Conference Volunteers and Hotel Information

The deadline for submitting your application to be a volunteer for this year’s conference is fast approaching. There is still time to request and submit an application. Contact me at scwwveep@gmail.com and I’ll get an application to you as soon as possible.

            As I said in my April 4, blog there are no special requirements to be a volunteer other than being a member in good standing of South Carolina Writers’ Workshop through the end of the conference. For information on your membership renewal date contact Jim McFarlane at scwwtreasurer@juno.com.

And don’t forget there are discounts for early reservations at our host hotel, the Myrtle Beach Hilton.  We don’t have the reservation code yet; once it’s available, it will be added to the conference area of our website. We ask anyone considering attending the conference please use the code when making their reservation.

The hotel doesn’t charge your credit card when you reserve a room. Your card is only charged when you check-in so reserving early costs you nothing, but it does let the Hilton know that our members are interested in our event. The deadline for receiving the discounted price for your Hilton hotel stay is September 12, 2012.

April showers bring… Conference Volunteers in October?

It’s April. Pollen was floating through the air and coating every surface until the rains came. The azaleas in front of my patio have bloomed. So of course, the bees are all over the place. I’ve turned on my air conditioner. Have I mentioned Columbia is already hot? On Monday, it was 90º and this is only the beginning.

This is spring in the south and these are some of the things we’ve gotten accustomed to dealing with around here.

Another thing I’ve gotten accustomed to in the spring is creating a To-Do List for SCWW.

This year it isn’t a long list:

1) Clean out last year’s stuff – make room for 2012
2) Make list of potential faculty for this year’s conference
3) Do we have enough bags for the conference?
4) Do we still have volunteer buttons from last year?
5) Where are the badge holders and lanyards?
6) MUST CLEAN STORAGE UNIT
7) Get Volunteers for 2012

On Saturday, I crossed number 6 off my list and found answers to 3, 4 and 5. I spent several hours cleaning out SCWW’s storage unit and making notes and lists for this year.

Now, I’m working on item 7: getting volunteers.

A few weeks ago our Quill special edition came out announcing that we are looking for volunteers. So far the response has been pretty good, but I would like encourage any SCWW member in good standing to apply to be a volunteer at the conference. We don’t require any special skills or talents, just an enthusiasm for SCWW and a desire to help your fellow members have the best conference experience possible.

There are part-time and full-time opportunities available. Both will require the volunteer to work a few hours each day during the conference. Full-time volunteers receive free attendance to the conference while part-time volunteers get a 50% discount on the conference registration cost. All volunteers are responsible for their travel and lodging.

There are some pre-conference opportunities available such as: publicity, gathering items for the silent auction and setting up for the event to name a few. So if you’d rather work during the year leading up to the conference we have that as an option as well.

To request an application send me an email at scwwveep@gmail.com and I’ll email you back as quickly as I can.

It's in the Bag!

Today, the 21st annual SCWW Writers' Conference is history. As the conference ended yesterday, I heard enough feedback to say with reasonable certainty that it was a good one. Many of you told me that this year's was one of the best, citing our excellent faculty. We have Carrie McCullough, Conference Chair, to thank for that - along with just about every other detail pertaining to planning this event. Please give Carrie a round of applause for the outstanding job she performed all year.

Of course the conference couldn’t have been as successful without the efforts of Kia Goins, Conference Co-Chair, (volunteer, vendor, sponsor coordination and ace all-round problem solving) and Kim Blum-Hyclak, Silent Auction Chair. They worked like Trojans to make Conference 2011 an enjoyable, informative, seamless and financially-viable endeavor.

Then there are the 20 volunteers that gave up a good portion of their conference time to insure that attendees were comfortable and on time to their specific sessions and appointments. This was accomplished with smiles and enthusiasm. In addition, there were many behind-the-scene chores shouldered by these members. Good volunteers are the oil that makes the gears of an organization turn smoothly, and this weekend our conference machinery operated with premium-grade WD40TM.

Here’s a big thanks to each member of our faculty members who took time away from their busy lives to share their knowledge and expertise. They didn’t make a great deal of money, had to rearrange their work schedules and dealt with the annoyances of travel in order to be with us. We were fortunate to snag them.

I have a quote from an email I received this morning. “I sat beside a writer from NY Saturday night and I asked him how he discovered our conference. He found it online, a site that reviewed conferences in the USA and ours was listed as NUMBER ONE!”

Also, I spoke with an attendee an hour ago who said, “I am busy putting to work some of the things I learned this past weekend. I expect better results than I’ve had.”

On Sunday morning, an 18-year-old man stopped to pass on his thanks to SCWW and our annual conferences. He said he had been attending them since he was 15 years old and owed his writing career to SCWW.

And lastly, a lady paused at the door as she was leaving the conference when I asked her if she’d enjoyed her weekend. She placed her hand over her heart and with a blissful expression sighed, “I have been inspired.”

If you couldn’t be with us this year, start planning to attend the 22nd annual SCWW Writers' Conference, November 2-4, 2012. I’ll see you there.