Posted by Terri Hardin under BooksResponses (2)

Those of us in the publishing business often wonder if people still read (hello? anybody out there?), just as those of us in the meetings and conventions industry concern ourselves with the health of the trade show.

So it is with delight and even more relief to learn that the Frankfurt Book Fair, which is THE international trade show of publishing, met with record numbers this year. According to Book Fair spokesperson, Thomas Minkus,

For the publishing industry, the Frankfurt Book Fair has been a lively, optimistically minded working fair. The atmosphere in the halls was outstanding. Alongside our Guest of Honour India and the new focus “Education for the Future”, public interest concentrated in particular on young authors like the winner of the German Book Prize 2006, Katharina Hacker”, was how Book Fair director Juergen Boos summed up the Fair on the last day. Overall, more than 286,000 people had come to the 58th Frankfurt Book Fair which with a total of 7,272 exhibitors had attracted more exhibitors than ever before.

The Fair filled more than 1.8 million square feet of the Frankfurt Congress Center, with 63 percent of attendees being trade show delegates, and the remainder being general entrance. It has even spawned its own film festival, with international film directors and stars presenting work that originally derived from the printed word.

There was even a moment of silence (pictured) for the slain Russian journalist, Anna Politicowskaja.

Nice to know people still care – and care a lot – for journalism, literature, and the trade show that facilitates the world’s reading material.

Hey, what was the last book YOU read?

Posted by Sara Welch under BooksResponses (1)

There's a new book out called Satisfaction: How Every Great Company Listens to the Voice of the Customer by Chris Denove and James D. Power IV (Portfolio, $25.95). To no one's surprise, the authors tell us that lots of companies treat their customers poorly and lose business as a result. But what is surprising . . .

Continue reading "Keep the Customer Satisfied"

Posted by Terri Hardin under BooksResponses (1)

I’m reading a very interesting book: The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki. The book’s subtitle, "Why the Many Are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies, and Nations," pretty much explains what he’s getting at, and, may I say, makes a nice change from the subtitles of other bestsellers out there, which I will characterize as "How Egg Heads Spewing Five Dollar Words Are Destroying America."

In fact, Surowiecki is an egg head, and when he gave the keynote speech at MeetingWorld’s closing luncheon last summer, I was afraid at first that all the polysyllabic tympany he was rolling in our direction would start an earthquake. Instead, it did something else earth-shaking: It made all the planners, suppliers, and media in the room stop eating and hang on his every five-dollar word.

I’m not going to steal much of Surowiecki’s thunder, just go to Amazon.com and read an excerpt from The Wisdom of Crowds. Instead, I’ll just ask this: When we look for speakers with the broadest appeal, how do we know we’re making the right decision?

Continue reading "Go for Broke"

Posted by Sara Welch under BooksResponses (0)

A new book just landed on my desk that should be of great interest to planners: The Event Marketing Handbook: Beyond Logistics and Planning (Kaplan Publishing, 2006), by Allison Saget. In discussing how organizations can use events to achieve their sales goals, Saget comes up with an interesting concept: the "BLT Approach."

BLT stands for "Brand Recognition, Lead Generation, and Thought Leadership." It's all about teaching planners to think like salespeople. It sounds great, but I haven't had lunch yet today, and all this talk of BLTs is making my stomach growl.

For more information on the book, visit this link.