Turn-out was great for yesterday’s Writers Forum program, Benefits of Conference Connection.
Published author and professional speaker Lezlie Winberry prepared attendees to attend any writers conference and to maximize the value out of that conference.
There are several key points to remember about attending a writers conference.
- Attend the right conference for your writing
- Prepare your 30-second elevator pitch before you go
- Socialize and have fun!
Do your homework before you go to a conference. Some conferences are geared towards a particular writing genre. Make sure that your writing will fit in to the focus of the conference. Even general writing conferences across several genres will have focused seminars, workshops, and speakers. Check out the schedule in advance and plan your time well. Schedules are subject to change, so be sure to keep checking back with the schedule.
At the conference, you will be meeting people that you need to meet to publish your writing. You will be running across agents and editors all of the time. Be as professional as possible. One way to do this is to have your 30-second elevator pitch prepped and polished, and ready for delivery. What is a 30-second elevator pitch? It is the essence of your story distilled down to two or three sentences. You need to hook your listeners attention quickly. Think of your pitch as the minimal TV episode description in the TV Guide, or the satellite channel guide. The better you can quickly sell your story idea to a listener, the better your odds of success.
Above all else, the point of writers conferences is to meet other writers and people in the industry. This is tough for naturally introverted writers, but get out of your comfort zone at the conference! Mingle! Socialize! Especially after all of the official conference activities are done for the day. Don’t just retreat to your room. Go out to dinner with new people. Lean some names. Have fun!
What are some other ideas that you took away from Lezlie’s program? Leave a comment!
Who has been to a writers conference? Tell us about your experience in the comments!
Writers Forum 
Attended two Christian Writers conferences at Mount Hermon, Calif., first in 2005 and again in 2007. Both of them were mountain top experiences professionally and spiritually. 450+ writers from around the world gathered to learn and share experiences about writing. Connected with a Christian self-publishing house at the first conference and ended up doing 21 book-length projects as a freelance editor, researcher, proof reader and even did three ghostwriting contracts. Would recommend this conference to anyone.