Upcoming Gigs: Panel, Workshop, Evolution

I don’t do many events these days beyond the random open mic appearance at louderARTS or Urbana, so I’m very excited about these two gigs this week, the NY Round Table Writers’ Conference and Acentos Poetry Workshop, as well as the Conversational Marketing Summit I’ll be attending in June.

NY Round Table Writers’ Conference

Friday, April 24th: 3:15 – 5pm

The Technofile: Online Writing and Blogging
Popular online literary website writers and bloggers come together to discuss the online writing outlet.

• Guy LeCharles Gonzalez- Spindle Magazine
• Pamela Skillings- About.com
• Rebecca Fox- MediaBistro
• Julie Trelstad- Plain White Press
• Roy Sekoff- Huffington Post, moderator

Acentos Writers Workshop

Sunday, April 26th: Noon

Workshop – Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

The Acentos Writers Workshop was established with the purpose of nurturing the newer voices in the poetry community. With writers from across several genres donating their time, the workshop encourages newer writers to hone their craft, establish and create community, and perform their work in front of growing audiences. The workshop accepts writers of all backgrounds and skill level to foster growth and maximize their full potential and grow as writers.

The workshops are free. RSVP is required.

Federated Media’s Conversational Marketing Summit in June is “an exclusive two-day event that brings together executives in social media and conversational marketing for a frank, real-world discussion around pressing issues, beckoning opportunities, and lessons learned.”

While I hate the term “social media“, I like FM’s “Conversational Marketing” approach and think they’re headed in the right direction with their recent decision to shift their focus from online advertising to developing custom and strategic marketing programs.

It’s a necessary shift that all publishers are going to need to make to stay relevant (not to mention solvent), but online players like FM are much better positioned to make that shift quicker than their print-centric competitors who are buried deeply under inefficient infrastructures and are carrying loads of debt from the go-go days of highly leveraged, ill-conceived mergers and acquisitions.

One of the things that really stood out for me in the new media vs. traditional publishing dustup at SXSW a while back was the apparent lack of participation by traditional media types at these kinds of foward-thinking conferences. Meanwhile, the level of cluelessness about new media on display at the more traditional conferences is astounding.

It’s a loss for both sides of the aisle as there’s a ton of relevant experience in traditional media that is often lacking on the new media side, and a ton of enthusiasm and innovation happening in new media that is especially lacking on the traditional side. I see myself as someone straddling the fence, comfortable with both sides and wanting to see them come together, both for my own career’s benefit, as well as for that of the publishing industry I’m so inexplicably passionate about helping survive.

I’m attending on my own dime, something I haven’t done for a career-related conference since… well, come to think of it, ever.

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.