The Okoboji Writers’ Retreat will be held at the Dickinson County Maser Monarch Lodge, 22785 Nature Center Road, Okoboji, IA. 51355
Monday, September 20, 2021
For your safety, speakers and participants are required to be vaccinated and wear masks indoors.
08:00 a.m. Registration: Pick up notebooks, neck wallet for name badge, and tote bag.
09:00 a.m. Welcome by Julie Gammack. Speaker Introductions
SPEAKERS WILL BE SEATED AT ONE OF THE ROUND-TOP TABLES. THEY WILL HAVE A SIGN INDICATING WHAT TOPIC IS TO BE COVERED DURING EACH SESSION.
10:30 a.m. Small group coaching session I: SESSIONS
Noon. Boxed lunch/Book Sales/Good conversations
12:30 p.m. Panel: Story Telling. Rekha Basu, moderator. With Ty Rushing, Kyle Munson, James O’Shea, Chuck Offenburger
02:00 p.m. Break/Book sales
SPEAKERS WILL BE SEATED AT ONE OF THE ROUND-TOP TABLES. THEY WILL HAVE A SIGN INDICATING WHAT TOPIC IS TO BE COVERED DURING EACH SESSION.
02:15 p.m. Small-group Coaching Session II: SESSIONS
LITERARY AGENT Jane Dystel in Zoom conference room. Mike Libbie moderator.
03:45 p.m. Break/Book sales
04:00 p.m. Art Cullen: How to Win a Pulitzer Prize
04:30 p.m. Art will be joined by Jerry Risius and Beth Levison, directors of STORM LAKE: How to write, produce, direct, fund, and create a documentary film.
5:00 p.m. BOOK SALES AND AUTOGRAPH OPPORTUNITIES
Zoom Room – Podcasting, Michael Libbie
Free time and dinner on your own
07:00 p.m. Private screening of the documentary STORM LAKE featuring the Cullens and their family-owned newspaper. Location: Pearson Art Center, 2201 US-71, Okoboji. This is free to Okoboji Writers’ Retreat participants. Seating is limited. Masks are required in the theater. We will be joined by guests who are supporters of the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation.
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
7:30 a.m. SPEAKERS ONLY: Zoom Room (prior to Okoboji Writers’ Retreat general start time) Jane Dystel.
08:00 a.m. Book sales/meet the authors
08:30 a.m. Participants and speakers assemble to share best practices from sessions,
09:00 a.m. Panel – Commentary: Doug Burns, moderator with Rekha Basu, and John Dinges
10:00 a.m. Break/Book sales
SPEAKERS WILL BE SEATED AT ONE OF THE ROUND-TOP TABLES. THEY WILL HAVE A SIGN INDICATING WHAT TOPIC IS TO BE COVERED DURING EACH SESSION.
10:15 a.m. Coaching sessions III: SESSIONS
11:45 p.m. Boxed lunch provided/Book sales
01:00 p.m. Changing world of publishing panel (social media, columns, self-publishing): Ty Rushing, Leigh Michaels, Susan Patterson-Plank, and Rachelle Chase.
02:30 p.m. Break
SPEAKERS WILL BE SEATED AT ONE OF THE ROUND-TOP TABLES. THEY WILL HAVE A SIGN INDICATING WHAT TOPIC IS TO BE COVERED DURING EACH SESSION.
02:45 p.m. Coaching sessions IV SESSIONS
04:15 p.m. Key Takeaway sharing
05:00 p.m. Adjourn
06:00 p.m. Sunset cruise on barges, weather permitting. Meet at the Central Emporium, 144 Lake Shore Drive, Arnolds Park. Cash bar.
07:30 Dinner on your own. A lakeside restaurant will be open in the Emporium.
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
08:30 Book sales, meet the authors
09:00 I Remember….A Memoir Panel: Deb Engel, Moderator; Beth Howard, Nancy O’Shea, and Arnold Garson
10:15. Break
10:30 Sessions V
noon Everyone holds hands and sings ‘Kumbaya’ —JUST KIDDING!
ADJOURN
There will be an opportunity to sign up for small, virtual, integration groups to be offered by some of our speakers. Move your inspiration to action.