Last Wednesday at 11am we hosted the first #BookMachine Twitter Chat of 2014. The topic of debate was: Will we all be meeting face-to-face in 10 years time?

The question has already been answered in different industries but we wanted to know the answer for the publishing industry.

The discussion consisted of topics such as the importance of personal interaction in business, the role of innovative tools like Hangouts which enable you to have a face-to-face conversations and the new platform to buy and sell rights. Have a look at our Storify.

The Twitter Chat flowed from the general question to more in detail discussions about the best way to do business. Publishers logged on from both Spain and the UK. It was a multicultural and enriching experience for all involved.

Although there was an agreement on the relevance of digital meeting tools as a productive method of conducting business in the publishing industry, the resounding opinion was that the face-to-face interactions are and will be essential now and in the future.

Thanks to everyone who participated and shared their thoughts. We hope to meet online and offline again soon.