Photo Key in descending order:
Cheryl Klein
Carmen Oliver, Jane Peddicord, Mark G. Mitchell
Carmen Oliver, Donna Bowman Bratton, Jane Peddicord
Shana Burg, Bethany Hegedus, Sean Petrie
Greg Leitich Smith, Julie Lake, Brian Yansky, Frances Yansky
What was left of the breakfast buffet before the first break
Tim Crow's welcoming address
Carmen Oliver working the kitchen
Rock stars from left to right: Jacqueline Kelly, Marla Frazee, Liz Garton Scanlon, Chris Barton
A crowd of shoppers packed into the conference book store
I had the pleasure of serving on the planning committee for the January 30, 2010 Austin SCBWI conference. The great part of such a role is working with wonderful people with the common goal of producing a top-notch conference. The other worker bees included now-ex-Regional Advisor, Tim Crow, exiting-Illustrator-chair, Christy Stallop, incoming-Illustrator-chair, Mark G. Mitchell, Julie Lake, Jim Seipel, Lyn Seipel, Meg Shoemaker, newly-crowned-Regional Advisor, Debbie Gonzales, and 2010 Volunteer of the year, Carmen Oliver.
My role was two-fold. Coordinate the conference book store and help Carmen with the ordering and organizing of food stuffs for the day. We enjoyed a veritable feast thanks to a catered Jason's Deli breakfast, a catered lunch, and the most scrumptious desserts imaginable.
Our book store represented thirty authors and illustrators, all of whom were on hand to sign books at the end-of-day autograph party. What a pleasure to get to know them all. A special thank you to local independent book seller, Book People, for handling inventory and sales on-site.
The downside to working behind-the-scenes is missing most of the speaker sessions. Sigh!
Our day was packed. Every moment was accounted for with speakers, panels, food, and networking. Attendees enjoyed the varied wisdoms of:
Cheryl Klein, senior editor with Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic. She was the continuity editor for three Harry Potter books.
Lisa Graff, former editor for F,S &G,
Kirby Larson, 2007 Newbery Honor book author
Marla Frazee, acclaimed author-illustrator
Stacy Cantor, editor with Bloomsbury USA
Andrea Cascardi, agent with Transatlantic Literary Agency
Mark McVeigh, agent/owner Mark McVeigh Agency
Nathan Bransford, Agent with Curtis Brown, LTD.
It would be redundant for me to give any more of a play-by-play of the day's events. So many of our members and attendees posted great recaps.
Suffice it to say, people will be talking about this conference for years to come. I'm posting pictures for your perusal and encouraging you to check out the Austin SCBWI website for several detailed postings about the event.
Besides, we want to show off our new chapter look anyway.
In fact, you should check the website often. You'll be amazed at what you'll find on any given day.
