Baltimore 43 – A Great Convention

Posted by Angela Render on May 31, 2009

Once again, I attended panels at Balticon and as always, I had a fantastic time. This year was a bit different for me, since my husband ended up in Florida for the weekend and I had my sister-in-law looking after my daughter. I was able to hang out and do all sorts of things I hadn’t been able to do in previous years, including get to talk to people and SHOP! Yes, I actually got to browse through the vendors tables this year! I approve of the new set-up for those as well.

The panels went smoothly enough. Either by design or by default, I ended up moderating three of the five 50 minute versions. I came prepared with questions this year and I hope my fellow panelists were all right with the job I did. The sessions were well attended and we managed to keep people in their chairs. I also got to re-connect with people I’d met last year as well as meet some new friends.

The highlight of my weekend was the two hour presentation on Marketing Platforms that I gave with my good friend, Ally E. Peltier. We’d been itching to do something like this together in preparation for potentially hosting a full day or entire weekend conference on marketing for writers. We knew now that we work well together and even had a standing ovation from our attendees. They were nice enough to provide us with promo quotes on our feedback sheets. Here’s my favorite:

“Tremendous. Angela and Ally were well-organized, tangible, savvy, and most important, passionate about moving writers to believe in ourselves and to find the optimal ways to preach our gospels to the masses.” —Tad Daley, Author, Apocalypse Never: Forging the Path to a Nuclear-Weapon Free World, Rutger Press, October 10, 2009.

Between sessions on Saturday, I sat at the MWA Baltimore table and had a great time chatting with passers by, selling my Workbook and helping with the space saga that attendees can add to one sentence at a time. The chapter president updated the story live on Facebook until his battery ran out.

I also got to attend other panels. I enjoyed the one on building aliens and the one on how the Internet has changed the publishing industry. I hope I’ll be invited back again next year.

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