Professional Devel9pment Workshop

3-13-10 Christine Taylor-Butler and Dianne de Las Casas encircled in books!

3-13-10 Christine Taylor-Butler and Dianne de Las Casas encircled in books!

Friends:

Today, I taught my workshop, “Taming Technology: Using the Internet for Biz Success” to the Kansas City Writers Group. Christine Taylor-Butler, a children’s book author, was my hostess. The workshop was held at the gorgeous Kansas City Plaza Library. The workshop started with some tech issues. The library’s WiFi was offline so neither I nor the workshop participants could connect to the Internet. This was a vital part of the workshop but I went to Plan B – talk. I went over the Internet jargon and took polls to see “who” was in my audience. I had both fiction and nonfiction writers and adult and children’s writers. When the WiFi was finally connected, we were all able to get on the Internet with no problems.

3-13-10 Kansas City Writers work on their laptops during the Taming Technology workshop

3-13-10 Kansas City Writers work on their laptops during the Taming Technology workshop

They learned about the importance of a good website, how to use social media such as Facebook, Facebook fan pages, and Twitter to attract new fans and followers, and several free, useful Internet tools. It was a three hour workshop and they were all very engaged and overwhelmed. It is a lot of information to intake. I gave them a way to prioritize their biz and marketing goals so they could take things one step at a time.

3-13-10 A cow in the Kids Zone is painted with KC landmarks

3-13-10 A cow in the Kids Zone is painted with KC landmarks

After the technology workshop, we went to lunch at a fantastic pizza place called Spin. When we returned to the library. I sat in Christine’s critique group as a guest, offering suggestions on how to pepper their presentations with storytelling strategies. It was a great day and I loved every minute of it.

3-13-10 Art is displayed in the library's children's area

3-13-10 Art is displayed in the library's children's area

The Kansas City Plaza Library is beautiful and I really enjoyed meeting all the writers that came to the workshop. A big hug and special thank you to Christine Taylo-Butler for inviting me and organizing my entire visit, and to April Roy for the awesome library space.

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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