not a special sauce that you add to a project. It's the way the web works."
- John Maxwell
8) On Publishing: "There are easy and cheap ways to experiment with doing it differently."
- Hugh McGuire
9) On a fundamental game design question about how it should make the player feel: "Foursquare is designed to make you feel like someone who goes out a lot - like a man about town."
- Jon Ingold
10) "Books aren't passive - they never were passive. Good books are exhausting."
- Jon Ingold
Again, these are merely high level quotes that I thought bore repeating - they likely would have been the type of thing I tweeted. But instead, thought I might share them here. As mentioned, I did take a full 9 pages of notes that include presentations from more great speakers, and drew a great deal of value from the day.
And that doesn't even begin to mention the great networking and hallway discussions that took place, which is always one of those added value benefits that is hard to put a price on.
2 comments:
"1) "We love to declare the death of everything."
- Liz Ross
That came up in our booksellers panel too, remember? Sigh! I wish that whole thing would die itself!
4) "Books are objets. Ebooks are pure reading."
- Evan Schnittman
Yes. But I hope that doesn't make them elitist or rare or just for collectors.
10) "Books aren't passive - they never were passive. Good books are exhausting."
- Jon Ingold
So is reviewing them. :)
LOL - thanks, Steph. I love your insightful comments.
Yes, isn't it fascinating how much the "X is dead" thing keeps popping up?
What Evan was getting at, I believe, is the potential difference between the two. I love to read, so ebooks fulfill that desire - but there are some books that I need to hold as "objets" - things like autographed copies, books on display on my shelves, place into the hands of friends. Two different types of satisfaction with two different formats of books.
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