Mary's Rants

It's Thursday and only a week and a half left before conference. So much to do and so little time. As much as I love to network and see old and new friends, the conference is a career opportunity, one I must use wisely.

As I mentioned last week I color code everything in the workshop outline RWA gives us. Pink for 1st choice, yellow for 2nd, etc. But how do I pick what I attend? That's the hard part. Every year my career is at a different place, so my choices reflect where that place is.

This year I honestly do not know what I want to focus on. The three themes are career, craft and publishing, what way to go is the delimma.

This next week will be spent scouring the blurbs of each workshop. Cross referencing what is on the discs I purchased from D.C. last year. What's the newest trend, and what workshop are new and haven't been presented before.

Once I have a list of everything that interests me and that I do not have on disc from a previous year, then I'll start to narrow it down. That is when I will know what my focus will be. Every year it is a challenge for me to wring the most our of the conference to make it worth all the dollars I've spent.

And every year I bank on that one workshop that will tell me the golden advice that will take me to the top.

For those who are going to Nationals this year, what will be your focus?