Publishing Business Virtual Conference & Expo Is Today. Editorial Director Noelle Skodzinski Gives You the Lowdown

This is our third year for hosting the virtual event. We expect around 3,000 attendees this year.

Oh, and you wanted me to explain "What the heck the virtual event is": It's just like an in-person conference and expo, except that it is all accessible via your computer and a web browser. So you can sit at your desk (with your goggles), and when you log in, you're brought into the main lobby, which simulates a convention facility. You'll see an auditorium, where the live and on-demand sessions are held, an information booth for help, the expo hall, among other things. Attendees can pick which sessions they'd like to attend; there are both live and on-demand sessions (which can be viewed at any time throughout the day).

Extra: You've lined up some great speakers and panelists. What do you think book publishers will take away from the sessions?

Skodzinski: I think they'll be most impressed with my welcome video and my introduction of the brilliant speakers we have. (Kidding.) Seriously, we have amazing speakers who you can learn so much from just by listening to them for 5 minutes, let alone in full sessions.

We have sessions on best practices in e-book metadata, e-book conversion options, a great session on tapping apps, which will address the anatomy of a book app strategy—from conception to finding success in the app marketplace—as well as what will be the next "killer app" in mobile apps. (It's a secret. I can't tell you more than that!) And a great session on digital printing trends and opportunities featuring Blake Silber, president of Bridge Publications, Adi Chinai of King Printing and Toby Cobrin of INTERQUEST.

And, there's a session on digital rights management, which will focus on strategies for implementing profitable DRM, as well as the impact of the cloud; and an e-chat with Sundeep Kapur, a social media mastermind—really, he's brilliant, as well as funny and very entertaining.