Comments on: Should You Attend Conferences?

By: Paula

Paula — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 01:54:03 +0000

I have never attended a blogging conference (sounds like fun!) but I can recommend three writing conferences from personal experience. For women only whatever your age, experience, interest, location, the International Women’s Writing Guild’s summer conference at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY (www.iwwg.org)–very inclusive, supportive, magical. Women come from as far away as Guatemala and Switzerland.

For men and women looking for a professional environment with a chance (paid) to pitch work to editors, publishers, and agents, try the Maui Writers Conference (www.mauiwriters.com). Great way to combine work with pleasure.

Also, last year, I attended for the first time, the New Jersey Romance Writers (www.NJRomanceWriters.org)
fall conference and was impressed with the organization of the event, the quality of speakers, and the opportunity to pitch to agents and editors.

And yes, the opportunity to talk writing and the life of writing to other writers – people who totally get it – heaven!

By: IrreverentFreelancer

IrreverentFreelancer — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:41:10 +0000

Wow! Great minds really do think alike. ;o) I just blogged about writers’ conferences too. I attended my first one last year and now I’m hooked. I’m planning on returning this year and would really like to be able to manage (and afford) two per year.

By: damaria senne

damaria senne — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:55:39 +0000

Like Phil, I also attend conferences to cover them. This is where I network with experts in my field, get story ideas and basically learn as much as I can about my niche.

The conference I was most impressed with was the annual mobile world congress in Barcelona. it had over 250 000 top executives from cellphone companies across the world, all happy to schedule meetings with the 2300 journos/writers/bloggers attending the event. And yes, I met a few cellphone bloggers there, many of them American. It was great to meet people who get blogging and my interest in cables and switches.

By: Scribette

Scribette — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:07:47 +0000

I haven’t attended any writer’s conferences … yet. However, I have seriously considered attending these conferences. Can anyone recommend any good conferences? I live in Canada and I mainly write non-fiction for magazines, websites, and blogs. Thanks!

By: Kristy

Kristy — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:14:23 +0000

I try to go to as many screenwriting conferences as humanly possible. Actually, I try to put myself in L.A. around executive-types (those making the decisions) at least once a quarter. For me, the challenge is that I live in Austin. As a writer, I have the freedom to write anywhere; however, the caveat with that is it’s a lot harder to market my scripts. L.A. is where the scripts are going, so conferences let me get my name and face in front of people who can help me.

I also go for the purpose of being around like-minded individuals. As Deb mentioned, I have friends and family members that know I’m a writer, but they don’t get it. They don’t share my excitement over a new idea or appreciate the hard work that goes into developing that idea. Other writer’s get it, they get me in a whole different way then my friends and family can every begin to understand because they aren’t a part of it.

Aside from that, conferences offer some of the best tools for success. They offer classes, guest speakers, mentoring, networking, and in the case of the conference I attend the most, the opportunity to pitch my ideas to studios. You just never know when you’ll meet the right person or simply be in the right place at the right time. But, with people that do what you do all in the same place, your odds get a little better.

I LOVE conferences!

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:40:45 +0000

I do, but primarily to cover them. I did go to one conference on spec six years ago and picked up my biggest client, though the work is a lot of boom and bust. But I don’t go to writer’s conferences.

By: Jessica (aka Rose)

Jessica (aka Rose) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:24:47 +0000

This is going to be my first year at BlogHer. I’m really looking forward to meeting great people and learning more about everything.
I really should be attending something more geared towards writing in general, but the San Francisco conference I was interested in was WAY too expensive for me to even contemplate this year. Maybe next year if my writing starts to bring in a little revenue.

By: becky

becky — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:25:38 +0000

I do, but only one so far: BlogHer. This will be my 3rd year. I love the networking with other bloggers, lots of women, including moms, and people that just “get” the blogging thing. I’ve made new friends, put faces to blogs, and had a lot of fun. I can directly attribute two of my better gigs to attending BlogHer, also.

I hope that next year when my son is a little bigger (he’s 4 months right now), I’ll get to attend at least one more. It all depends on the budget, like you said, Deb.