Friday, February 6, 2015

Pat's Convention Note #26 of 100 things I learned from attending SIX LITERARY CONFERENCES in 2014

#26. The Do’s and Don’ts on How to Lead a Successful Workshop.
This was from one of the RWA workshops with authors Maria Bradley and Rebecca Zanette.

·         Don’t start a workshop talking about the downside of writing. If you do, you’ll have to work harder to build up the attendees’ expectations about the benefits of being an author.
·         Don’t be on a panel solely to sell books. Don’t push your books down their throats with “Buy my books, buy my books.” Get to know each person.
·         Don’t hijack a panel, basically whether you’re behind the table with other authors or in the audience, don’t try to steal the show, but be respectful.
·         Don’t let everything you say, be about you. Talk about other authors’ books instead of your own. People like to hear that you read other authors’ work.
When using a PowerPoint presentation during a workshop, keep your bullet points between three and seven. Otherwise, you’ll overload the participants with too much information.
The last part, which I’m not making up, is to brush your teeth before you speak. “That will freshen your mind as well as your mouth.”

The BIG do is to encourage aspiring authors to keep writing.

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