Reserve your spot to sell or show off your book, business, or in-progress project! Fill your table with colorful displays or piles of your anthology! The choice is yours to highlight your unique voice across or just top off your email list. There may even be a prize or two in your future for “Best Table Display” or “Most Creative Pitch!” 😉

IMPORTANT:

• Participants may choose either a vendor table OR a student spotlight.
• Vendor tables and student section spots are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Participants will receive their location the morning of the event.
• Setup time will be on the morning of graduation (Sep. 5), with touch-ups during dinner as needed.
• Spaces are limited!

Vendor Table – $60 (12 spots)
Includes: Six-foot table and two chairs.

This is a perfect opportunity to show off and sell your book, anthology, or business and to build your email list.

NOTE: To collect more information, a form with more details will be sent out at least 30 days before the event. A tax form to sell in Missouri must be filled out by the time of the event. This opportunity has a maximum of TWO authors per slot.

DISCOUNT: Class of 2024 and Class of 2025 members receive a 50% discount on their vendor table. Please use Promo Code ALUMNI at checkout. The table must include only alumni books or businesses.

Student Spotlight – FREE (16 spots)
Includes: HALF of a six-foot table and one chair.

This option is excellent if you want to gain trade show experience, practice your book or business pitch, or gain emails for your newsletters.

NOTE: To collect more information, a form with more details will be sent out at least 30 days before the event. This opportunity is not eligible for selling or trading merchandise.

Share your story on the main stage! There are several ways you can share about your anthology and your experience. Flex your interview and public speaking skills as you share the inspiration of your story or join a panel of similar story themes. Some will even have the opportunity to flex their stage presence skills by performing live excerpts from their stories.

IMPORTANT:

• There is no fee to participate in the Anthology Showcase.
• Must be in a confirmed anthology volume at the time of the event to participate.
• Priority will be given to participants with a published anthology at the time of the event.
• This opportunity may be selected in conjunction with a vendor table or student spotlight
• Interviews, panels, and readings will be structured based on programming needs.
• NOTE: Signing up for any of the below opportunities does not guarantee a spot in the Anthology Showcase.

Personal Interview

Description: A 10-15 minute interview with one of the AC staff. Questions will be sent ahead of time and will pertain to your story and/or experience in the anthology program.

Panel

Description: A 30-45 minute panel with other students and AC staff. Panels will be structured based on a variety of topics such as anthology volume, shared short story themes, and similar experiences.

Live Reading

Description: A live reading of the participant’s short story or novella. This reading can range from a 5 minute excerpt to a full reading depending on participant’s willingness and programming needs. Further details will be discussed at a later date.

The conference is at the Sheraton Westport Chalet Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. The address is 191 W Port Plaza Dr, St. Louis, MO 63146.

The closest airport is St. Louis Lambert International Airport, which is about 10 minutes away.

We will cater faculty lunches on Wednesday and Thursday. For other meals, there are a variety of restaurants within walking distance of the hotel for you to eat at with classmates and faculty.

Yes! Your parent/guardian will need to sign a few forms during the registration process, but all minors are welcome at the conference.

Current Author Conservatory students and all graduates are welcome to attend the event. If you do not fall into either category, please email [email protected] to request permission to come.

The graduation and book fair are free for any students to attend, whether they register for the conference or not. You must register in order to be in conference spaces for the rest of the event.

Yes! Family members of graduates don’t need to pay in order to attend the graduation ceremony.

Early Bird Registration ends on March 15th. After the 15th, registration will go up to $1057.

Normal Registration ends on June 30th. After the 31st, student registration will increase to $1097.

Late Registration ends on July 31st.

Unfortunately not; we’re only offering an all-in-one price for this.

We realize most conferences allow you to stay on or off-site, so if you’d like to understand why we’re doing things a bit differently, hosting a conference at a professional venue like this is pretty hard at the current size of the Conservatory. Every hotel we looked at which could be a suitable facility for this had a minimum hotel room reservation required so we could use their conference rooms. And those minimums were high enough that it covered all our expected number of attendees.

Large conferences like ACFW, Blue Ridge, etc. can fill the room requirements without any attendee requirements because they have a lot more attendees than we expect to have, so the numbers work in their favor. Given our size, we’re just not at a point yet where we’re able to do that, unfortunately.

We did work very hard to keep the overall price under $1,000 through multiple negotiations and creative planning decisions, and we believe the price compares favorably to many of the other popular conferences in the Christian writing industry.

We are happy to consider exceptions for students who face unique health challenges and are particularly sensitive to certain buildings and locations. Please contact [email protected] for options if that’s the case.

Please wear business casual, in light of the professional nature of the conference.