Should You Attend Conferences?
Last year I had the pleasure of attending the Blog World and New Media Expo, and I have plans to attend again in 2008. In fact, there are several conferences I’d love to attend but it’s not in the budget or in the cards. When I tell people who I found BWE to be an incredible experience, they ask why I recommend writer or blogger conferences. I can only speak for myself.
Some of the benefits:
- Networking - I made some wonderful new friends and met some old online friends. I met two people who became clients and a bunch of people who I now consider brainstorming buddies. Plus I was turned on to some very cool new blogs.
- Sessions - The classes and sessions are a goldmine of information. I learned about writing engaging content, building a community and monetization techniques. Most of which I was able to put to good use here.
- The Exhibitors - The exhibits also provided a wealth of information. I learned about some wonderful tricks and tools - and even received some great swag.
Should you attend conferences?
For me, it was the right move at the right time, career-wise. I came home inspired, filled with knowledge, and ready to get down to business. I met some amazing people and just had a blast. Here’s the thing, my friends and family - they know I’m a blogger. But I can’t really sit down and discuss blogging or freelancing or writing with them. When I go to a conference I’m with hundreds…no thousands of people who get it. I can talk about writing and blogging to my heart’s content.
Niche Oriented Conferences
Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, whether blogging or social networking is your thing, there’s a conference for you. This year I can count at least four conferences I’d like to attend, though I have to unfortunately narrow it down to one.
Do you attend conferences? If so, which ones and why?
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Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 8:51 pm under
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.
March 27th, 2008 at 9:55 pmThis is going to be my first year at BlogHer. I’m really looking forward to meeting great people and learning more about everything.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:54 pmI 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.
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.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:10 amI 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!
March 28th, 2008 at 2:44 amI 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!
March 28th, 2008 at 3:37 amLike 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.
March 28th, 2008 at 12:25 pmWow! 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.
March 28th, 2008 at 8:11 pmI 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!
March 29th, 2008 at 7:24 am