The ECPA Executive Leadership Summit

The ECPA Executive Leadership Summit is designed for executives and their management teams in Christian publishing, who gather to network and learn from world class experts who speak on current issues important to the industry.

WHAT’S NEW THIS YEAR: A Monday through Wednesday format, a lower registration price, hosted in Nashville at The B&H Publishing headquarters: all to enable attendees to attend with their management teams in order to take advantage of time to meet and strategize on the pressing issues and current topics presented on by experts inside and outside of Christian publishing.

Gutenberg Church in a Google World

Dr. Leonard Sweet is the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Fox University.

No one gets to pick your birth date. What does it mean, in the words of the Charles Wesley song, “to serve this present age, our calling to fulfill”? How can we be more faithful to the time and place and people to whom we have been divinely assigned? How can we start afresh with Googleys but not start from scratch, disregarding the texts, traditions and inherited memories of the saints? If we are all missionaries now in a foreign land, Len will give us a crash course in learning the language and customs of a Google culture.
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Sponsored by:

The Publishing Pendulum: The Future of Content Creation and Promotion
Michael Drew, Book Publicist and founder of Promote A Book

In his Monday Morning Memo in December 2003, Roy H. Williams proclaimed, "We're about to finish 1963 for the second time." A second time, 40 years later? Forty years is how long a true generation stays in power and during that period, we can see social change that's evolutionary, not just revolutionary. 72 million American teenagers of today are poised to take over the world. Do you fully appreciate the bonds that bind them, technological and otherwise? It takes interest, time, and hard work to understand modern society and where it's going. Michael Drew, who has played a key role in creating 61 national bestsellers, has done his homework and will present on how the world is changing and what that means for your what that means for your publishing program.
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Reinventing Your Company for the Future
Skip Prichard, President/CEO, Ingram Content Group

Many publishers are searching for the right model to move their company into the future. Technological changes in the publishing landscape -- from print on demand to digital content and electronic devices to downloadable audio -- has created a challenging crux for publishing leaders to reinvent and redefine their organizations.

According to the Harvard Business Review on Leading Through Change, 70% of all change initiatives fail--but yours doesn’t have to. Learn how to overcome the challenges that come with leading through change from Skip Prichard.
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How Much Does Free Cost?
Brian F. O'Leary, founder and principal of Magellan Media

As more and more digital content becomes available, the concerns about the impact of free content, piracy, and the ability or inability to protect content grows. How might digital piracy affect print sales? Does free content cause sales in any format to grow or decline? In 2008, Magellan Media began monitoring file sharing of O’Reilly Media titles on peer-to-peer sites to determine its impact on paid content sales. The research has revealed a possible positive correlation between piracy and paid sales. Brian O'Leary's presentation will detail the latest findings that include 2009 updates for O'Reilly and Random titles as well as Thomas Nelson, a 2009 participant.

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Survey of Recent Sales Trends and Ways of Working between Retailers and Publishers
Joe Gonnella: Vice President of Adult Trade Merchandising
Jane Love: Christian Book Buyer
Liz Harwell: Divisional Merchandise Manager

Joe Gonnella, Jane Love and Liz Harwell will speak on trends and new initiatives for the Christian book category in Barnes & Noble, the largest bookstore chain in the country.

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Marketing and Selling your Books through Google Books
Roland Lange, Strategic Partner Development/Content Acquisition, Google

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. In fact their name is a play on the word "googol", the mathematical term for 1 followed by 100 zeros reflecting the immense volume of information that exists. The realization of this mission has had, and will continue to have a dramatic impact on the discovery and distribution of content in the publishing industry. Google Books has partnered with over 30,000 publishers to promote their books to potential readers across the Internet and is on the verge of adding a major sales program, Google Editions, to the services it offers its partners Roland Lange will explain where Google Books is and where it's going, providing an update on their programs designed to help publishers market and sell their books. He will also host an extended Q&A session covering how the search engine interacts with the book industry.
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The Next Evangelicalism
Rev. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah is Milton B. Engebretson Assistant Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL

The future is now. Philip Jenkins has chronicled how the next Christendom has shifted away from the Western church toward the global South and East. Likewise, changing demographics mean that North American society will accelerate its diversity in terms of race, ethnicity and culture. But evangelicalism has long been held captive by its predominantly white cultural identity and history.

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Understanding the E-book Consumer: Further Results from BISG’s Consumer Survey
Kelly Gallagher, Vice President of Publishing Services at RR Bowker

Although much of the publishing industry is working hard to develop and implement digital strategies, there’s little available research that evaluates book consumers’ actual interest in and preferences for digital content, or the factors that influence their reading habits and purchasing decisions.

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Industry Case Study:
How Rose Publishing's web traffic and online sales have grown during the worst recession since WW2
Gretchen Goldsmith, President of Rose Publishing

Online marketing is growing due to the high costs and declining effectiveness of traditional methods. There are many choices: emailing, banner ads, Twitter, Facebook, Google Adwords, SEO, and more. Forget the wild-eyed blue-sky mentality toward internet advertising, this seminar is packed with tips and data based on a one-year case study of Rose Publishing's four-fold growth in unique visitors to their website from September 08 to August 09, as well as measurable increases in sales in multiple channels. It will give traditional print publishers a variety of ideas about new methods and will show ways to track ROI for online efforts. Marketing, technical, and financial people will benefit from this 30-minute session.
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Industry Case Study:
The Birth of a Healthy New Christian Fiction Line
Tammy Gaines, Vice President of Abingdon Press

In the fall of 2008, Abingdon Press launched a new line of Christian fiction. In spite of the worst economy since the Great Depression, the launch was successful and the line promises to be a strong contributor to Abingdon’s offerings going forward. In this presentation, Tammy will give an overview of why they chose Abingdon’s launch and highlight some of their successes and key learnings.

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Industry Case Study: How B&H's Bible Navigator Opened the Gospel to Gamers
Aaron Linne, Executive Producer of Digital Marketing of B&H Publishing Group

In August of 2009, B&H wanted to find an untapped channel in which to market their Bible translation, the HCSB. B&H took a risk and decided to invest in developing a digital Bible for the XBOX 360; the first Bible ever on a home video game console. In this seminar, Aaron Linne will discuss the history of the application, including the bump in the road that almost caused the project to be cancelled at the last minute. Find out how this product-as-marketing became a success for the HCSB translation before the launch even happened, and how we chose to measure its success.


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Industry Transitions
Mike Hyatt, CEO Thomas Nelson/ECPA Chairman
Mark Kuyper, ECPA President/CEO
Cris Doornbos, President/CEO of David C Cook / incoming ECPA Board Chair

Just prior to the Executive Leadership Summit, ECPA Chairman of the Board and Thomas Nelson CEO Mike Hyatt will complete his last term of service on the ECPA board, and Cris Doornbos, President and CEO of David C Cook, will take his place. During this session ECPA President and CEO Mark Kuyper, along with Hyatt and Doornbos, will discuss the trends, issues, challenges and opportunities facing Christian publishers. They will also review the role of the association, both past and future, in collaboratively addressing industry issues. Expect a lively and frank interchange of ideas and opinions from industry leaders as well as an opportunity for Q&A from attendees.

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Morning Devotions
Pete Wilson, founding pastor Cross Point Church, Nashville, Tennessee
Reverend Thomas McKenzie, Pastor, Church of the Redeemer, Nashville

Biography
Pete Wilson is the founding pastor of Cross Point Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Cross Point is a six year-old church which reaches over 2,500 people each weekend through its three campuses located around the metro Nashville area. Pete's a pastor, speaker, and author who resides in Nashville with his wife, Brandi, and their 3 boys, Jett, Gage, and Brewer. His highly-anticipated first book, entitled "Plan B" will be released in 2010 through Thomas Nelson Publishing.

Biography
The Reverend Thomas McKenzie is the first Pastor of Church of the Redeemer. He, his wife, and two daughters have lived in Nashville since 1999. He is originally from the Texas Panhandle. His Master's Degree in Divinity is from Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA. He was ordained in the Anglican Communion in 1998. He currently serves as a missionary to the U.S. under the authority of the Archbishop of Rwanda and the Anglican Mission in the Americas.
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Awards Ceremony featuring the 2010 Christian Book Awards
The Christian Book Awards will be presented on Monday evening, along with the Christian Book of the Year, the Jordon Lifetime Achievement Award, and other industry recognitions.


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