650x650_3c4bd1a2bd3a8d50a46d13d6ee936b6751ad6eb51378891d57c5402a.jpgOver the years, industry website ICv2 has produced various one day conferences covering the business of comics and pop culture. Last year, owner Milton Griepp delivered his traditional white paper which was paired with a reception. 

This year, the reception and white paper return with the addition of three talks by pretty notable people.

On Thursday, October 6, ICv2 Insider Talks and Happy Hour will present four top speakers for brief talks plus Q&A from 3-5 p.m., followed by a cocktail reception from 5-6 p.m. Speakers include Griepp with the white paper, producer Vivek J. Tiwary, convention/demographics concultant Rob Salkowitz, and in an exciting announcement, Karen Berger, former Vertigo editor and currently editing a book for Image.

The event is FREE to attend but you must register as a professional or press. 

Thursday just got very interesting.

More info here and below.

We’ve been looking for a way to bring together the leaders of the business around shorter, more potent discussions of key topics, and we believe we’ve found it with the ICv2 Insider Talks.  And it’s great to be able to host an opportunity to celebrate the first day of New York Comic Con and connect with old and new friends in the business at the ICv2 Happy Hour.  When creators, publishers, retailers, digital execs, press and analysts, and others in the business all come together, good things happen, and we’re very happy to be part of that.

Europe Comics has signed on as a Co-Sponsor of the event, and comiXology, Diamond Comic Distributors and New York Comic Con are sponsors.  It’s their support that makes it possible to host this as a free event.

 

Here are three of the four Insider Talks, and we’ve just received word that Vertigo founding editor Karen Berger will be the fourth (more on that later):

Milton Griepp:  Current trends and the Future of Retail
Each year at these events, Griepp presents a White Paper on the state of the comics and graphic novel market, including trends by category (superhero, author, manga, kids) and channel (comic store, book channel, digital).  This year, Griepp will look ahead at what these trends mean for the future of retail, and the best, and worst, scenarios for comics and graphic novels five years out.

Rob Salkowitz:  Navigating the Fan Con-Vergence: What New Data Can Tell Us about Events and Audiences
The explosion of fan conventions, with multiple huge events every weekend from March to November, has created some unprecedented challenges.  How do publishers, exhibitors, celebrities and organizers get a better handle on who’s going to what shows so they can reach their best customers?  ICv2 and Forbes columnist and industry analyst Rob Salkowitz presents exclusive new data and new analytics tools that provide insights into the convention audience: which shows are most popular with different fandoms, what brands and media influence different fan groups, what we can learn from analyzing ticket sales, and more.

Vivek J. Tiwary:  Business Lessons from The Fifth Beatle
The Beatles were the greatest songwriters of all time–but even those timeless songs couldn’t sell themselves.  In the beginning, no record company, radio station, or concert hall wanted to touch the Beatles.  It took a young, brilliant entrepreneur named Brian Epstein–the subject of Tiwary’s graphic novel The Fifth Beatle (Dark Horse Comics)–to change all that.  Drawing from the entertaining, inspiring and untold story of “the man who made the Beatles,” Tiwary will share a series of business skills applicable to any company or executive, at any stage of corporate history or personal development, including:

– The Value of both Practical and Esoteric Goals
– Using New Technologies and Going Viral
– Identifying Trends v. Creating Progress

From there, he’ll suggest ways that these business lessons can be applied not just to bettering the output of our industry–but to effecting positive change in these troubled times.

For more information on this event and our speakers, click here.

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