Episode 08: Conference Key Learnings and Takeaways

Angela Haas (00:01.464)
Hello and welcome to episode 8 of The Author Next Door. I'm Angela Haas and I'm here with my lovely co-host Cassie Newell. And this month we've been talking about networking and specifically networking in person and conference survival tips. Today we're going to talk about just key learnings and key takeaways.

from the conference we just attended, which was last week's episode, live from Superstars Writing Seminars. And we just wanted to wrap up that and then also talk about how to survive again at a conference because there's some things that we even learned this time. I guess I'll start and say, I had a great time at Superstars, but.

Even going a second time, I realized you really still have to pace yourself. I'm an extroverted person, but I still got really burned out. Like even the day after I thought, I can't talk to anyone. And I didn't plan that in my schedule. Also it was a Superbowl, but we had to go to a Superbowl party, but, and it probably won't always fall that way, but I just felt really drained.

Cassie Newell (01:20.165)
Hahaha.

Angela Haas (01:28.726)
And I think as a extrovert, and I don't know if this is true for you, Cassie, you're more of an ambivert, but I get really energized by being around that many people. But even after, I was so tired because I had burned through a lot of energy. And I did better this time. The first time, I just went to everything. I signed up for everything. I went to, I didn't have a break between sessions.

Cassie Newell (01:45.657)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (01:54.806)
I just went, went, because I thought I've got to absorb every single piece of information. And so I was really like obliterated after this time I did better with saying, you know what? I paid for the recordings, which is an option with a lot of these conferences. You can at least get the audio downloads. And since I had paid for things like that, since I knew I was going to have the recordings, I was like, well, I don't have to go to the session.

think I'm going to take an hour, get out of the building. And I live locally, so that was something I could do. But just sort of rest my brain and my voice. And apologies to everyone else out there if we both sound a little scratchy. It's just because we went through five days of nonstop talking, which was so fun. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (02:25.467)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (02:35.407)
Right?

Cassie Newell (02:40.973)
You

Cassie Newell (02:46.095)
Yeah, my voice is definitely not its prime. bear with me. But yeah, I agree. think.

Angela Haas (02:51.084)
Yeah. Yeah. How did you manage your energy this time? Second time for you too.

Cassie Newell (02:56.655)
I think it's interesting because like coming from out of town, you do feel the pressure because you've spent the money to go to all the things. And I did find myself going, no, let's prioritize what I really need to know. The things that I could gain more knowledge from versus things I already had knowledge about. So for example, there was a panel that was eight o'clock at night.

And I was so done, because usually the sessions were ending around five, you know, the last one at four, so it ends at five. But I was like, you know what, I'm not going to miss it. I'm here in the hotel. I should go because it's important that I go. And I networked. I had a great time. By the time I did get back to my room, I was done for. But, you know, you just kind of.

Angela Haas (03:28.749)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (03:48.376)
Yes.

Cassie Newell (03:50.991)
You do have to pace yourself. think you also have to give yourself some grace around those things too, because you're not going to make every single thing. And a lot of times the hallway conversations are the best conversations and the best networking opportunities. I got to meet with so many people and have lunch with different people and get some really good career feedback on how to manage things and kind of insider tips that were people

Angela Haas (04:03.659)
yeah.

Cassie Newell (04:20.389)
were freely giving to me, which was wonderful. Yeah.

Angela Haas (04:24.6)
Yeah, and I think that's a question I have for you because I think this kind of happened to both of us, but I mean, I don't want to speak for you. I got conflicting advice. The great thing about superstars is that you can go to career counseling sessions. They're 15 minutes long and it's just with like the super

experts of the industry just no matter what the genre. You know, can meet with an agent, you can meet with a, you know, best-selling thriller writer. It's kind of up to you. But what was interesting is I had someone, and they were all great. When I'm sitting there, I'm just absorbing everything because they are so helpful. But, you know, one person said, I'm not ready for a Kickstarter on one of my books in my series.

Cassie Newell (05:06.927)
Right.

Cassie Newell (05:22.203)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (05:23.992)
The other person was like, I think you should definitely do this Kickstarter. you know, kind of they're both not wrong or right. You know, it's not like each one had great points and good advice, but now I'm at this like, well, what's right for me? And I think that's like, if you get advice that takes you in two different directions, it's almost like you're not gonna lose either way.

Cassie Newell (05:28.09)
Right.

Cassie Newell (05:34.255)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (05:52.418)
You know, it's just gonna be like what's right for me and my phase in my career. But how do you feel, like how do you handle something like that?

Cassie Newell (05:53.499)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (06:02.683)
So I had this great conversation while I was there. And the individual, said to them, it was part of career counseling and just a lunch thing that kept going. And I said, you you're always told to follow other authors, comps, mimic what they're doing. And I said, but I'm not really, you know? And the things we were talking about were definitely

Angela Haas (06:28.397)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (06:31.821)
outside and she said, here's the thing. She has a lot more experience than we do. And she was like, here's the thing. We tell that to people because they're brand new. The majority of people don't know these things. So most conferences you're hitting the majority. She said, however, once you know the rules, then you have the opportunity to break them.

Angela Haas (06:46.22)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (07:01.795)
you know, and kind of tweak them for yourself. And I thought that was just the best advice because it was like, yeah, because it's not completely me breaking them. It's bending. It's bending. It's doing a couple of bends, if you will. And in that context, it was just really interesting because right now I'm writing short romance, talking about print, all the different opportunities around that audio, all the things. And I just thought

Angela Haas (07:01.876)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Angela Haas (07:14.264)
Right.

Cassie Newell (07:30.839)
interesting. Okay. You know, the things that I thought wouldn't be applicable. She's like, you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater. What are you doing? And it was very eye opening, I have to say, because I think, you know, we try to get in a line to mimic others, because we respect them. But there's an opportunity to break it and bend it. Yeah, it's exciting.

Angela Haas (07:56.642)
Yeah, I think that's a really good point. think that's, and I kind of only, you know, when it's right for you to break the rules. But I think that's how some of the most successful authors have reached success is by not necessarily conforming and straying out of their lane. So that's a really good point. I think that's a really good takeaway from the conference.

Cassie Newell (08:19.994)
Right.

Angela Haas (08:25.486)
The other thing I wanted to talk about was I did a presentation mostly about how to sell in person because I think in person events are important to add to what you're doing online with your sales. But one of the most interesting things is because you meet so many people in the hallways and mixers and lunch dinners.

Cassie Newell (08:52.56)
Right.

Angela Haas (08:53.55)
coming in and out of sessions, you're standing there and someone's gonna ask you, what are your books about or what do you write? And it's interesting how I had to learn to answer that question in a really concise way. Because I've taken all these classes early on in my career about how to really get that pitch down to following a template and

Cassie Newell (09:09.733)
Right.

Angela Haas (09:22.986)
adding this like hook and then going in here and then closing. And that is something I did rehearse, but it's amazing how, you know, conversations don't flow like that. You're, kind of caught off guard and you have to answer on the fly. And I think that's something going into conferences. Everyone should practice just getting that answer to that question. What are your books about down to one sentence?

Cassie Newell (09:30.927)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (09:52.256)
So as where I used to flounder a lot and say things like, well, there's a girl, she has a neighbor, it's in space. There's a robot, but first she loves cookies. Like you can tell that I'm like, the person listening is like, yes, how do I get out of this? So I was like, okay, I need to boil down.

Cassie Newell (09:53.273)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (09:58.811)
Okay.

Cassie Newell (10:08.571)
you

Cassie Newell (10:14.124)
Right.

Angela Haas (10:20.714)
my pitch to really what am I writing about? And I'm writing about older women superheroes. Is that the most glamorous way to say what I'm doing? No, but it usually gets people like, huh, interesting, tell me more. And that's where you then can sprinkle out little details. But on that, I know we get super excited as writers.

Cassie Newell (10:25.104)
right.

Cassie Newell (10:38.693)
Tell me more, yeah.

Angela Haas (10:49.026)
that someone's gonna listen to us and wants to know about our book. And so we just go on and on and on. And so you gotta know, right, read the room and then know when to fold them, if you will. But yeah, what's your, if I was to ask you, what are your books about? How do you answer that in the hallway?

Cassie Newell (10:56.503)
happens and then that happens and then there's this and that.

Cassie Newell (11:11.457)
Yeah, so my quick answer is I write young adult contemporary fantasy and fairy tale twists along with contemporary romance that are rom-coms.

Angela Haas (11:22.252)
Yeah, perfect. I want to know more. Tell me all of it. But did you get asked that? mean, were you truly asked that question just in passing? Yeah. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (11:23.961)
Yeah. Yeah.

yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And it's funny because at this conference, I met and saw people that I saw last year, right? And so it was like, so what's new? That was always a couple of times I got asked that. It was fun to go, right. I'm writing short romance, contemporary romance two hour reads. Like I have this whole series that's launching da da da da.

Angela Haas (11:40.546)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Angela Haas (11:45.174)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (11:56.505)
I'm leaning into the funny and I'm writing rom coms. And it was so hilarious because somebody was like, you are funny. That should be fun. And I was like, it is. You know, like it was, it was a lot of fun to kind of catch up with people to see what they had done from last year. Did you find that as well?

Angela Haas (12:03.852)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (12:15.236)
yeah, it was nice to go back to this conference and I was told at the conference by a well-known author that you need to go to a conference at least three times before you say, was this good or not? If you can, mean, conferences are expensive and there's costs to that. But I think what you get in return can outweigh the costs, but.

Cassie Newell (12:42.32)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (12:42.542)
It was nice going back as my second time that some people did remember me and I even went up and like I don't know if you remember me and they're like, of course and I was like, thank God because Right. I don't either I don't want to be like, hey, it's me and they're like

Cassie Newell (12:50.767)
Right, exactly, me too. I never make the assumption.

Cassie Newell (13:01.467)
Have you ever had that happen to you or somebody's like we went to high school together and you're like I have no idea like it's always helpful when somebody's like, I don't know if you remember me, but my name is Cassie. We met last year. Yeah, it's always helpful.

Angela Haas (13:10.499)
Yes.

Angela Haas (13:15.628)
Yeah, yeah. Well, and sometimes I'm just so overloaded that I meet so many people and not that I'm not trying to remember, but I can remember their face, but I'm like, I don't know this person's name. And I'm actually just very honest because I feel like if you flounder and say things like, and try to pretend like you remember them, it's worse. So I'm just always like, I am so sorry. I remember you, but.

Cassie Newell (13:43.077)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (13:45.528)
my gosh, I don't remember your name. Hello. It's brain damage. And usually I try to make some comment like it's not you, it's me, but that usually diffuses the situation and they're like, yes. And so that keeps the conversation going. But you know, for those afraid to kind of go to a conference and put themselves out there, don't be afraid of those conversations. People, the other thing is people was so afraid of like,

Cassie Newell (13:47.737)
Right.

Cassie Newell (14:01.925)
Right.

Angela Haas (14:14.218)
asking a bad question in a session or, and you know what? We get so wrapped up that we're the center of the universe and like someone's gonna walk out and be like, someone asked this question and they're gonna just remember that. Nah, they're already moving on to the next thing and it's like, it's no big deal, you know? So don't be afraid to put yourself out there. What?

Cassie Newell (14:16.101)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (14:31.002)
Right.

Angela Haas (14:40.872)
What other kind of key learnings do you think for people maybe going for the first time or haven't been? What think?

Cassie Newell (14:50.245)
So I would say, because I was flying into Colorado, you know, there's expenses and hotels and all the things when you're not local. For me, the first time I went, I was very attached to pitching. I wanted a specific agent for a young adult fantasy I had written. Excuse me, I'm gonna edit this.

Cassie Newell (15:20.443)
was a burp. Sorry. I'll edit that. So at the time, it was probably my first serious pitch. And I hadn't done any of the career counseling. This year, I decided I'm doing it all. I'm going to do the career counseling. I have this idea. I didn't even have this draft.

started, but you know, I'm gonna write this romcom novel, let me pitch that see, you know, get more experience, see where that goes. And I think people don't take advantage of that as they should, like, because these are experts. And it doesn't mean everything they say is law in terms of career counseling, but it can really set you on the right path. The discussions I was having about bending

you know, versus breaking versus following the line, which I was kind of towing. And she was like, why are you doing that? You've got something awesome here. Don't do that. I was like, yeah, you're right. You know, it kind of gives you confidence to, to pursue and look into other things. And yeah, I think, you know, this particular conference gives you built in networking by career counseling. Like what other conference does that? Not a lot, you know, and we're talking big names.

Angela Haas (16:23.169)
Right.

Cassie Newell (16:45.915)
people who've been in the industry decades. So I think it's invaluable. I mean, that was just a huge takeaway for me and it paid off. I got asked for a full, that was incredible. And yeah, I'm excited. We'll see where things go. Yeah.

Angela Haas (17:08.344)
For those listeners who might not know what, you know, just what does it mean when you've been asked for a full? What is a full?

Cassie Newell (17:16.921)
So when you pitch to an agent, typically they'll either pass, maybe give you some pointers or ask for further information, meaning they want a partial, meaning that's a partial of your manuscript. They'll tell you up to 30 pages, first three chapters, whatever that is. When they ask for a full, that means they want your full manuscript.

they are interested in your story. You did well with your pitch. So that's what it means.

Angela Haas (17:48.227)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (17:51.768)
That's so exciting. That's so great. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. So things like that can happen. that's, I mean, you went in feeling really good, but you know.

Cassie Newell (17:53.659)
It is so exciting.

Cassie Newell (18:03.843)
Yeah. And I went in as practice. Like I thought one thing things had changed with this individual. And then, you know, it was just kind of crazy town. So at the same time I was like, I don't know, let's just see how it goes. I was very relaxed. I didn't have it memorized. and I don't think that you have to, to be honest. And I just had my phone and I kind of communicated and chatted with the individual I was pitching to. So I think.

You know, the first time I went, I was a little bit more uptight about it. You know, I had a printout to leave behind in my card. I mean, I did have my card this time, but I didn't have printout like all the things I just kind of went in a little bit more calm, a little bit more secure in this story and what I was doing. And yeah, it was something they were interested in. doesn't mean that you'll always land it. didn't the first time either at all.

Angela Haas (18:40.472)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (18:44.28)
Sure.

Angela Haas (19:00.461)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (19:00.685)
I got I got coached right after you know, which was fine. Still so valuable. Right? Yeah. What about you? Talk about your career counselling and what you've gained.

Angela Haas (19:03.67)
Yeah, still valuable. Still so valuable. Yeah. Yeah.

Angela Haas (19:12.36)
I had amazing career counselors. had Dana Claire who, she's the founder of Ink Club Fluence. Yes. that's my memory. I'm sorry. But she, she really helped guide me with, she read my like romance blurb and offered some interesting tweaks to it.

Cassie Newell (19:38.18)
awesome.

Angela Haas (19:41.286)
And for those of you who are interested in having someone like manage your Kickstarter, check out Influence. Maybe we can put some of those links in the show notes that we're going to talk about. Yeah. Yeah, they do so much. Then I had Mark Cameron, who is a retired law enforcement officer. lives in Alaska now. He was also a federal marshal.

Cassie Newell (19:51.888)
Yeah, because they do more than Kickstarter. also do special editions and some other builds and things. But yeah.

Angela Haas (20:09.994)
and I went to his talk on writing realistic law enforcement officers or law enforcement characters and that was so illuminating but kind of inspired me to pick up my thriller that, sorry, I thought I had this, I'm gonna have to edit this out.

Angela Haas (20:38.61)
I have this on do not disturb when I put this in a drawer.

he basically helped me think about reviving a thriller series I had outlined. And the only reason I was like, so wanting to write this thriller series and I got in the weeds as far as I started doing research, but then didn't understand, you know, what kind of research I needed to do, where to look for.

accurate research because you can't do this kind of research on chat GPT. You have to talk to real people in the field. But then I didn't know exactly where to find those people. And Mark Cameron clued me into a lot of groups on Facebook and places where you can ask those questions. So then I'm thinking, maybe I should revive this thriller. And then I had Michael, Michael La Ron, and he is an amazing

Cassie Newell (21:20.091)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (21:32.016)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (21:42.592)
urban fantasy writer, but he also does has so many great nonfiction books geared towards writers and just on so many topics, including one that I bought that like the things that they don't usually tell you. So valuable. All their advice was so valuable, but it almost took me in three different directions. So I got advice on the sci-fi romance and thriller and like, okay, which one do I do first?

Cassie Newell (22:00.155)
Mmm.

Cassie Newell (22:06.383)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (22:12.495)
So put pressure on you.

Angela Haas (22:12.568)
but it's exciting, but I got a lot of validation. And that's sometimes what I needed. Sometimes you just feel like you're on your own island and you're like, am I doing this right? Is this even a thing? And then when you talk to an expert and they're like, this is so great. It's just the validation I needed to keep me going. that doesn't happen at every conference, but.

Cassie Newell (22:17.627)
Mm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Cassie Newell (22:26.928)
Right.

Cassie Newell (22:31.951)
Right.

Angela Haas (22:39.646)
That's why I like superstars because it's small. It is a little more for your ticket, but because you get so much access to people that you wouldn't normally get access to in the industry. yeah, that was just, that was great.

Cassie Newell (22:54.009)
Yeah, I love talking with Cindy Gunderson and that changed my world on a number of aspects. And I also spoke with Claire. It was really good. Claire, she was giving me the information I needed in her opinion. And it was harsh. It was hard to hear at first. was like, no, this is my thoughts on this. And I was like, dang, really? You know, like that's not what I'm hearing, you know? And then she would give me numbers around it.

But it was great because I also think there are a lot of people when you get into this industry and you're trying to learn from them, they're there to sell you a course. They are there to somewhat educate you, but they're primarily there to sell you a course. So you really have to put on your little doubting Thomas hat every now and then just to make sure the path is legit.

Angela Haas (23:38.53)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (23:43.872)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (23:49.71)
Right.

Cassie Newell (23:54.095)
you that you agree with those things. And it takes time. It takes time in this industry to kind of field that. You know, and there are so many great courses and depending on your personality of how you like to learn and how you like to receive information, it's sometimes it can be really hard to navigate that and some of the discussions and the feedback you get. I mean, you could always go, as Cindy told me, to bend or break something.

Angela Haas (24:12.856)
Great.

Cassie Newell (24:23.439)
But you also don't have to do it, know, guns a blazing, if you will, sorry for the Southernism. You can do it one small step at a time. You know what I mean? You don't have to throw everything at it to test something. So yeah.

Angela Haas (24:33.733)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (24:40.556)
Yeah. Well, and that's when I had to almost had to, when I came home from a conference, I had to like download all the information, like make notes and just really take time to digest it instead of diving right in. And I think that's, I think that's a great way to do it, but a super inspiring. the, the only other thing I want to, well, there's a couple other things that I wanted to mention, just quick tips. I can't.

Cassie Newell (24:54.831)
Right.

Angela Haas (25:10.728)
you how many people that I said, do you have a card because I'm so interested in what you're telling me in the hallway? And they're like, no, I don't, or I'm out, you know, as authors, we're always here to support other authors. Superstars has a bookstore where they sell books. I bought those books because we don't specifically want to just market to other authors, but I think people forget that we're readers too. And

Cassie Newell (25:26.232)
Right.

Cassie Newell (25:38.01)
Right.

Angela Haas (25:39.83)
If I'm talking to you in the hallway and I'm just really loving what you're saying, I want to buy your book and support you. So for everyone, it doesn't cost that much to make 50 business cards on Vistaprint or Zazzle or one of those sites that can be very simple, QR code or just simply have your website out and your email so people can find you.

Cassie Newell (25:48.057)
Right.

Angela Haas (26:07.192)
Find your links. That is so important. Don't show up to a conference without some contact card that you can slip in your lanyard or have in your backpack. Always have those on you. Because I gave out a lot of cards and I'm sure you did too.

Cassie Newell (26:08.943)
Right.

Cassie Newell (26:19.621)
Yeah.

I did too and I was surprised. Last conference I was trying the dot method. It didn't work very well for me.

Angela Haas (26:28.814)
that's the dot method for those who don't know is where they scan. Isn't it where you have your contact card on your phone and they scan it? So yeah.

Cassie Newell (26:36.833)
Mm-hmm on the back of your phone. Yeah, it just doesn't work the way I wanted it to and I think Also when you're pitching or you're talking to certain people They want it like I did when I gathered those cards. I go back and look at them If it's on the web, I could forget about it, you know, it's kind of interesting I don't go and scroll through my contacts either because sometimes it allows you to put a Contact in that person's phone

Angela Haas (26:53.388)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (27:06.691)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (27:06.797)
Yeah, it just didn't, it didn't serve me. So this time I did. I had a fun discussion with Angela, my marketing guru here, and asked her, I was like, I do way too many things. do you, how do I put all the things I do on one card? And what does that look like? Am I see CM Newell? Am I see CK Darling? Am I, you know, all the things

Angela Haas (27:20.054)
I was like, which Angela? And I was like, oh, it's me.

Cassie Newell (27:36.013)
And it was interesting because I was like, okay, well, I'm just Cassie Newell from a business perspective and I'm going as a business person. If you ask me about my books, I can tell you my pen names. So it was really interesting because Angela was like, yeah, it should be you. And then have a QR code and make a quick, you know, landing page and let them choose what they want to look at. And so they're just buttons that connect to my websites and

Angela Haas (27:46.22)
Mm Yeah.

Angela Haas (27:59.437)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (28:02.882)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (28:03.611)
It's so simple and I was like, God, this is really brilliant. So.

Angela Haas (28:06.968)
Do you have that card with you? Do you have it? We can show people maybe. We can show people mine. Just to give ideas like how simple, you don't have to make it real crazy, you know?

Cassie Newell (28:09.595)
Yeah, it's like, yep, of course, it might look backwards. But yeah, yeah, very simple. And I just put at the bottom, you know, it was like author, coach, podcaster, because I do all of those things. And I was like, I don't need to list out all the types of things I am as an author, because I have a lot because I also have nonfiction as well.

Angela Haas (28:27.223)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (28:36.194)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (28:36.291)
You think you think I'd written 20 books. Honestly, I've only written not. it'll be 10 as of this week in February. But anyway, but you know, like it's not a ton.

Angela Haas (28:45.784)
halfway there. Yeah, I've got, you can't. So I've got writer, podcaster. put dog admirer on there because that's my other career, but that always like when people are like, sigh, another boring business card. And then they're like, what kind of dogs do you have? And I'm like, well, I probably shouldn't, you shouldn't open that flood gate with me ever because I'm like, here's my 72 picture photo album of my animals, but

Cassie Newell (28:56.58)
I love it.

gets a laugh.

Cassie Newell (29:03.961)
Ha ha ha ha.

Let me tell you all about them.

Angela Haas (29:15.468)
And then on the back, just have my link tree. I'm all, link tree right here. And that has all the links to everything and link tree you can do for free. And again, it just has like little buttons that people can find. have my address with my publishing company, some social medias, and that's it. And I gave a lot of those out, especially to all my career counselors. Yes.

Cassie Newell (29:20.805)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (29:37.947)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (29:42.615)
Nice. Yes.

Angela Haas (29:44.908)
The last little tip I have is because I talked to so many people who are not feeling well from the altitude. I think research your location for sure. Because I can say as a person who's lived in Colorado my whole life, even the altitude, especially because it's in February, superstars is, and so it's

cold and dry. So you're going to be dealing with like those three factors in addition to the elevation. So do some research because like when you're dealing with elevation and I'm saying people coming from sea level, we're at about 65, 7,000 feet depending on where you are in Colorado and you especially touching down getting off a plane, you're going to already start to feel it.

You almost seem to super hydrate the day before, bring extra extra moisturizing lotion with you or go buy some. But you know, and like if you ever come to Arizona, the water isn't super great. So you can't totally drink out of the tap all the time. So you need to plan like maybe I'm going to stock up on some bottles of water or, you know, find a refilling station.

Cassie Newell (30:51.696)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (31:09.736)
What about like someone coming from Colorado to Florida? Like is there stuff that like I know it's more humid. Is there anything that? Yeah. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (31:20.495)
Hmm. It depends on where you are in Florida. Not all of Florida is humid. would say layer, just because I'm a really seasoned traveler, layers are your friends, you know, just pack in layers, take a tank top, even though you're going to Colorado. Yes, I took tank tops. You know, you might double up on shirts and then feel like you need a jacket and then you're in the rooms and you're like, I don't need a jacket, you know, all the things. So layers are important.

Angela Haas (31:28.546)
Right. Yes. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (31:49.431)
and they're your best friend, honestly.

Angela Haas (31:51.15)
And I think being comfortable, you wanna, I I dress up a little, cause I always feel a little more confident, but I still wanna feel like comfortable shoes. You you don't think like you're, you do still walk around a fair amount and especially you need layers. That's such a good point because I remember in Vegas and correct me if I'm wrong, I think the conference rooms were really,

Cassie Newell (31:53.722)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (32:02.96)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (32:19.022)
hot when I went to the last 20 books to 50 K. I feel like I was hot in there. And then some of these rooms in the Cheyenne mountain resort, the air condition was on and I was cold in there. So if you can pack a little pack with like, even when you're at the conference, even if your hotel room is right there, still like a sweater you can throw on or take off so that if you're hot, if you're cold,

Cassie Newell (32:23.972)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (32:27.365)
freezing.

Cassie Newell (32:32.667)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (32:45.883)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (32:48.088)
comfortable shoes, just because you're going to absorb the information better if you're not like concentrating on the fact that I'm freezing and I want to get out of here. But just research your location and see what other people say about where the actual conference is. You know, what do you need to know about where you're going? Yeah. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (32:57.123)
Yeah. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (33:11.179)
Right, absolutely. I also think to just being prepared to change outfits to help you sometimes in energizing. sometimes I would change for dinner doesn't mean I'm packing a ton extra. It may just mean I'm throwing on jeans versus slacks, or I'm just changing my top or what have you. So

Angela Haas (33:19.542)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Angela Haas (33:29.718)
Yes. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (33:35.619)
Yeah, it just kind of helps your clothes last a little longer in traveling, but it also helps kind of energize you too. But definitely, you know, be comfortable in your room and be comfortable while you're traveling and water, water, water.

Angela Haas (33:38.699)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (33:46.135)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (33:51.532)
Yeah, and even along the lines of like what to pack for dinners and stuff, you some people are always shocked when they come to Colorado and it's a very casual, very casual state. Even, you know, the resorts and higher end hotels here, you can still get away with resort casual. I mean, some places may not allow jeans, but if you have dressed up denim, you're totally fine. But I don't know, I've heard in the South, you know, it's

Cassie Newell (34:01.935)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (34:19.992)
People dress up everywhere, you know.

Cassie Newell (34:22.457)
Well, Florida is a flip flop kind of life, you know, so me being in shoes is like, yeah.

Angela Haas (34:25.546)
Yeah, but if they're in the Carolinas, you know, my friend who is from South Carolina, she was shocked when she moved here because she dresses up everywhere. It's really expected. Yeah.

Cassie Newell (34:36.621)
Yeah, definitely there's a dress up aspect to it. You know, but that's also where the Southern belles and Debu tants come from. So, you know, I mean, certainly there's a time and a place for it and hats like at the Kentucky Derby and things like that. Whether you live in Kentucky or not, and you're celebrating it and you're having a Kentucky Derby party, you got hats on. So yeah, it just depends on the occasion. But for the most part, you know,

Angela Haas (34:54.337)
Right.

Angela Haas (35:00.45)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (35:05.849)
I would say just know what the agenda is. If you do go for like the VIP dinners, I would dress up a little.

Angela Haas (35:08.558)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a little dressier for sure. And that's the VIP dinner is something specific to superstars. If you pay a little extra, the cool thing is you can be at a table. I was at a table with Jim Butcher and there's only eight of you and you have them for, it's a captive audience and.

Cassie Newell (35:29.176)
Right.

Angela Haas (35:35.436)
You know, you're just like, wow, I'm eating dinner with this person. You know, it's, it's really an interesting, interesting setup, but there's a lot of conferences and maybe who knows, we might be live in author nation in November. We'll see. With the live recording that was we, you know, last week's episode, just being live was just fun because.

Cassie Newell (35:52.153)
Maybe, now that we know kind of what we're doing, do we, do we, do we know?

Cassie Newell (36:03.96)
It was fun.

Angela Haas (36:04.866)
people were really excited to be part of it. And yeah, so I think we should try to do that again, but.

Cassie Newell (36:11.515)
Yeah, we got to find the right space and section to do it. We were so very last minute, but it worked out great. But at the same time, yeah, this girl's a little bit of a planner.

Angela Haas (36:14.102)
Yes. Yes. Yeah.

Angela Haas (36:19.406)
Yeah.

Angela Haas (36:23.944)
I'm a planner, but I think, you know, what we ran into was there was a day where like, I just wanted to keep, there was a few sessions I really wanted to do. And then I was also a moderator. And so, yeah, I think author nation will be a little, I won't have as much responsibility. well, cool. Well, any other takeaways or tidbits you think for people to know?

Cassie Newell (36:44.091)
Yeah, absolutely.

Cassie Newell (36:51.259)
the other thing I would say is that try not to be judgmental, just take everything in. And as you said, sort it out later. For me, I don't do it immediate, but I tend to do it over the week when I get back. And I decided, to take the day off from, cause I have a day job. the day off, today, which we're recording, which is at the start of the week.

Angela Haas (36:59.854)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (37:21.145)
just to give myself some rest before going back to work. I highly recommend that. Because people will think you're on vacation, but a conference, it's a lot of work. It drains your body physically a little bit, mental capacity in terms of just all the things. So give yourself some rest before you return to writing, work, whatever it is, because you need a little bit of downtime to recuperate.

Angela Haas (37:23.799)
Mm-hmm.

Yes, if you can, yes.

Angela Haas (37:49.89)
That's a great point. That's so important to remember. So yeah, well, can we do our table topic? And then we'll close. All right. This episode's table topic question is, what author would you choose to write your memoir?

Cassie Newell (37:57.581)
Yes, tabletop it.

Cassie Newell (38:14.619)
I wonder if they don't write memoirs though?

Angela Haas (38:18.058)
No, it's just don't go into here. They don't write memoirs. What if you, what if you're the only one you have to get into fire up your imagination.

Cassie Newell (38:33.337)
No, that's really tough. Like some of my favorite fiction authors, you know, but then I also, you know, I'm friends with a lot of fiction authors now. That's crazy when I say that out loud. I'd probably like try to choose one of my friends. Like, I don't know, Angela. She's like, no.

Angela Haas (38:54.382)
I'll probably put a science fiction twist on it if you're okay. mean...

Cassie Newell (38:59.995)
Like I said, they don't write memoir or I might choose, you know, Sasha or somebody else, Sasha Black. But if I wanted to have some fun and with a Southern twang, it would be J.R. Ward. Yeah, bring it. That would be hilarious. J.R. Ward, Black Dagger Brotherhood.

Angela Haas (39:19.15)
Ooh. Yeah.

Angela Haas (39:25.112)
Mmm.

Cassie Newell (39:27.275)
I know some people will know they'll be like, that would be hilarious. And yes, it would be.

You?

Angela Haas (39:35.318)
I'd probably pick like, Emily Henry, someone to just make it fluff it up and make everything I've been through, you know, sound like a love story. Yeah. I'd probably pick her something. A romance author. Yeah. It is. There's always, you know, you know, when you.

Cassie Newell (39:38.747)
nice.

Cassie Newell (39:46.715)
Mm-hmm.

Cassie Newell (39:55.107)
It is a love story. What are you talking about? Somewhat of a love story.

Angela Haas (40:05.612)
meet your true love. I had to kiss some frogs to get there. yeah. Well, it's been great. We had a great time at the conference and it's kind of interesting to get back to real life and it's great talking to you today. So thank you for all your points.

Cassie Newell (40:10.672)
Yeah.

Cassie Newell (40:18.127)
me dad.

Cassie Newell (40:26.555)
And hopefully my voice will be better next time.

Angela Haas (40:30.836)
It will be. And thank you listeners and viewers for joining us today. Don't forget to give us a review and rating whenever you listen or watch the podcast. It really helps us with visibility. And next week, we're going to talk about community building online. We've been talking about a lot of face-to-face stuff, so we're going to concentrate on how do you find the right communities to serve you in your network online?

So until then, keep writing, keep doing, keep laughing, everything. Bye.

Cassie Newell (41:00.367)
Yes.

Cassie Newell (41:09.339)
Thanks.