How Catholic School Prepped Me to Create my Virtual Conference

And in more breaking news. my mother was right about everything.

In the late 1970s, my western New York Catholic grammar school wasn’t awash in athletics programs or performing arts; fundraising was our medium. Candy sales, gift wrapping, and raffle tickets to church bazaars were all fair game to build a new school playground. We filled our pennies in little cardboard boxes for overseas food relief. We raised money for the American Diabetes Foundation and the American Cancer Foundation.

By the time I graduated from St. Margaret Mary’s, two skills were second nature to me: multiplication tables and how to organize pretty much any event. Halfway through my fifth decade, I’m no longer surprised by how valuable these skills have been in adult life.

When I decided to create 2025 Trope Con, I consulted other experts for more updated conference planning, including  Russell Nohelty’s The Author Stack, advice from organizer extraordinaire Jen LaSalle, and Sue Brown-Moore, creator of the Wanna Write Romance conference. Then I went hog wild and rushed into it.

Here’s how I planned my first-ever virtual conference, 2025 Trope Con.

1). What’s your Passion/Interest? I think it’s key to know your lane. I’m a USA Today Best-Selling Author of the Trope Thesaurus series. These are nonfiction, craft-oriented books about applying tropes as an author resource guide. With a background as a linguist, writer, and teacher, I speak at conferences across the US. Talking and writing about story structure is my jam. People are familiar with me in this role, so offering a virtual con about tropes made sense. So ask yourself, what’s your special skill, talent, or interest?

2). Given your passion, where’s the gap? When I attend national conferences, there are usually two presentations on tropes, and I’ve often given one. But I wanted more on this fabulous topic. So I narrowed it down to two main thoughts: A). I knew what I thought about tropes, but I wanted to dig into what other authors I admired thought about tropes and B). Also, I was hungry for more mature discussions about craft in general.

There are many options for writers beginning their author journey to study craft, which is awesome. However, I wanted craft talk aimed at authors deep in the authorland trenches. And in this gap, 2025 Trope Con was born.

Here is where I must mention that I didn’t know if anyone else other than a few loyal writing BFF’s would be interested in such conversations. But I wanted those conversations, so I plunged ahead.

3). Talent

I reached out to people I admired to ask if they would consider having a 45-minute conversation about tropes and writing, with more specifics to be nailed down later. Many but not all said yes (because people have lives, after all!). I picked a date in early April, about six months away, after I had a great group of talent.

I’d already decided that most 2025 Trope Con would be pre-recorded. Why? Honestly, to reduce my stress. I don’t love surprises, especially regarding technical difficulties and family emergencies.

By conducting pre-recorded interviews, I could focus on a few live events. This was a good plan for me, and I would recommend it to new virtual conference planners. Plus, getting people on board for pre-recorded events is easier—again, we’re all busy people!

I gave the speakers a list of interview questions before, this was really important. Some speakers wanted to stick to the questions, and others did not. I wanted every guest to feel comfortable so we could have our best conversation. Also, I sent a reminder the day before the interview and asked if they wanted to go over anything beforehand.

4). Organization/Data Management/Tech

I’m not an affiliate of any of the services I mention below; I’m just letting you know what worked for me. There is a truly dizzying array of services out there. My approach was modest from both an expenses and a learning standpoint (ie, any new thing takes me 2x as long to learn as I estimate).

I used Calendly.com to schedule the Zoom interviews that I recorded. I planned to get all twelve done in January and February, so I had March for processing them and uploading them in plenty of time for the April 5-6, 2025 event. Again, I really hate last-minute panic. This worked well.

I planned to use Descript for the interview processing but was dreading it. I had a stroke of luck, as my amazing brother, John offered to learn Descript and convert all the video processing into an MP3, audio, and transcript version. This was huge for me. The big takeaway here is that it’s not possible to do everything, so know when to ask for help.

2025 Trope Con is housed on Teachables in a course section. I already have a Teachables course, Write Your Christmas Romance in July, open there, so I was familiar with it and was already paying $65 a month for their services. I don’t love Teachables, but I was familiar with it, and so are many other people.

There was a private Facebook group so we could have a community event feel. The benefit of using Facebook for this is that, again, everyone is familiar with it. The drawback is that it is Facebook.

5). Advertising/Getting the Word Out

I opened registration on February 21, about five weeks before the event. That was a reasonable timeline for me. The pluses of an online event are that everyone is busy all the time and an online event means they can attend on their own time.

I had three live events because I like the interactions and feel it adds a lot to online events. Those are all recorded. Everything was recorded. It seemed like I was saying that all the time, but I would still get asked that question a lot, so be prepared to do the same!

I learned to create a Google Doc swipe file where I created teasers, blurbs, graphics, and information about how Trope Con worked for affiliates. This is super important for helping to get the word out and making it as easy as possible to share. I shared in my newsletter and on social media. Others did the same.

I planned to run an FB ad for 2025 Trope Con. I started one for $20 a day in mid-March, but after a week, I pulled it because I didn’t have the time or energy to pay attention to it. Next time, I’d probably plan for that.

Bookin’ It Designs created my main graphics, which I loved. I used Canva for individual author teasers and title cards in the interviews. I dislike creating graphics, but something that lets you create them on the fly is necessary.

I offered speakers and anyone else 50/50 affiliate marketing. Early bird prices were $79 until three days before the event, when they became $99. All material is accessible on Teachable for one year until April 6, 2026. All three live events were recorded.

The 2025 Trope Con had 220 paid attendees. I’d been hoping to break 100, so this was a pleasant surprise. It was super gratifying to see all these people wanting to talk about tropes and story structure!

What I learned is that it’s okay to be niche in a virtual con because the beauty of the internet is that it can reach far enough to find others with similar interests.

Lessons learned from 2025 Trope Con:

1). Know what you need help with

2). Ask for help; people want to be connected.

3). If you make a mistake, apologize and move on. Don’t beat yourself up.

4). Pay it forward.

5). Modest Goals are good. Do a small thing well as opposed to doing All the Things.

6). Don’t be afraid to be niche!

7). Have fun!

Are you thinking of hosting a virtual con? Have you hosted one? What was your experience like?