Twelve Reasons to Journey to New Jersey in June

I am sure you are interested in finding out how the first day of registration went.  We had Eighty-eight members  register.  Here are the represented states so far:  CA, CT, CO, GA, KS, NJ, NY, OH, ON, SC, VA, and WI.   The thing that surprises me is everyone who signed up were all SCBWI members.  Usually we have a few people register who are Non-SCBWI Members.  Maybe we have encouraged them to join.  I’ll keep you posted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Besides our beautiful seaside resorts, the warm summer days, Atlantic City Casinos, plus the Big Apple and the birthplace of our nation being only a hop skip and a jump way, it is the time for the New Jersey SCBWI Annual Conference.  So if you are a writer or illustrator, you should bring the family to New Jersey.  They can play  in the pool and explore Princeton while you are at the conference and then finish out the week enjoying the many interesting things in the area.

The Conference is held on June 8th, 9th, and 10th at the Wyndham Hotel & Conference Center in Princeton, NJ.  Every year our conference grows and the reason for this is we do everything we can to offer you opportunities to learn new skills and meet as many agents and editors during the weekend as possible—it’s all about connections!

Leaving out the great location, here are 12 reasons why it makes sense to join us in June:

1. Friday afternoon we offer, for an additional cost, in-depth author and illustrator workshops on specific topics to help you learn and take you to the next level of your career. This year we added a Beginners Intensive, so members just starting out can cut off a few years of learning and kick start their careers. We even provide a box lunch with the Intensives, so everyone can eat lunch with their instructor.

2. All meals are included in the registration fee, along with unlimited snacks and drinks throughout the day.

3. A Free Friday First-Timers meeting is scheduled on Friday, so new people can get to know people and get their questions answered.

4. Optional Mix & Mingle with the faculty on Friday night. This is a great networking opportunity.  Meet editors, agents, art directors, authors and other members in a friendly atmosphere.

5. Over 50% of our editor/author/agent critiques are conducted after the workshops have concluded, so you don’t have to miss something in the workshops you signed up for.

6. This year’s faculty consists of 32 editors, agents, art directors, plus 27 published authors doing critiques and conducting workshops. We also have award-winning Author & Illustrator Dan Yaccarino kicking off our conference on Saturday and Newbery winner, Kate DiCamillo sending us off with inspiration on Sunday.

7. Chance to have multiple critiques, consultations, agent pitches.

8. Eighty workshop offerings.

9. Chance for published authors to sign their books and attendees to buy and get the book autographed at our Book fair on Saturday. A great opportunity to network again with the faculty, since they will all be there to talk with you.

10. Free Saturday Peer Group Critique Sessions for authors and illustrator who want to participate.  Great opportunity to combine fun and learning.

11. You have full control of your schedule. You pick everything down to the times. You can even go back in after you register to make changes to your schedule and add additional critiques, etc.

12. We are very friendly and work to help you meet people. You will never eat alone at one of our conferences and you will never leave without talking to an editor or agent. Usually people leave with many personal contacts with the faculty. You pick the faculty member you want to eat lunch with on both Saturday and Sunday.

*Make sure you catch the “Early Bird” Pricing Special. Ends March 1st. Don’t wait! Grab the spots you want and save money by registering now!  www.regonline.com/njscbwi2012conference

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy