The Latest on Bark! Fest, the Book Festival for Animal Lovers, and the Panel Recordings Coming Soon
Lovely feedback on Bark! Fest and an update on when to expect the recordings.
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Bark! Fest, the book festival for animal lovers, took place online in September 2024 and I thought it was amazing. I'm delighted that so many of you did, too. I absolutely loved hearing all of the authors talk about their books and read from them.
I originally planned this as a one-off, live event to celebrate the launch of my book Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog. There's something special about doing things with a live audience and that was certainly the case here--especially as there were some people who came to all or almost all of the events, or who watched all of the recordings.
We had 11 author panels, 23 authors, an incredibly fun tricks class, up to 500 people who signed up for individual events--and more than 1600 people who signed up for part of the festival.
By the end, it really felt like we had a wonderful community of people who care deeply about dogs and cats (and their humans), and that was very special. I'm so grateful to the audience for turning up to these events in such a positive way and being so welcoming to and curious about our speakers.
There were some challenges, including the fact that my computer died on the first night, leaving me to run the rest of the festival from my husband's laptop, which runs Linux. I ended up liking Linux but it took some getting used to. This felt like a disaster at the time but ended up being a blessing in disguise, because it meant that when there was a family emergency I could run the remaining events from elsewhere on my shiny new laptop.
Because I've had a lot of things going on in the last several weeks, some wonderful and some very hard indeed, to me Bark! Fest already feels like a lifetime away. But I finally have time to start catching up on getting the recordings out.
I originally didn't have plans for the recordings beyond letting those who signed up in advance watch, in case they couldn't attend live on the day. But given that some events reached capacity and there were many people who wanted to attend but couldn't, I will be making all of the recordings of the panels available.
I know that some people prefer video while others prefer audio of recordings. And I'm proud to say that our podcast, The Pawsitive Post in Conversation, is currently no. 4 in Canada on Apple for podcasts on pets and animals. So the recordings will go out as both video on my Youtube channel and as audio on the podcast.
I have another podcast episode that has been waiting in the wings for a while. So I'm going to get that out first, soon, and after that, I'll start to release the recordings. It shouldn't be too much work, although it's the kind of thing where it always takes more time than you think. So I'm going to aim for one a week and hopefully this will fit around my work schedule (but please be patient if there's occasionally a delay. Thank you. Like I said, I've got a lot going on at the moment).
The video of the panel with Dr. Patricia McConnell is already on Youtube because that was the first one to reach capacity. So this will be the first one to go on the podcast too, and after that I'll share them in chronological order.
Those of you who are signed up to my email list will get a notification whenever there's a new episode, and if you like you can also subscribe via your podcast app or Youtube to be notified there.
I know that you are going to love every single one of these recordings. We had some absolutely amazing authors with the most wonderful books.
Remember that you can support the authors, and me, by buying our books. They are available from all good bookstores, including Bookshop, Amazon, and UK Bookshop.
At every event, we were able to give a set of books away to someone who attended live. This was really fun and I am grateful to all of the authors, publishers, and publicists who helped make this happen, including my own publisher, Greystone Books. The list of winners is here.
Feedback on Bark! Fest
I was absolutely delighted by the feedback we got on the festival. Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the form.
Here are just a few of the lovely comments that we received:
"Great format, interesting speakers that offered wonderful insights - also loved the time allotted as it was just enough to squeeze into the day. Authors were very generous with their information and perspective; so interesting to have a look behind the book! Really loved this!"
"I really enjoyed that it wasn't all dog trainers and behavior books. Granted, I LOVE those books, and adore those authors, but seeing the rich tapestry of all the ways animals intersect with our reading/education/entertainment was refreshing, different, and enjoyable!"
"All the events I attended had a very warm, welcoming and cosy atmosphere, it almost felt like sitting down for a cup of tea with close friends. The speakers had an excellent rapport, and I love how we got to hear each of them read from their work - it immediately made the books "come to life" for me. Also, great work scheduling the events in a way that worked for everyone's time zones - no easy feat!"
"One of the best online events I have ever attended - a literary festival in my living room about my favorite topic - animals!"
"The Bark! Fest was a source of inspiration to me as a dog guardian to know that there's an existing community that values respect, thoughtful and caring relationships and interactions with our companion animals, science-based and humane training/raising/teaching methods. Much gratitude and appreciation for the authors' contributions."
...and there are many more similar comments.
If you didn't complete the feedback form but would like to share your thoughts on Bark! Fest, you can send me an email.
There were also some great suggestions for authors should I happen to run it again. I'm holding off on making a decision on that until the new year. There's a lot to weigh up, as the Zoom licence is expensive and it was a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes.
Whether or not I ever run another Bark! Fest, I am incredibly happy that I was able to host such a lovely event.
Thank You
It only remains to say a heartfelt thank you to Kristi Benson for all of her help and wonderful co-hosting, to Greystone Books for their support behind the scenes, to all of our amazing authors, to Erica Beckwith for the super fun tricks class, to my agent for her support and encouragement, and to everyone who attended Bark! Fest, whether you came to one session or to them all.
It was a huge success, even better than I dared to imagine when planning the event, and I'm so grateful to everyone who was part of it. Thank you!
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| Photo: Elen Nika/Shutterstock |
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