AWAI Bootcamp

I didn’t get a blog for two weeks ago, so here goes:

Two weeks ago, on October 22, I left to go to Miranda’s.  I thought I’d leave early and go and play with clay with Marian a bit.  But it didn’t work.  Good thing!

It took me until Noon to get out the door as it was.  I did fit in a short stop at ½ of ½ and found a sweater and a crotched over-jacket I could not live without.  Hey.  Recreational shopping for $6.50… how can you go wrong?  And I wanted the sweater for the seminar.

I had a great time visiting with Miranda and Dad and Camden and Ethan.  Tuesday we went to the zoo and walked and talked with Miranda’s friend and her two little ones.

Wednesday Dan took me bright and early to the Tulsa airport and I caught my plane to Atlanta and then on to West Palm Beach.  I have a Mastermind group that meets via Skype every 2 weeks.  Kay, from Atlanta, recently joined the group.  I met her in West Palm Beach and we carpooled together to the Del Ray Beach Marriott for the AWAI Bootcamp.

Another of the Mastermind group, Patricia, arrived earlier.  She and I roomed together.  We had a great time!  We were very compatible and talked and encouraged one another.  We signed in and went to the “Overview for Newbies” and then hit the Bootcamp running.

It really was amazing.  It was a blend of “how to write better,” marketing yourself, and networking.  I have never been to a convention where it was easier to meet people.  Everywhere you went you struck up conversations.  When we went to meals, we’d want to take a group. As someone walked by, we’d ask, “Want to come to lunch with us?”  “Sure!” and we go out and sit and visit and learn about each other’s goals and strengths.

I find it a bit amusing that every field has its “rock stars.”  Those are the top performers, the most experienced or well known in the field.  We had several there.  Bob Bly—who has published 80 books—said, “We are just people.  We are not gods.  Richard Armstrong is not a god.  Hershel Gordon Lewis is not a god, Clayton Makepeace is not… well…maybe Clayton…”

Even the “rock stars” were incredibly generous with their time.  They were easy to talk to. Several months earlier, I’d downloaded a free book of Richard Armstrong’s.  I’d intended to just glance at it, but found myself reading it straight through.  So I wrote and told him how much I loved his book.  He graciously replied.  When I found out he was going to be at Bootcamp, I invited him to go to lunch with me.  He said, there may be other people there, but sure, we can do lunch.

At Bootcamp, we met a few times, but never got connected to visit.  At the end of Bootcamp, I’m sitting at a table helping another writer with a project, and he comes up and says, “I’m so sorry we didn’t get together earlier, would it be all right if we visited now?”  How cool is that?

And the professionals were VERY good. Clayton Makepeace took us through his process in video landing pages, and again in turning features into benefits.  Wow!  It’s amazing to watch a master at work.  On the last day, Patricia, Kay and I wanted a picture taken before Kay left (early).  So we went to the podium where the AWAI logo was.  Clayton was sitting on the stage edge talking to someone.  He got up to move out of the photo, but we invited him in and he was kind enough to join us.  Apparently he enjoys drinking.  He said, “Yes, I may lose a few brain cells, but only the weak ones.  I figure it’s survival of the fittest.”

( Patricia, Kay, Clayton, Me)

When I had checked the weather, it was supposed to be sunny everyday but Friday.  Then, flying in, we hear about hurricane Sandy.  Thursday it rained and was very windy!  It felt like a hurricane coming.  That night the windows shook with the wind.  But on Friday it was less windy and Saturday was nice.  The Marriott is just across the road from the beach, so I was able to go and walk along the beach twice.  Higher tide than normal, I think, but fun to smell the salt air.

Friday we had a job fair.  Lots of people from different marketing places came to look for copywriters- Stansberry and Associates, Weiss, Oxford Letter, Agora Publishing, International Living, Dani Johnson—about 50 businesses total.  I skipped the health ones as I don’t want to write in that field and narrowed my connections down to about 10.   Part way through the power went off in the hotel.  So they brought in lanterns… and people used cell phone light and we continued to connect.  The problem was with maybe 500 people in the room and maybe 100 talking at the same time, it was loud!!!  Still, I made some good contacts and will follow up with spec assignments and thank you notes.

Saturday the bootcamp wound down.  I was wound down, too.  Saturday night we crashed and packed. We had to leave at 6:15 am to get to the airport on time.  I flew back to Tulsa and one of Miranda’s friends picked me up.  I rushed to change and made it to church almost on time. (Miranda and Dan headed to Utah on Wednesday to deliver a car and visit.)  I had planned on spending the night anyway and driving home on Monday, but I got barn fever and decided to head home on Sunday.

I got home about 7:30.  It was good to be home!