Associate Editor Lisa Low: Welcome to AWP week, happening tomorrow through Saturday! The Cincinnati Review won’t have a booth at the Bookfair this year, but we’re excited about what the conference will bring and know it will be a great few days. Whether you’re attending virtually or in-person in Philadelphia, a bit of strategic planning for how you’ll spend your time can really help once you’re inside the whirlwind. From two years ago, AWP’s tips for AWP success remains relevant, and our former summer editor Emily Rose Cole’s conference accessibility guide is an invaluable resource for both disabled and nondisabled attendees. Here are a few other suggestions for a great AWP experience:
- Identify your conference priorities. Is it meeting or hearing a specific writer or writers? Networking with journals? Reuniting with old friends or meeting virtual friends in person? Good food? Exploring Philly? Pick a few to be the nonnegotiables in your schedule, then use the rest of your flex time for things (bumping into old friends, naps!) that come up in the moment. It can also help to rely on your personality and energy style as a guide for pacing. If you need an excuse to take a break, remember that you, like virtual attendees, also have access to virtual programming.
- Review COVID-19 policies. While AWP itself requires masking and vaccination, the city of Philadelphia no longer requires vaccination in order to enter food and beverage establishments. Especially as this is new protocol for AWP, expect to spend extra time in-person to verify your vaccination status, and if you’re able to, pre-verify to skip this step. Consider also your comfort level outside of the conference center (which of course may differ from those around you!) in terms of the kind of spaces you’d like to eat at or spend time in for off-site readings.
- Lean into your strengths. If I could be magically granted any social skill, it would be the ability to chat up a big-shot writer. Even as I admire friends who make famous people laugh, I’ve realized that it’s better—and more efficient—to lean into my strengths. For AWP, apply your previous experience and skills/talents to conference scenarios, i.e. for me, teaming up with a friend to meet someone new, encouraging a writer to submit to the CR, etc. Then post-conference, think creatively about ways you can strengthen some of these connections—social media, attending a future reading of someone’s on Zoom, or dropping a note through their website if you didn’t get their contact info, for example.
- Acknowledge FOMO. Fear of missing out is a common ailment at conferences, where many things happen simultaneously. It doesn’t mean that you’re doing a bad job making the most of the conference; rather, FOMO is just a normal response as a human person to large-scale experiences, especially when social-media documentation is instant and ongoing. Focus instead on the good experiences you are having rather than what you’re missing.
- Stay hydrated and pack snacks. During a busy conference day—when you might decide last-minute to pop into a panel or reading, or to eat out with someone who isn’t free until later—having water and a bite to eat in your bag keeps your schedule as flexible as you want it to be.
- Explore Pathable ahead of time if virtual. Since every online system has its own quirks, before the conference starts, spend time clicking around on Pathable (although less essential for in-person attendees, Pathable has helpful resources like a map and customizable schedule). Not all events are available for virtual attendees, but the ones that are can be found under Events—when you click the search bar, you can filter for virtual vs. in-person. What’s great is that you’ll be able to access the virtual programming on your own time, until May 1. This might be the extent of your Pathable usage, but other resources could be useful to you, like the community discussion board, the link to AWP’s Bookshop.org affiliate page, or even a few yoga for writers (!) YouTube sessions.
Happy conferencing, and we can’t wait to hear how it all goes for our contributors, friends, and fellow magazines!
