There are two approaches to conferences, as you may know from your business experience. Like any promotional effort, but particularly with conferences, we showcase our product at the right conference. A business promoting new, light, wide-screen video screens would do well to buy a booth at CES. An author who writes about superheroes would find an enthusiastic audience at Comic-Con. If you wrote a book on the champagne industry, you may want to rent a booth at a wine industry event. If you’ve analyzed your book theme and know your intended audience, a conference packed with aligned potential readers can be exactly the successful book launch you want or an opportunity for ongoing sales and discoverability. Conferences can also be about visibility. I knew of one CEO who was happy to pay the expenses for a Photokina booth (photography industry trade show in Cologne, Germany) so colleagues, as well as competitors, witnessed that his company was still in business and thriving. There is an element to annual or bi-annual conferences that includes simply showing up. And showing up is quite often a big part of many marketing plans. It can be part of your plan.
What if you are still figuring out the writing game? You are working diligently on your book but you’ve yet to create the product. A writing conference may be just the event for you. Writing conferences do support book sales, but these weekends are far more about authors helping other authors. Workshops, agent pitches, readings, small publisher booths. These conferences are about learning and connecting.
Full disclosure, I currently help run two writing conferences: The Sierra Poetry Festival and the Sierra Writers Conference and I volunteer for the SF Writers Conference. In the past, I’ve chaired the Redwood Writers Conference and volunteered with the National Women’s Book Association. All within driving distance. I could attend more, and do more, but I choose to not allow the expense to overwhelm the experience.
After years of attending, then volunteering then organizing writers’ conferences, this is what I learned:
Name tags
Wear your name tag and while you’re at it, pencil in your genre (poetry, sci-fi, romance) below your name. This identifies your interest and expertise and is a great way to save time when meeting other attendees. “Oh, you write Self-help through Tarot?”
“Yes, I do, here is my card.” Put a couple of business cards (with your upcoming book information) in the back of your name tag so the cards are handy.
Business cards
At one conference, a presenter commented on the two cards I handed him, “Oh thank God you have more than one card! I always tell my clients to make up two or three cards instead of one card with five different offerings Writer/visionary/poet/speaker/winemaker. It’s much less confusing for the receiver.” There you have it. You can order your different sets of cards online.
Meet and Greet
Talk to everyone. Say hi, engage the woman next to you in line for the restroom. Increasingly, I learn more information in a bathroom line than out on the conference floor, an exchange exclusive to women, since apparently in the Gentleman’s Restroom, men do not talk.
If you are in between events, or if you are “missing” an event, wander through the marketplace and chat up the vendors. They need to be on hand all day, and during the conference sessions have little to do. Request a demonstration of their programs. Ask for details. Be happy to learn something new. The bonus to this approach is that when you spend longer than a few minutes chatting with a person, you’ll get past the prescribed presentation and will open the possibility to exchange more personal or relevant information. You never know, the bookbinder may have contact with an editor who specializes in your genre.
Use Lunch Wisely
If you have the energy, engage the lunch table in conversation. Seek out a place at an almost full table of people and sit. Introduce yourself, ask what they do and what they think of the conference so far. Ask for their card. Ask them about the lectures. What did they think? What did they learn? If they have attended a workshop you missed, ask about it!
Now, this may be a little much to ask. Maybe try the lunch conversation on the final day of the conference and sit next to someone you have already met.
While you are at lunch, or after lunch, pay attention to the name tags. At one large conference, I discovered that all the conference speakers were identified by yellow highlighter over their names.
Armed with information, I lingered in the lounge before the awards ceremony. I engaged two speakers in a quick ten-minute conversation centered around their recent talk. I not only got great information, but it was also tailored for me since I was the only person asking the questions.
Know your goals
So many writers sign up for a conference specially to speak to a certain agent. And that’s fine, just don’t over-focus. Agents have told me stories of manuscripts pushed under the restroom stall door and very, very long elevator rides listening to an anxious author delivering a blow-by-blow description of their fantasy plot even though the agent is currently looking for westerns.
As a result, many agents are wary of identifying themselves on their conference name tag.
If this is an agent-friendly conference, you will have a chance to talk with an agent, so waylaying them at the bar isn’t necessary.
If you do encounter an agent and can speak for a minute, don’t spring your fabulous book idea on them in the first sentence. Breath. Ask about their conference experience so far, and ask about their interests. Talk. Take this opportunity to learn more about the business. And if she is interested in a category that includes your book, only then ask if you can send her a query. Get her card. Give her yours. Done. Don’t pitch.
Be prepared to discover inspiration in unlikely places.
Even if the workshop offering doesn’t wow you, as the only open session for this hour, attend. The speaker may not be inspiring but the person next to you may be.
I attended a podcast conference (I was the producer for the Newbie Writer’s Podcast and we were up for an award which we lost to Grammar Girl, but everyone loses to Grammar Girl).
I was bribed (free pen and pad) into attending a presentation by Blackberry. I will never give up my iSuite of products, so it was kind of silly of me to be there, but I thought, okay, I’m up for another complimentary pen and maybe I’ll learn something new.
What I learned is that even with cool technology – the presenter ran his whole presentation from his Blackberry 10 (this was back in the Dark Ages) – things still can go wrong (the sound didn’t connect). I also learned that any video or PowerPoint should include some embedded words that deliver the general idea of the presentation just in case the sound doesn’t work.
After the talk, a Canadian TV station interviewer asked me my opinion about the new Blackberry 10, and whether would I consider buying it? I would not, but I gave as positive answers as I could. And it was fun to be interviewed!
Follow Up
Conference results will not be immediate but follow-up should be.
Make notes on the back of business cards, plug-in names and email addresses into your phone or computer on the spot so you are ready with a follow-up note after the conference is finished, within two or three days. What do you say?
Hi (Name of Woman with a Blue Streak in her Hair) Great to meet you at the conference, I appreciated your insights and am looking forward to seeing you at the next conference. Or I will buy your book and leave a review. Whatever kind of transaction was promised.
A lengthy missive is not necessary, you just want to follow through. If you are adding a person to your newsletter, mention that and of course, add them to your newsletter.
Remember the advice about networking? Conferences are similar. Attend with a couple of low-bar goals:
- One new inspiration.
- Two scheduled agent meetings.
- Three cards from workshop presenters.
- Four cards from other attendees.
- Five new subscribers for your newsletter.
- Lunch with one new person.
During a very intimate writer’s conference in Berkeley, I lunched with Beth Barany, who was interesting and engaging. We stayed in touch and now I’m a featured writer for her blog Writer’s Fun Zone. And we continue to support each other’s work. That was just from a friendly lunch. That is the fun and challenge of any conference. You can walk away with an agent and a new future for your book. Or even better, you come away with a friend.
