Austin Chapter
A new member tells us:
I can tell you this.
The encouragement
and support I have
received in just these
two short months has more
than paid for the membership.
We are going to have a
strong chapter here in Austin, TX.
I would encourage
members everywhere
to form a chapter.
E-mail is great but nothing
beats face to face conversation.
Again, thank you.
Tweed
Webmaster
Set #2: Small Publishers, Artists, and Writers Network Chapter Meeting Ideas
Ideas For More Interesting, Inspiring and Stimulating
SPAWN Chapter Meetings
The key to successful Chapters is the quality of the members. In order to attract serious working writers, successful authors, savvy independent publishers, talented illustrators and creative graphic artists, for example, you must offer value. You also want to provide plenty of information and guidance for the beginner. Here are some ideas for blockbuster meetings.
- Invite your most successful members or those with interesting tales to talk about his/her writing path. Members of the Ventura (CA) Chapter once enjoyed hearing the story of a couple who were just starting out in the writing field with a series of local travel books. Russ and Kathlyn traveled to the most remote areas of CA that they could find, uncovered the history of these places and created travel guides.
- Ask a local graphic artist to share his/her ideas about what makes a good book cover. Tami Dever, Austin (TX) Chapter leader and graphic designer, said that one of their most well-received meetings was when she spoke about book design.
- Set up a panel including a traditional printer, a POD printer and the owner of a business center and open the meeting up to questions.
- Spawn a friendly debate between folks who prefer self-publishing and those who would rather land a traditional publisher.
- Have someone who has self-published several books outline the steps to successful self-publishing.
- Bring in speakers who have had success in marketing their books in unusual ways. This might be an author who travels 6 months out of the year promoting her book along the way, someone who does numerous talk radio gigs or an author who sells numerous books without ever stepping foot into a bookstore, for example.
- Ask a publicist to speak. According to Dever, one of the most popular speakers to visit the Austin Chapter was a publicist with lots of radio experience. He spoke about how to get on the air and how to give a great interview.
- Dever also recommends asking someone knowledgeable to talk about wholesalers and distributors. This is, of course, another topic of great interest especially to self-published authors.
- Collaboration is another topic that the Austin Chapter members found fascinating. Some writers don’t want to go it alone, yet hesitate getting involved with another writer on a project. How does one successfully collaborate on a project? Bring in someone who has collaborated and survived.
- Invite someone from a local Toastmasters Club to speak on a topic of interest to your members: the power of networking, the value of small talk, public speaking tips or organizational skills, for example.
- Bring in a chiropractor who can instruct writers on how to prevent repetitive stress syndrome.
- Have a photographer speak about how to get a good publicity photo or how to take photos to accompany your articles or book manuscript.
- Ask a local college writing teacher to speak on a topic of interest to your members: poetry, creating believable characters, writing local history, research techniques, etc.
- All writers love to hear from publishers. Locate a publisher in your area who is successful enough to impress and inform your members. You’ll probably need to bring in extra chairs for this meeting.
- Likewise, the editor of a local magazine or newspaper might pique your members’ interest. In our area, we have numerous publications and newspapers of varying sizes. We have news tabloids, a couple of women’s magazines, at least one technology magazine, a parenting magazine, a couple of religious publications and some local guides for tourists, for example. Locate publishers and editors through the yellow pages, local business centers and print shops, the Chamber of Commerce and other business organizations.
- Provide a demonstration on creating a book by hand—choosing the paper, binding the book, etc. This would be perfect for individualized gift books of poetry or short stories, for example.
- Is there someone in your Chapter who can talk about book proposals, query letters or how to prepare your manuscript for the printer? These are all very popular topics.
- It might be fun, once in a while, to invite members to read from their books or articles. You could have a poetry night—everyone brings his/her favorite original poem. A poetry slam is always fun.
- Run a contest for the best piece of writing published that year or within the last quarter (if your members are prolific).
- Organize a mini-member festival where each member sets up his/her wares and services for sale. Be sure to invite the public and members of other writers groups.
- Auction off member books to raise money for your Chapter. You can make it a festive event or just a facet of your regular meeting—a different member book or service auctioned at each meeting. That member gets to stand up and talk about his/her book or service to entice bids.
- Do you have a Chapter member or local resident who has a particular expertise—someone who writes about animals, technology, environmental issues, family, history, celebrities, writing, sports or photography, for example? Maybe they would share tips for breaking into this field.
- Demonstrations are always fun. We had a member who wrote a book on crème brule. She once demonstrated how to make crème brule and then served a portion of it to everyone. She also gave us some of her tips for successfully marketing a cookbook.
- Ask a freelance reporter or magazine article writer to speak on their professional world.
- Have a freelance writer speak on the art of the professional interview or research techniques
Within these 25 points is a total of at least 3 years worth of monthly meeting ideas. I’m sure you can add to this list once you know the interests of your members.
Following is some basic information that will help your meetings operate more smoothly.
- Be professional in your approach. If you’re not good in front of people, join a Toastmasters Club or initiate the help of someone who is. Meetings are more successful when they have a strong leader who is organized, well spoken and keeps the meeting moving along.
- Invite everyone to introduce themselves and speak briefly about their work and/or their current project. In my Chapter, I liked to encourage members and guests to let us know if there was something they needed—a graphic designer, a publisher, information about how to obtain an ISBN, etc. Later, during networking, others would approach this member with the information they requested.
- Yes, we always allowed for 15 - 30 minutes of networking at the end of the meeting. Simple refreshments help to keep people there for more successful networking. It also helped to suggest that each person try to chat with at least 3 others during the networking period.
- Set a time limit for the speaker. Unless the speaker is accustomed to speaking or is a Toastmaster, he/she may need help with the time issue. Offer to give the speaker a signal at the appropriate time.
- Always ask the speaker to allow time for audience questions.
Patricia Fry will add ideas and tips for Chapter leaders throughout the year. If you have any suggestions, please contact Patricia at Patricia@spawn.org