Frankfurt Book Fair: Saturday - Wrap Up

At a seminar I attended a few weeks ago, the speaker discussed the art of "lasering", which boils down to keeping it short and sweet when you're in a meeting with a big group of people and you've got something to say. This morning as our two hour wrap-up meeting extends into Hour Four and Beyond, with multi-lingual digressions, references to Frankfurts-past (or was that the Frankfurt before the last Frankfurt?), cigarette breaks, chit-chat among friends, cell-phone interruptions, the usual misunderstandings, and the growing possibility of a mad dash for the exit on my part - I wonder whether this guy who came up with "lasering" has ever actually heard of Europe. Or Europeans. In Europe, everything has a background story, and it is usually a really, really long one. There is no way you could just say: "The Art Dictionary? My customer wants 10,000 copies." In fact, when I respond in this way, I am usually completely ignored. And later on, people don't even remember that my client wanted that book, or that this was even my client. Or for that matter, that I even work for the company.

Of course this is a ridiculous exaggeration on my part, because we Americans are also renowned windbags.  The truth is, I have just never liked meetings and I am really glad when this one is finished!

By evening, everyone has departed except for my dear friend Marie-Eugenia from Barcelona. We sit at the bar and have a beer, chatting about the week's events. Then stroll over to the Maritime Hotel for a sushi dinner.

It is just about midnight when we walk back to the hotel. The convention hall is rocking now, as end-of-fair parties kick into high gear. I am heading up to my room to finish packing!