My first time at Frankfurter Buchmesse in Germany turned out to be both astonishing and informative.
The platform was immense, and it took quite a time to understand the floor map, as there were many halls to walk. This five-day yearly exhibition and conference come in mid-October with the initial three days reserved only for trade visitors and, the remaining is open only for non-trade visitors, students, cos-players, etc. It all started with a press conference a day before the actual event, and I posted a question about the
“Role of technology in publishing and the fate of companies who rely on it”, though I got a diplomatic answer, that was a genuine doubt I had.
Press Conference at FBF – 2022
It is the world’s biggest book trade fair in terms of no.of exhibitors and accommodates various professionals from the publishing industry who join together to share novel strategies, sell or purchase rights, and introduce technologies, budding authors, and novels.
I have attended as a Trade visitor to understand the nuances of the book fair to plan our existing and future clients. My role was meeting as many companies as possible across cultures and understanding current business trends. I met many people with whom I have discussed potential business opportunities. It was dazzling to see how various countries have represented their publishers like South Korea, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, China, Saudi Arabia, Italia, and more.
Every hall was dedicated to the specific country publishers, and also, they were segregated as per the industry like STM Publishers, Tech, Newspaper Magazine, etc.
I have met many professionals and had networking high tea, lunches, and dinners to get to know more about the businesses. It was a surreal experience as we shared some cultural backgrounds to know more about our countries. Overall, FBF was a great ice-breaker. While the weather was ambient most of the time, even rain was curious to see how the Book Fair was, it was a cameo though.
I would like to end this blog by saying thank you to all the professionals I met, and looking forward to meeting you again. Next year, perhaps we might put up a stall, fingers crossed.
Raj.G
