Monday Musings My tips for attending a conference.

I love attending conferences. Spending time sharing ideas with other authors. Smaller conferences are fairly easy to survive. The larger ones, for me at least, take some planning. Are you attending RomCon or maybe RWA’s conference in Atlanta this year? Sadly, I will miss both, but thought I’d share a few tips I gathered at previous conferences. They are in no particular order, but I personally think you can make you trip fun and educational.

1. Rest! What, you ask? I just got here.

The first time I attend one of the larger conferences, I was determined to take in every possible workshop, gather every pearl of wisdom, and make the most of my limited time. By the second day I was exhausted. I learned quickly to pace myself. I gave myself permission to go to the  room and enjoy the silence. I rested with a good book or chatted with my roommate, who had discovered taking a break was a smart move.

2. Dress in layers and wear low heeled shoes.This is just me, but I find some meeting rooms to be meat lockers. I doesn’t matter that it’s July outside, I take a wrap, jacket, or sweater. Nobody loves shoes more than I do, but there’s a ton of walking in a large conference. I surrendered and wore comfortable shoes.

3. Smile.

The first year I attend an RWA conference my name came with a ribbon indicating I was a newbie. Want to know who spoke to me and made me feel welcome? Other newbies. No doubt, we all had the deer in the headlight stare at seeing so many women gathered in one place. I made some great friends wearing that ribbon. But at the next conference, I made an effort to smile and speak to folks wearing that ribbon.

4. Learn where the restroom are located. (I skipped the picture )

This is a biggie. The hotel in Orlando converted a few of the mens’ restrooms to ease the lines. I had around ten to fifteen minutes between workshops and lines  got long!

5. Books.

The afternoon before I started home from the RWA conference in California I carried all the books I’d been given to the Federal Express office in the hotel and sent them home. Now I didn’t go to any of the free book signings (which is another post all together because I can’t describe how long those lines were) but I had at least 25 books.

6. Have fun.

Above all, I enjoyed myself. It’s difficult for me to meet strangers, but I put myself out there and made some wonderful new friends. At the same time I honed my craft, learned tons from successful authors, agents, and publishers.

Go. Learn. Enjoy.

Have you been? Have any pointers to share?