This past weekend, I joined my local RWA (Romance Writers of America) chapter. Cool, right? I’m pretty excited about it. These ladies (if there are gents, they skipped this meeting) are really nice and very helpful.

Now, one of the things they spend some time talking about is their upcoming conference. Now, the only conference I’ve ever been to is the national RWA last July in Atlanta. I totally intend to go to the RWA in Dallas next year. Crossing fingers and praying on the money front, of course.

I’d like to go to this conference, just for the networking that would probably come with it. There are some agents and editors that will attend that I’d like appointments with or would simply like to meet and see if we hit it off.

My question for the crowd is this:

Have you ever been to a local conference? How did it go? What did you get out of it? Was it what you were hoping? How does it compare to National RWA conferences?

7 Responses to “Local Conferences”

1. Shelli Stevens Says:
   November 13th, 2006 at 8:42 pm

   Quit honestly, I get more out of local conferences than National ones. They’re smaller, and it’s easier to network with big authors and agents/editors. It’s more personable, the workshops aren’t as crowded.

   I go to Nationals to see all my friends and gather and maybe learn some stuff. But local ones is where I learn everything.

2. Crystal Jordan Says:
   November 14th, 2006 at 12:42 am

   You got to the Seattle Conference, right? Isn’tt hat the biggest conference on the west coast? I wonder how that compares.

3. Jen Says:
   November 14th, 2006 at 3:27 am

   I haven’t been to either yet.
   I’m hoping to get to a couple next year. We’ll see.

4. Sara Dennis Says:
   November 14th, 2006 at 6:24 pm

   We have a mini-retreat in our chapter every other year (though we’re doing it again next year) which is always fun.

   And I’ve been to a couple of local chapters. I was just thinking about going to yours, Crystal. And Shelli’s (Emerald City) is supposed to be good as well.

   I don’t know that I get more from either type. I usually have an aha moment sometime during the weekend. But conferences, for me, are more about the networking.

5. Crystal Jordan Says:
   November 14th, 2006 at 9:48 pm

   Yay! Come on over, Sara!

6. Lyric Says:
   November 14th, 2006 at 10:53 pm

   I’ve never been to a local conference either. I went to RWA the last time it was in Dallas and it was awesome…but so many people. I’m hoping to go to a couple of local state chapters next year.

7. Amie Stuart Says:
   November 14th, 2006 at 10:58 pm

   My chapter’s conference is small but fun. There’s also two other RWA chapters locally so in any given year we end up with three