Daunt and Newton to speak at IPG Virtual Spring Conference

Waterstones c.e.o. James Daunt and Bloomsbury founder Nigel Newton are among the list of speakers for the IPG's first ever Virtual Spring Conference, which is now fully booked.

The event will take place on Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd June, with a total of 43 speakers taking part in 25 different live and pre-recorded sessions. More than 600 people have booked tickets for the conference, which will tackle urgent issues and offer information and inspiration to strengthen business amid the current crisis. Delegates will also have access to a virtual exhibitors' hall, allowing them to connect with fellow publishers, publishing suppliers and service providers.

Sessions include keynotes on publishing’s responses to the pandemic crisis and lessons learned in lockdown, from Bloomsbury’s Nigel Newton and DK’s Rebecca Smart; James Daunt of Waterstones and Barnes & Noblet on high street and online bookselling during and after the lockdown; a survey of content and consumption trends from tech and media analyst Benedict Evans; and discussions on the pandemic’s impact on specific sectors from Atlantic’s Will Atkinson, Berghahn Books’ Vivian Berghahn, Globe Law & Business’ Jim Smith and Nosy Crow’s Tom Bonnick and Kate Wilson.

Also on the agenda are agents’ views on change in publishing from Curtis Brown’s Jonny Geller and rights advice from Blake Friedmann’s Isobel Dixon, and guidance on mental health and wellbeing in the workplace from Melissa Doman, as well as insights into the pandemic’s impacts on international markets from Michael Gordon-Smith of the Australian Publishers Association and Peter Schoppertof the Singapore Book Publishers Association.

IPG chief executive Bridget Shine said: “At the IPG we’ve been hugely impressed by the resilience and agility of independent publishers during the pandemic. We’ve sought to channel their energy and innovation into this unique virtual event, which we hope will give our members the chance to reflect and gather ideas and guidance to get through the current challenges and make their businesses even better.”

The full programme is now available on the IPG's website.