Announcing Move Fast and Fix Things: BISG's 2025 Annual Meeting
BISG has a long history of embracing the use of technology in book publishing. As the number of published books has grown, technology has helped book publishing operate at a scale well beyond what was known even a generation ago. Effective use of tools helps the industry effectively manage metadata, rights, workflows, and the supply chain.
Our organization is often in the middle of conversations about what's not working in book publishing. That's what led us to the theme of this year's annual meeting, "Move Fast and Fix Things", planned to take place in New York on April 25. We're at a new venue this year: the Times Center on 41st Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. The Times Center provides greater capacity with theater-style seating for the program and a separate space for lunch.
Of course, the theme this year is a direct contrast to "move fast and break things", a phrase used over the past 15 years to both praise and criticize Silicon Valley's culture of speed and experimentation. At BISG, we're fans of both speed and experimentation, but not at the cost of the supply chain that holds the industry together. We make things work better, while avoiding change for the sake of change.
The annual meeting will showcase some great examples of how that approach is helping the book business. We closed the 2024 meeting with a preview of "Book Publishing Next", BISG's multi-year commitment to transforming supply chain communication. We'll pick that up to open the annual meeting in April, offering updates on what has been done this past year and previewing what you'll see in the months to come.
We'll also feature members of the Subject Codes Committee talking about work underway to better serve the industry through wider use of merchandising themes. These themes have been expanded significantly over the past few years, and they provide publishers and retailers with important tools to group books with different subjects in ways that help consumers find what they want.
Metadata and accessibility will be a central theme, particularly ahead of mid-year deadlines imposed by the European Accessibility Act. A working group and two BISG committees have been dedicated to preparing the US supply chain for these new rules. Updates to requirements under Title II of the American Disabilities Act are expected in 2026, adding to the importance of these efforts.
The morning will close with focused updates on some of the projects we've been doing this year. Because we focus directly on fixing problems, we sometimes forget to talk about how those problems got solved. We'll introduce some of our volunteers to talk about what got fixed and what comes next.
Lunch and our industry awards are always a highlight for annual meeting attendees, and The Times Center will provide us with a new level of engagement for both. The meeting will wrap up with a closing keynote conversation you won't want to miss. Keep an eye out for a special announcement coming out in the next couple of weeks.
After we break at 2:30, all attendees will be invited to a post-meeting reception just outside The Times Center theater. We introduced the reception in 2022, and attendees consistently cite it as a way to catch up with colleagues and friends while reflecting on the day's conversations.
Tickets for the event are on sale now. Options include individual seats, tables, and (for the first time) limited premium seating at the front of the theater and during lunch. We're also offering multiple options to sponsor the meeting, and we'll be reaching out about both registration and sponsorship over the next three weeks. If you'd like a preview, you're invited to contact BISG's marketing & communications manager Liz Bartek at info@bisg.org.