I’ll always admire people who turn around from a con and get their post-mortems, and AARs written and posted the next day. How? I feel like I need at least a week to sleep after any given event and then another week to unpack. I’ve been home from Superstars for about three days and I’m feeling pretty good about the turnaround time for this post.
Superstars is one of the events that I look forward to the most in any given year, and it’s not exaggeration when I say that this conference literally changed my life. Every publication I have to date happened directly because of my first attendance two years ago.
Every. Single. One.
There’s a to-do list of projects on the white board. My urban fantasy trilogy, three short stories destined for anthologies, even a few day job leads. Those opportunities, and the relationships that led to them?
Yep, Superstars.
I’ll leave the reminiscing of years past at that, but I don’t want to downplay the overall impact that this conference has had on my life. That said, things looked a little differently this year.
Instead of attending, I was helping to run the show.
If you ever have the opportunity to volunteer at or otherwise work a conference or convention, I 100% recommend it—the perspective is invaluable. As a newcomer to the fan con circuit, I’d seen but hadn’t really appreciated just how much work the conference teams do to keep the show running. It’s even easier to overlook all the effort when the results are seamless from the outside.
That dinner you’re attending with delicious food, decorations, seating arrangements, and a chatty crowd? The book sale with thirty authors, local advertising, a dedicated checkout system, and a packed house? There’s a horde of staff and volunteers behind the scenes working their butts off to make the magic happen.
And if they do their job right, they’re invisible.
I’m the new/current Hotel Liaison for Superstars, and my role covers everything from lodging, allergy accommodations, food and beverage, and diagramming the conference rooms. While exhausting, I had an amazing trainer/mentor who tackled everything head on with me. I have a totally new respect for anyone in event organization and unending gratitude for the behind-the-scenes folks who make our conventions, conferences, and seminars run smoothly.
I didn’t get to attend as many classes as I’d have liked, but the connections (and re-connections) I made couldn’t have happened anywhere else. I schemed short stories for an upcoming anthology with co-authors and upcoming table-of-content buddies, sold books and met new fans at the public book signing, and even pitched one of my novels to an editor.
