I know, the picture has nothing to do with the post. But it was too darn cute!
For the past few years, I’ve attended SCBWI and RWA conferences and workshops, knowing one day it will be me up there, presenting. Of course, before I can get to that point, previous experience will be crucial. So when the opportunity arose to be involved in an upcoming writer convention in my city, there was no way I could say ‘no’. Okay, Angela Ackerman (The Bookshelf Muse) wouldn’t have let me say ‘no’ if I tried. *grins* Add author Janet Gurtler and we became the kickass team excited to be on the panel for What is YA?
Being the anally organized individuals that we are, the three of us got together to hang out at the beach to discuss the thought-provoking questions I would be asking them (and the mystery guy who had also volunteered to be on the panel).
Things were looking great.
At least they were until the night before the event. Janet noticed in the brochure (which none of us had read because it was too confusing as a PDF file on our computers) that there was a FIFTH individual who would be joining us. The rest of us are members of the SCBWI but she wasn’t, so she hadn’t been listed on the email sent to us within the organization.
Unfortunately, she had been told by the organisers of the convention that each person would present for five minutes on the topic. I told her it was fine if she wanted to do her presentation first, then we do our Q&A as originally planned. Worked for everyone else.
But when the woman went to present, after I explained to the audience what had happened, she said, “Apparently I was not part of the clique.” Now this could have been funny, considering we were presenting on writing YA. It could have been, but she chose, instead, to use a voice obese with sarcasm. This left a nasty taste for everyone involved, including the audience.
Fortunately, beside this little incident, the panel went extremely well and we had a blast. Okay, Ms Hissy-Fit didn’t, but that’s okay. We did our best to include her.
Has anyone else had experience presenting at a conference, or will be doing so in the near future?
For more information on the topic of public speaking for writers, please check out my Querytrack.net blog post today.