My Yale Education

In the last 24 hours, I’ve met a whole lotta new colleagues in the book publishing industry. I’ve talked with people from New Haven and New York, from Kansas City and from St. Paul. I’ve spoken with publishing people from Frankfurt and Amsterdam, from Denmark, Beirut and Qatar.

Such is the international mind-melding going on at the Yale Publishing Course. Take 100 or so folks from all over the world, bring them and their questions about the future of the industry and their part in it into one lovely conference center on the campus of one prestigious university. Mix in a steady stream of industry experts as speakers, add delicious meals and snacks, a constant supply of caffeine, and the occasional happy hour or field trip, such as a tour of the Yale campus. It is an atmosphere intended, according to Program Director Tina Weiner, to inspire dialogue between attendees and to leave behind the problems of the industry and focus on finding possible solutions.

The result? Who knows? It remains to be determined what happens when the attendees part on Friday and bring their brainstorms and their newfound knowledge and contacts back to their home incubators. We shall see. I shall follow up, of course!

And until then, my thanks to my hosts at the Yale University Publishing Course for the inspiring and informative company and for underscoring my faith that, despite the turmoil, change and/or uncertainty many of us are experiencing in our various professional endeavors, our industry attitude is one of forward-looking optimism.