What an incredible event the Roanoke Writers Conference 2024 was! We decided to try a few new things to make our event more accessible to everyone, and you, our community, showed us that we are definitely on the right track.
One of the first things we differently was that we talked the library into closing entirely to regular patron traffic for the conference. We noticed last year that there was a bit of confusion about who was allowed to go where, and we decided to make the process a lot simpler. Patrons were still able to return and check out books from the self-serve kiosk, but the entire floor of the library was dedicated to the conference.
That meant that we had plenty of space to spread out. We had a dedicated room for the Medieval Arts, the authors had room for their own tables, vendors were sprinkled throughout, and no one felt either crushed or neglected!
The other major change was that we made registration free. While this definitely improved interest and made it more accessible to many people, it meant that our registration numbers versus our attendance numbers were fairly different. It wasn’t enormous – we still had well over 150 people show up out of 250 registrations! – but registration numbers versus attendance numbers tend to be closer when someone is materially invested. So, inasmuch as we’d love to say that all future events would be free, we can’t guarantee that, for a few reasons (which I’ll get to in a moment).
The third biggest change was how we marketed and advertised. In the past, all of our budget has been focused on paying our presenters and getting our basic conference materials created – the program, the bookmarks, etc. – but this year, the City of Roanoke saw clear to boost several of our social media posts, and that had a massive impact. We also had the time and clarity to build out our social media presence a little more, including posting here on our website more consciously leading up to the event, and that does help us come up to the top more in the algorithms.
Part of the change in how we approached getting the word out this year was a concerted boots-on-the-ground approach, talking to people in their own space. We reached out to bookstores (great writers are avid readers), coffee shops (where do people write, after all?), and craft stores (there’s a lot of overlap, especially for period and historical work), and the conversations led us to realize that not only was the Roanoke Writers Conference practically unheard of, even after ten years, but that there is a massive demand for more conferences and groups and community in and around writing.
This brings me back to the previous point I was making about how to keep the conference(s) accessible: the only way we were able to hold this conference for free was because we are currently hosted at the Roanoke Public Library, and that means that all of our budget came from library program resources.
Now, this is exactly what libraries are for, and this is how they operate, and we completely support everything they do!
BUT.
We also want to be able to build bigger and better events and ongoing community programs in the future. We are going to be building directories of writing groups, hosting presentations and workshops, and we will continue to reach out and partner with libraries and community centers, but definitely stay tuned for announcements about fundraising efforts and how we need to structure future events.
The Tenth Annual Roanoke Writers Conference was, without question, the most successful and productive event we have ever had, but I think we can do even better next time – and I think we can do it in more places around North Texas.
We are the North Texas Writers Collective, not just Roanoke. I mean, yes, definitely AND Roanoke, but our charter and purpose is to be inclusive, supportive, and empowering for all of North Texas, write here, write now.
If you attended the event, you should be receiving a newsletter sometime this week with a link to the post-event survey. Please fill it out (it’s a Google Form, so super-easy) so that we get all the data we need to make the next event even more spectacular. We want to know what services you value, what your goals are as a writer and as a reader, and what else we can do to support you.
As I mentioned multiple times (if you were lucky enough to get into my presentations): writers are not competitors. No one has only one author on their shelf. We are strongest when we work together, when we share our skills and talents, when we hone each other on the stone of compassion and empathy and honesty. What I need to know from you is, are you in?