Book traders who still wonder where the digital era is taking them would be well advised to spend a few days in Cannes next February. At the 6th Milia -- aka International Content Market for Interactive Media -- scheduled for February 9-12, the password will be convergence: between content providers and publishers, publishers and delivery systems.
Milia was conceived as a meeting place for print and electronic publishers at a time when CD-ROMs were about as far forward as anybody was looking. When online all but snuffed out offline, traditional publishers seemed to have less and less reason to be there. Now that book people must cope with Web sites and e-commerce, and with online delivery just around the bend, the book trade should again be at the center of things at Cannes's seafront Festival Palace.
Since electronic publishing remains in the development stage -- and by definition is new to everybody-the Milia show continues to be a dual event. There is the market itself, with booths for developers and producers on four levels of the Festival Palace, plus a daily round of high-profile lectures, demonstrations and panels. Milia's organizer, Reed Midem in Paris (part of the global exhibition group that also produces BookExpo America and the London International Book Fair), makes things easy for visitors more interested in learning than in exhibiting by providing for boothless participation. A fee high enough to discourage kibitzers ($750) includes a listing in the print catalogue and online directory; a private work area for meetings and a personal message box; access to the floor show and all events; and a hotel reservation service offering preferential rates. The fee also provides entry to Milia's unique consultancy clinic, at which electronics experts and international lawyers are available free of charge for advice on digital publishing, both strategic and operational.
Its pioneering role has made Milia the focal point for such majors as Microsoft, Intel, Sony and Havas; for leading producers such as Dorling Kindersley; and for media giants, including BBC, Japan's NHK, Deutsche Telekom, and France's Telecom. Keynote speakers will include the likes of Yahoo's Tim Koogle.
An opening panel on February 9 will offer an "industry scan," focusing on the drivers in technology, e-commerce, entertainment/gaming and distribution (ranging from broadband-enhanced TV to consoles and CD-ROM). Another seminar that morning will tackle the means of reconciling the free flow of information with the rights of authors, performers and producers. That afternoon, a panel led by MIT fellow Michael Schrage will focus on the media company business model (how to create and define value in today's market). Other panels throughout the event will cover piracy, strategies for obtaining venture capital and starting up -- this last led by five Internet entrepreneurs from New York's Silicon Alley. On February 11, a morning seminar will address the means of finding interactive broadband content to create new revenue streams; another that afternoon, conducted by Barry Salzman of Internet advertising specialist DoubleClick International, will offer an overview of global online advertising campaigns. As Milia's executive director Laurine Garaude told PW, "There are so many important reasons for coming to Milia, but the main one is to be able to look a little further into the future than is usually possible."
Bowing to the inevitable, Milia will take a giant step in the direction of games next February with a show-within-the-show, and a number of panel sessions will target game creators and producers. The Milia prize ceremony will reflect the departure, with several categories of contestants in the game field.
For tradition, browse the floor: historical and art archives at the stands of Bill Gates's Corbis, the Keystone picture agency and France's National Museums; packaging, with old-new logos, including Italy's De Agostini and UTET, France's Gallimard, Spain's Anaya, Britain's Marshall Media; go for the exotic, with Young Digital Poland and Japan's Tao Human Systems (computer-generated images and games); or check out new markets at the collective stands of Taiwan and China.
Exhibitors and nonexhibiting participants can access the catalogue in advance. The Web site (www.milia.com) is open to all comers; after registration, participants will get a password to access the show's database in order to make advance appointments.
