An Introduction

to Women Writing the West’s

2024 Conference Committee

“It takes a dedicated committee of volunteers to bring a three day conference to fruition. Each giving many hours to make their designated part of the event run effortlessly so each attendee gets the most for their money.” ~ Sue Spitulnik, 2024 Conference Chair.

Gayle Gresham is the 2024 WWW president. She had to search for the right people who were willing to be on the conference committee then she received every email during the event planning to keep her informed, sometimes over fifty a day. And, she had the final say in all decisions. It sounds easy. It isn’t.
Randi Samuelson-Brown worked with Gayle to find the right hotel. The size and price of the venue were top considerations, as was the date. It’s not a single phone call or visit to an establishment. It’s time consuming, with multiple contacts until the right location is found, with some compromises as to the “perfect” spot.
Jayme Mansfield agreed to find a book store that was willing to work with us so we could have a live store on site. Again, she had to contact more than one local establishment before “Books Are Awesome” accepted the challenge. Much more work to making this happen than meets the eye. She also had to coordinate with all of the members who wanted to sell and sign their books.
Elizabeth Trupin-Pulli, an agent herself, started contacting agents and editors as soon as the conference date was set. She sent out a batch of requests to join us, then had to wait for responses before moving on to the next batch to fill the spots. There are multiple other writing conferences going on this weekend. Liz did a great job bringing us folks who want to work with our writers.
Karen S. Jones, turned recognizing the WWW founders at this 30th anniversary event into a bigger project. She has been locating, contacting, researching, and then writing bios for every one she could. Her efforts are being shared on the WWW blog and will be kept for the archives of the organization because it’s the founders that gave us our “home.”
Corinne Joy Brown, WWW founding member and also a member of the Denver Women’s Press Club, organized this year’s tour and luncheon. She also successfully contacted all of our sponsors. This description makes it seem like she spent a few minutes. It was hours.
Miranda Martinez-Herbert accepted the roll of lining up our workshop presenters. The call to present was put on the conference page of our website then Miranda coordinated with Gayle and me to choose the best variety, organize the time slots, communicate about audio/visual needs, and then make adjustments when life got in the way for some. She also recruited the moderators.
Ann Edall-Robson is the WWW marketing chair. She requested the head shots and bios of everyone involved; the committee, the Agents and Editors, and the workshop presenters. She organized all of that information to share at the right moment on the WWW website blog, and then added all the founders information that Karen Jones sent her. She took care of placing advertisements in magazines, by the due dates, and kept WWW in the public eye via the Blog, Facebook and Instagram. She’s also the one who introduced me to WWW.
Alice Trego is the group’s administrator and this year’s registrar. She has kept track of the numbers for each step of the conference. That includes registration fees, extra event add-ons, guest meals, meals the group pays for, and then did all the refunds for anyone who has had to cancel. She will also be the one taking payments for the silent auction items. Adding to her list of responsibilities, she made all the name tags and tickets. WOW. She is also a treasure of the history of WWW and can answer most all the questions an inexperienced chair can ask.
Doris Eraldi calls herself the “webwitch.” It’s an apt name. Anything you see on the WWW website is because Doris has put it there. She does have magical powers when it comes to making linked information accessible and she can explain to us how it works.
Me. I’m Sue Spitulnik who thinks organizing things is fun. I’m only a one year member, but had conference experience before I agreed to be the Conference Chair. I thought I knew enough to handle the job but I have to admit, I’ve learned twice as much as I already knew. Without all the ladies I’ve introduced, doing their special jobs, I would not have been able to organize the great outcome you are going to participate in. Yeah, I expect some hiccups. That’s life. Thank you, thank you, thank you, to the committee. We did it together!

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