German Book Office announces a Product Development Bootcamp for professionals from

publishing and content industries

2nd-3rd December 20-16, India International Centre, New Delhi: The German Book Office (GBO) is

organizing a training workshop on content/product development for professionals from the

publishing, media and content industry. The workshop is a third in the series of training events

conducted by the GBO as part of its annual Young Professionals Programme (YPP).

About Young Professionals Programme

In 2014, GBO New Delhi launched a programme for Young Professionals to impart skills needed in the

age of transmedia, where the phone is increasingly becoming the primary device for access to

information and knowledge. The workflows and revenue models have been influenced by this

phenomena and are evolving to adapt to an atomised delivery of content.

The Indian industry is experiencing a rise in the engagement of young professionals who are making a

significant contribution to the strategy of the future. The face of the industry is also changing very

competitively and there is a dearth of training opportunity on the new age models. The world of

digital content creation can be a complicated one with so many different platforms and consumption

patterns. In India, there is currently another shortfall in the area of short term hands-on training

modules. This program is aimed at young professionals who are already working in the industry and

wish to acquire expertise in new techniques in publishing and allied sector.

The two YPP training workshops that have been organized in the last two years have catered to the

learning needs of 136 participants from more than 30 publishing houses.

Need for a training event for young professionals in Product Development

By virtue of the fact that professionals in the content/publishing industry are engaged with certain

specific aspects of the industry, it is not uncommon for them to lose sight of a bird’s eye view of their

respective organisations. At the heart of this year’s YPP training programme on product development

is the belief that developing a new product/service is similar to developing a new enterprise. The

programme, therefore, aims to inspire the participants to cultivate an entrepreneurial approach,

enable them to execute an idea and refining it continuously.

Focus of Young Professionals Programme 2016

With new product/service development strategies for publishing and content industry as the theme,

the two-day workshop addresses a major need felt by the young professionals by offering a platform

for generating and cultivating ideas as well as by providing access to networking opportunities, new

methods as well as inputs and mentoring support from the most renowned industry specialists..

Format

The two-day workshop is based on a hands-on exercise format led by experts intimately involved in

the development of new products and services in the content sector. The participants will work in

cross-functional teams to work through the stages of product development and present the product

pitch at the closure of the programme. The teams will engage with their ideas using the design

thinking method that is relevant for customer-related creative projects. Issues of licensing will also be

touched upon.

Participants

Publishing/ content professionals from the Editorial, Design, Operations and Sales & Marketing

domains.

Highlights:

• In order to witness the outcome of the workshop, the CEOs/MDs of the participating

publishing companies will be present during the idea-pitching session that is scheduled

towards the end of the second day of the programme.

• Input on Consumer data by Mr. Vikrant Mathur, Nielsen India

Participating Companies: Bajaj & Co. Oxford University Press, MBD Group, Agamee Prakashan,

Scholastic India, Harpercollins India and others.

Young Professionals Programme-Mentors/Speakers

R.Sriram co-founded “Next Practice Retail” in 2006 and is an advisor to

Seedfund. He is an Independent Director on the Boards of Kokuyo Camlin

Ltd and Kokuyo Camlin Alphakids Ltd. He served as President of The Indus

Entrepreneurs (TiE) Mumbai (2010-12). He serves on the board of advisors

of the non-profits Pratham Books, Junoon Theatre and Toybank. He

established the Crossword Book Awards (now Vodafone Crossword Book

Awards) to annually recognize & reward the best of Indian writers &

books that he continues to oversee. He has curated the Kala Ghoda

Literature Festival from 2005 to 2010. He’s a visiting faculty at IIM A & a

guest lecturer at IIM L & other business schools. He is particularly

interested in entrepreneurship, innovation, business strategy &

incubation, purpose & culture, leadership & next practices.

Katja Splichal(Germany), is head of online, software and new product

development at Stuttgart based publisher Eugen Ulmer since 2013. Since

April 2014, she is also heading the online publishing department and is

member of the Executive Committee. Her main fields of work include the

development of the CMS, the development of digital business models, the

implementation of solutions for digital publishing in e-books, apps, e-

papers and databases, as well as support for the e-learning business

segment. Prior to that, she was the Head of Media Relations & Product

Development at PaperC from 2011 to 2013.

Consumer Insights by Nielsen India, Vikrant Mathur: Vikrant Mathur

was appointed as Associate Director of Nielsen BookScan in 2010 and

currently heads the India operations of Nielsen Book. He and his team are

also responsible for the development and sales of Nielsen BookData

information services and instrumental in educating the book industry

about the importance of metadata to both publishers and booksellers and

the benefit and value to their businesses. With more than 13 years of

experience in the Market Research Industry, Mathur has worked across

verticals including information, technology and consumer markets.

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