If I had unlimited vacation time, a bottomless bank account, and no family obligations, I could easily become a writers’ conference junkie. I’m involved with a conference my local writers group hosts each summer and try to attend one other conference during the year. But there are so many to choose from and it can be so hard to decide which one is best! Since I can’t go to nearly as many as I’d like, I’ve found the next best thing — CDs or MP3 downloads of the conference sessions.
No, it’s not the same as being there, but most are really high quality and it’s nice to be able to listen to them again in case I missed something the first time (and I always miss something the first time!). They’re also pretty inexpensive and most speakers are happy to email you copies of the handouts if you can track down their email address. Just think — if you were a speaker, wouldn’t you love to get an email months after your talk saying, “I bought the CD from your class at ____ conference and am really enjoying it. Is there any way you could send me the handouts you used?”? Personally, a note like that would make my day! So even if I don’t need handouts sometimes I’ll send a quick note to the speaker just to let her know I learned something.
So far, I’ve bought CDs or have downloaded MP3s from sessions at 4 conferences. Here are some links for you to check out the next time you’re looking for a conference-on-the-go or need a quick fix before your next one:
- Florida Christian Writers Conference
- American Christian Fiction Writers Conference
- Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference
- Write to Publish
- Mount Hermon
I’m sure there are other conference that have class CDs available. If you know of any, send me a note and I’ll add it to the list. Happy learning!
