Preparing for the Conference

 By Celia J Anderson

The social butterfly!
As November 23rd approaches at speed, I’ve been running through the essential preparations for my first ever SCBWI conference. 


It’s a nerve-wracking experience, putting a toe into unknown waters. The SCBWI Facebook page is a friendly place to hang out and there are always lots of helpful comments on Words & Pictures but Winchester is a long way away for us Northerners – we tend to get dizzy south of Watford. So, here are my tips (some borrowed from helpful members) on how to be absolutely ready for the big conference weekend. 

Julie Day reminded me to hurry up and get some accommodation booked – I guess that’ll be a redundant tip by the time this post is aired, but I did manage to get a room in a local pub after a bit of searching. It has live music. (Am packing earplugs.) 

George Kirk advises practicing your one line pitch, and maybe printing some cards with the one line pitch written on the back. Also, have a fabulous dress at the ready (Nick Cross and other manly types can ignore this one), and bring an extra bag for all the signed books you'll be taking home. Oh and also make sure there is plenty of space in your address book for all the friends you're going to make. 

Maureen Lynas says to look out for the party folk – they’ll probably be wearing badges to help us to find them. Their aim is to look after people and perform introductions, so please do say hello to them. (A lovely thought). 

Nick Cross’s tip is for people to keep their schedules free on the Monday after the conference if possible, because everyone will be EXHAUSTED. (This might be a bit tricky if, like me, you have a class full of ten year olds waiting for you on Monday morning. Maybe we can play hangman...or something...) Party animal or just ace networker, Nick? 

Jane Benson McLoughlin approves of Maureen Lynas’ badge idea. She thinks the party is one time where it can be a bit daunting if you don't know too many people and says it's up to all of those who've been attending for a few years to show what a supportive and friendly group of people the SCBWI are. (It’s sounding less scary by the minute, Jane!) 

My personal preparations are

1) Get ready for the usual comment when meeting new people – ‘Oh, you sound just like Victoria Wood’. It’s a compliment...I think... 




2) Buy a fabulous new notebook or two. Oh, hang the expense; buy a whole heap of them. And some funky pens. 


3) Have your business cards/promo flyers printed earlier. Wish I’d told myself this one before, only ordered mine today.


4) Limber up to being a social butterfly – don’t stay too long with each new person even if they are very, very interesting. This is hard; I like to get people’s entire life history. 

5) Smile. I’m including a photo of a group of friends who, previous to the snapshot, were total strangers. I met them by standing around smiling insanely (the scared one on the left). They are wonderful, and never cease to inspire, support and entertain me. 




So it’s nearly time to get the case packed, tick these items off your list and head for Winchester. Hoping to meet you there – and any more tips would be much appreciated! 
 


@CeliaAnderson1
When she’s not marking children’s work, or writing stories involving pants, Celia spends far too much time on Facebook and does a lot of walking to counteract the cooking, eating and drinking which form another of her hobbies. She's a Romaniac  and you can also find her on her own website. Usually sea-starved in the depths of the Midlands, she can often be found wandering happily around Brighton visiting her two daughters pretending to collect ideas for her next book.

18 comments:

  1. Now Celia, as it's your first conference, can you be sure Nick won't be wearing a fabulous dress? ;-)

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    1. You can never be sure of these things, George, so have packed my camera just in case. Looking forward to meeting you :)

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  2. Yeah. This is a great post. Can't wait for the conference to begin! Lots of old friends to catch up with and new ones to meet!

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    1. Wear a red carnation, Jane, and we can say hello. Or any colour carnation would do, I guess ...

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  3. Great post, Celia. Might I add: a fabulous pair of flattie shoes as social butterflying required quite a bit of standing around last year!

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    1. Good point - might lose the heels this time. Also an excellent plan because they make me about 6'3" so difficult to talk to normal sized people. :)

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  4. As someone who met you at a conference, Celia, I'm looking forward to doing some more standing around and chatting with you at Winchester. For a limited time, obviously...!

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    1. Ha! It will be great to see you again, Annie -hope there's cake at this one too. :)

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    2. You will not believe the cake Celia!

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    3. Excellent! Maybe will wait till after then to start the diet in that case .. hate to waste good cake.

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  5. That picture was the first of many :-) Can't stress enough how lost I'd be without the support.

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    1. Me too, Sue - it's scary starting all over again without you lot though! xxx

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  6. So looking forward to meeting you, Celia!
    Great tips everyone!

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    1. You too, Jan - and thanks to everyone for the tips :)

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  7. Maybe we should all be on the look out for anyone standing alone and say hi. If we don't have party people badges then I think we have different coloured lanyards to everyone else. I still think we should have gone for tiaras. BTW Wear your name badge lanyard thing to the party. We'll be handing out badges to the industry folk so you know who they are.

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    1. I will spot you one way or another, Maureen. Oh, that sounded a bit stalker-ish ...

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  8. I can actually help, here! (It's so rare an occasion for me...) Volunteers will be wearing red lanyards and hopefully badges too. Maureen Lynas - bring your tiara. We'll be there to introduce you to potentially famous people, as well as agents, editors and art directors, and even other writers and illustrations who might live near you. So if you feel like chatting to someone new, come find one of us!

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    1. Hey, thank you for this! Spot the red lanyard. It's all falling into place and I for one am not quite so terrified.

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