And here we are again! It never fails—the excitement builds each year from the moment registration opens to the actual weekend of the event, and the 2017 June New Jersey SCBWI Conference looks to be spectacular! (Note: registration is closed.)

Each year I’ve been able to post Personal Schedule Templates for download (some helpful background info so you can understand why I did and what qualifies me to do so). Typically I provide the documents well in advance, but this year we have an unfamiliar (to me) venue, so I had to wait until attendees were supplied with the “room” information before I could complete and share these with you. I’m happy to say they are done and here! 😀 . Yay!

With that said, for those of you who like this type chart to help get you through the weekend in smooth fashion, I’m pleased to present this year’s versions for you, with an updated (and improved, I think) “Betty BOGUS” example to help guide you:

I will reiterate this each year:

What I’ve done is made a variety of versions to suit whatever are your preference and needs. There is a Black/White/Gray version and a Color version. They are both available here as either a workable Word document or a PDF (links at end of post).

• With the WORD docs, you can type and manipulate anything in it. Just click your cursor in any cell (box) you want to type in. If you are familiar with using tables in Microsoft Word, you know that if you are in the table, the “Design” tab appears from which you have many options to change colors, fonts and anything else you choose.
• With the PDF you can’t manipulate the document itself other than filling in and marking by hand.
• Your choice of B&W or COLOR is determined by whether or not you want to print in black ink only or full color. Either way, you can color code things to your liking using colored pens, markers and highlighters should you prefer.

To serve as reference on how to fill in your own personal information, below I show Betty BOGUS’s bogus personal schedule based on this year’s program (meal table #s are NOT real). “Betty” filled in her personal info on the computer in the Word document, including color, but as I said, you can fill in the document by hand and use highlighters, etc. to color code if you prefer. Also note the blank lines and deleted details. These don’t pertain to Ms. Bogus’s schedule. By deleting unnecessary elements the schedule is less cluttered and more readable. If you are filling the form by hand, you can simply cross out or white out the unnecessary lines and information.

As shown here, I’ve designated meals in pink, workshops marked by blue/white lines; the blue/yellow one indicates the workshop Betty volunteered to facilitate. You’ll notice the PITCH and CRITIQUE are highlighted in bright yellow to really stand out. Typically the week prior to the conference we receive our volunteer assignments and we get the room numbers, so once everything’s finalized, I can finally print it out.

FOR DOWNLOAD:

NJ SCBWI 2017 CONFERENCE PERSONAL SCHEDULE TEMPLATES

  B&W Word doc:       COLOR Word doc:          B&W pdf:               COLOR pdf: 

So there you have it! I hope you find this useful. The two days fly by and are packed with activities so you want to get through them as smoothly as possible. Every year this is the tool I use to help me do just that. And PLEASE be sure to share this with anyone you know who’s attending our amazing NJ SCBWI Conference and may be interested.

If time and logistics allow for it, I hope to see you there! Either way, I hope you have an enjoyable and successful conference experience 🙂