Scbwi winter conference online- anyone signing up?

seelliott

Hi I am going to sign up! I have never been to one before so excited to see what it is like.

LauraA

This sounds intriguing! Did those of you who signed up for the summer one find it worth it? I have never been an SCBWI member before because there is no local chapter and it's too difficult to travel to NYC (I used to live there, but even so haven't been able to get back since 2013 ). Maybe with so many things online, though, it's time to reconsider!

xin li

I am considering it. I had received a stipend to go to the Bologna book fair this year, but since the book fair was canceled, I probably could use the stipend for virtual conferences, and activities that would advance my illustration career.

I have never been to any SCBWI conference before. Anyone has been to the summer virtual conference this year? what was your experience?

Coley

@LauraA @LauraA @seelliott @xin-li I did the summer spectacular and I did enjoy it. I found certain presentations very interesting and other ones not so interesting. Predictably I found the illustrator heavy ones more interesting. And there was a month to re-watch them ( I only re-watched one of them, and that was dan Santat and leuyen Pham and I watched that one on repeat lol). I did find myself pretty interested and excited by a few of of the author ones, but some were a little boring. It was also a longer conference, I think it was almost a full 5 days, this one is shorter but it had the additional illustrators intensive but it’s extra money. It does get you into the portfolio showcase. So I may do it. My sister is also a picture book writer in the making - so we did it together.
The cost seems a bit much sometimes but then again, there’s no travel or anything!
Anyone I knew from svs that was doing it, I added to a side chat we had going in Instagram which was pretty fun . I missed a few people I think that I didn’t know were doing it. Then @Neha-Rawat Neha went and won the whole portfolio showcase! Which was pretty exciting.
There were Twitter socials which were completely insane lol. But, I did pick up some new followers and make new connections, get retweeted etc a few times. People visited my website from twitter connections etc.
There’s a mock acquisition meeting and a Some type of virtual tour of Simon and Schuster, those look interesting.
I’d be happy to get a chat thread going again over that weekend if anyone signs up. We obviously have a few months yet to arrange that lol. Just keep it in mind if you do sign up.

LauraA

@Coley Wow, great description! I'm interested! Thanks!

xin li

@Coley thank you so much for your scbwi intro. I will try to make it. It would be fun to have a private chat going, especially for newbie conference goers like me :-).

Heather Boyd

I was considering becoming a member in the new year but have yet to decide when. Let me know how it goes.

seelliott

@Coley Thank you for the description. It seems like I need to get onto twitter. Everyone else seems to be talking about events on there!
I have signed up to the illustration day and the whole weekend. I am really looking forward to it.

I recently joined SCBWI and there is a lot going on. I am from the UK (South). It is nice to be able to do more online without having to travel abroad but I hope I still get to meet some people during the conference.

I have joined a local group that just do updates and targets for each month, which meet once a month via zoom (used to meet in a local pub) and that has been really interesting. The group is mostly writers but its nice to learn more about the industry as I still feel very much like a beginner! I also find there facebook groups really helpful. People are always posting when things are happening and its really interesting.

So far I have not done any of the presentations as are in the middle of the night for me or about writing. My region has not had any presentations recently but should have more next year.

There are good resources on there website. There book: The Book: Essential Guide to Publishing for Children has been very interesting and so are there newsletters. At the moment I have found it all a bit overwhelming as there is so many things to read and watch on there website so I feel like there is more to get from it if I spend some more time finding things.

Coley

@seelliott yes, it certainly can be overwhelming! There's so much information and so many resources. It's good to take it one little bit at a time

theprairiefox

Signed up. Hope to many of you there (on zoom).

xin li

Signed up. Very excited!

@Coley It looks like this is different from the summer conference in that they are only doing peer critiques. I'm still going to sign up in order to be part of the portfolio showcase, but just wanted to make sure you understood what they're offering the same way as I did, no paid critiques by industry professionals this time, right?

VeronicaMui

I skimmed through and also didn’t see that there was much in the way of industry professionals reviewing manuscripts or portfolios so I didn’t sign up because that’s mainly what I’m interested in right now. I love the idea of having a separate chat going on, but I hate twitter and just can’t get into it! Love reading everyone else’s comments and would be interested in hearing how it goes and what everyone’s take on it is.

idid

Thanks for the info. Does anyone know if SCBWI provide replay for participants? I have a small baby at home, so it is impossible to stay in front of computer all day long ... They have a policy of no recording written on the webpage, so I probably can't record screen ....

plus, are people in certain continents going to participate mid-night?? I live in NYC, so it is OK for me, but suddenly had this questions. People probably will feel sleepy at some point during the conference and need replays too ...

Nyrryl Cadiz

@idid yup, you can view the recordings if you sign up for the event.

idid

@Nyrryl-Cadiz Great news ! Thank you so much!

Coley

@idid I think last time you could watch them for up to a month later but I didn't notice this time if there's a specific time limit. But yes is the answer as @Nyrryl-Cadiz mentioned!

Coley

@carolinebautista no critiques this time. I think that's correct. Other than the peer manuscript thing which i totally don't understand one little bit I am not availing of that anyhow as I have no time to write atm anyhow. Hopefully someday though
I tried signing up for the illustrators intensive but I couldn't figure it out and currently only registered for the basic weekend thing. I've sent them a message but I'm probably going to have to keep sending messages.

Lorna H

@Coley - Hi there, I’m going to go along, I actually got interested in Scbwi in general after reading earlier posts between yourself and @Neha-Rawat, so thank you, and what an amazing achievement to win the portfolio showcase . I’m a beginner but I’d love to join any Scbwi winter conference chat group you have nearer the time. I’m a bit disappointed as hadn’t realised there’s no chance for one to one critique, I’m needing to improve lots so could do with the feedback, but looking forward to getting inspired by other amazing writers and artists! (By the way @coley - I meant to say a while back, I LOVED your Wizard of Oz book cover, it was one of my favourites so I could not understand why it wasn’t in the top 16 of critique arena! It was awesome! Well done this month too, beautiful image for “together”.

Coley

@Lorna-H thanks for the compliments . Nice to have some feedback too .
I'll definitely add you into the chat When the time approaches! I'll refer back to this thread so I don't miss anyone!
It was a fun little way to connect with each other so I'm really looking forward to it again. Thanks again and will definitely add you when the time comes