A Mary Poppins Conference

If you hope to attend an upcoming conference, here are some tips to help you have a Mary Poppins experience–practically perfect in every way.

Do you remember Mary Poppins and her magical carpet bag? It could hold ANYTHING from a six-foot tall lampstand to a small hand mirror. As you’re preparing to go to a conference, here are some things I recommend packing in a “magical carpet bag” to take along to make your conference experience the best it can be.

Diet Bars: Be sure to pack these and take them along for feeding your ego. Why? It’s necessary to want to do your best and succeed and accomplish great feats if you want to get published, but it’s also important to keep these feelings in check.

MIcrophone: Hold out your pretend microphone and let others talk. Ask them to share their journey as a writer. Encourage others to stand in the spotlight as you validate their worth as a writer. Taking time to listen to other writers will help you connect in a deeper way with other people who have the same heart as you do.

One Minute Egg Timer: Speakers, Editors, and Agents are often over-stressed and overwhelmed with the flood of wannabe writers and potential manuscripts at a conference. Practice your manuscript pitch in one sentence and practice holding a conversation with an editor that takes up just one minute of their time. Be gracious, kind, and succinct. You’ll make more of an impact if you do.

-contributed by Nancy I. Sanders