BookMachine Oxford was fun, wasn't it!

A few days have passed since Oxford’s inaugural BookMachine shindig. It was a night that, as one of the hosts (along with my buddy Emily, BookMachine’s Laura and Gavin, and Osprey Group’s CEO), I was really excited about. The event was a resounding success, so much so that it took a while for my mind to stop buzzing about the whole thing. (No, that wasn’t just the Mangotinis.)

The most important part of my blog post today is this: a massive thank you to every single person that came along. You were all really nice, and if I didn’t get to speak to you this time I can’t wait to do so at the next party.

Over the past couple of days I have been mulling over what I think made the event worthy of all the lovely feedback that has been received by us all. Here goes my post-match analysis (ironically being typed during the final of Euro 2012).

1)    The idea, input, support and experience of Laura and Gavin are all vital to BookMachine parties. No Laura and Gavin, no shindig.

Which leads neatly on to the next point:

2)    BookMachine showcases the interesting and entertaining aspects of publishing to those in the industry. People want to read what BookMachine flags up, and flagging up is one of the things BookMachine does best. Publishing folk + BookMachine tweets = happiness.

Talking of happiness…

3)    Oxford is a nice place full of nice people. Oxford also has lots of publishing companies. Therefore Oxford is full of nice people that work in publishing.

Nice people are completely fine as they are. So:

4)    Our only plan was for people to come along, drink and chat. No speeches. No gimmick. No theme. Even the name labels were optional.

This simplicity was on the recommendation of Laura and Gavin. So to complete the circle:

5)    Return to point 1.

Thanks again!