Question regarding SCBWI winter conference NY21 portfolio showcase

xin li

@Coley thank you so much. Now I checked the deadline for uploading images again. It says 15th Feb. So we got about 2 weeks more

I always felt something is off with SCBWI virtual communication. I think they just under-staffed or something. Their website and social media info are not always updated.

Coley

@xin-li I agree. They do a fantastic job on their media and publications but responses aren't good at all. But that chat feature is new and worked amazingly well! That's the way to go when trying to communicate with them I think

Jeremy Ross

Cool @xin-li! I’m jumping in on the SVS SCBWI Train!

carolinebautista

@Coley the chat feature finally worked! Just had to clear my browser history and the help button turned into a chat button, yay!

The judges are not going to be looking at the images until the team preps everything, so they will see the images around the 17th or 18th, not the 15th the way they said. So my deadline is back to the 15th! I spent the morning confirming that I had an extra day.

The really nice person I chatted with said that all the images can be changed until the deadline, on both the showcase and the gallery, so that was reassuring. I'm not going to risk testing this with the showcase, though, because the warning there that those images are a final submittal is still a bit intimidating to me. She said she would take another look at the wording because it wasn't meant to be that much pressure. So I will upload a few images to the gallery to test things out instead, which she recommended.

The chat just had me wishing I could attend an in person conference. Looking forward to that someday

xin li

@carolinebautista thank you so much for sharing. It save a lot of us time figure out the exact information.

I would love love love to go to the conference in person once. But it has been way too expensive for me to go to New York or LA for that (being living in Norway). I will keep applying art travel stipend once the world is back to normal again.

Coley

@carolinebautista oooh thanks for sharing! More clarification, yay! And I'm super happy we have until then .
It would be awesome to attend in person someday when we return to normal!

Coley

@carolinebautista bet, I have uploaded to the gallery before and also deleted things. But they didn’t allow anything added or deleted during the showcase last year once the event started. You need to consider file names when uploading. The little box where you check to have it be your gallery picture or whatever, doesn’t work reliable for me. I did. Or ice that they were sorted by file name, I think for example if it had a “1” at the beginning of the file was showing up first in the gallery. I didn’t realize that until later so I didn’t go back and change it. I probably will try to sort it out before the showcase. You would want a strong image next to your name. I haven’t done it in a while so I might not be making sense. I’ll try to take a look soon to refresh my memory and then pass it along.

xin li

@Coley My word. They are really using an ancient website, where things just does not work on human level.
Thank you for sharing the work-around for sorting images. I think it is really important to have the right flow of your portfolio, so which image comes first is really important.

Coley

@xin-li no problem! It's good to share and help each other out . Good luck with getting everything set up!

carolinebautista

@xin-li sure, I feel like this is the only way it might work out ok for me, and i'm very lucky you started this conversation. It's kind of frustrating to think that if I would have gone by the info in the chat I could have uploaded test images to the showcase that were half finished. With what @Coley described (THANK YOU!) and some tests in the gallery next week I can use this conference as a time to get organized and appreciate how important it is to meet people (I am a bit shy, and librarian conferences were tough for me even though I enjoyed them). For now, you both saved me so much frustration!

The Los Angeles conference is close by, but the one I would love to go to is the Frankfurt one! Someday maybe I can save up and go there.

xin li

@carolinebautista I understand that conference is tough. Too much going on, too many people. I am also shy in fornt of strangers. But I have been really enjoying the SVSLearn forum. I have been here long enough, and I do not feel shy anymore, hehe.

It is always easier to have someone you know to go to the conference together. I went to a couple indie comic festival way before I became illustrator myself. I went with a comic artist friend. It was just fun, and holiday feeling. But I guess going to kidlit conference is more like work for me. Frankfurt is the closest one for me. If you ever make it to Frankfurt, let me know. When the world back to normal again, I do wish to travel to book fairs and conferences.

Coley

@carolinebautista and @xin-li I'm super, super shy too... In person... but I feel very comfortable online. I like writing my words but have a lot of trouble speaking them . I'm the quietest one in every group. I kind of wish I wasn't but that's the way I am I guess. I'm jealous of the loud and funny ones .
thanks da bajeezers for online forums and conferences . Anyhow I hear you and understand you

carolinebautista

@xin-li and @Coley I am so surprised that neither of you are outgoing in person! This is a good motivator for me to be more open to social media and keep trying, because that makes it. It's the best preparation for someday going to Frankfurt! Xin, you also help me realize that I cannot just be silent online and then expect to easily do a big in-person conference, when your suggestion of going with someone is a great idea and doesn't just happen out of nowhere! This is very obvious, but it feels like nothing is straightforward for me lately.
Unfortunately, I still get very anxious about posting anywhere online and struggle not to delete things once I post. I don't know why. The showcase is meant to be an additional place to have one's work seen, and the way I'm going about it - to only have that and my website - turns it into a situation with too much pressure. So I'm going to consider it a start to being more active online. Maybe I can take some time soon to figure out what my goals are for online interactions for this year and be more intentional.

artbytra

Hi all just signed up also. I checked out the three image form for submitting and saw: "The deadline for submitting your images is Friday, February 12, at 4:00 pm Pacific Time." Maybe they recently updated this. But just so you know! -Todd

carolinebautista

@artbytra They just sent an email to everyone that says the deadline is February 14, because the judges will be viewing the images on the 15th. This is exactly the deadline I calculated for myself, asked about it to confirm it in the chat, and then was told, no, it's the 15th. Since this email was sent just now, and the subject is "Portfolio Showcase Due Date Clarification" I would say go with the 14th.

Edited because the email has a banner, so it's an announcement to everyone.

artbytra

@carolinebautista ah ok, ill look out for that email blast. maybe it will come to my inbox a little later since I just signed up like 30min ago. Thanks!

NessIllustration

@carolinebautista Honestly I'm starting to get a little fed up with them on this event, and I'm not even registered!

carolinebautista

@NessIllustration YES, I am glad I took myself out of it, if only to not have to deal with no response after 7 days from the email they listed as the one to ask for help.

So @Coley and @xin-li I am sorry, but my efforts to confirm the due date as the 15th are now undone, and please play it safe and go by the earlier due date they sent out, the 14th.

Nyrryl Cadiz

I still haven't registered to the event. i better do it soon

carolinebautista

@Nyrryl-Cadiz well I guess I made some room for you