The 2014 Beau Monde’s Mini-Conference

 

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter
San Antonio, TX
Workshops: Rooms 12 and 15
Soiree: Rooms 1 – 4 (note the change!)

Keynote Speaker – Vicky Dreiling

Triple RITA finalist Vicky Dreiling is a confirmed historical romance junkie and Anglophile. Frequent business trips to the UK allowed her to indulge her passion for all things Regency England. Bath, Stonehenge, and Spencer House are among her favorite places. She is, however, truly sorry for accidentally setting off a security alarm in Windsor Castle. That unfortunate incident led her British colleagues to nickname her “Trouble.” Vicky is a native Texan and holds degrees in English literature and marketing.

Tentative Schedule (subject to change):

7:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m.	Registration & Breakfast – Conference Room 12
8:00 a.m. – 8:45 a.m.	Annual General Meeting (all members encouraged to attend)
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.	Titles and Customs of the Regency with Ella Quinn Ever wonder if your titles were correct, or whether or not your lady should curtsey rather than inclining her head as well as a multitude of other small but important details? Then this class is for you. Not only will we practice the correct form of address and discuss what every lady and gentleman would know, but I’ll provide cheat sheets so that you don’t need to rely on your memory. Time permitting we’ll also discuss the duties of various servants including the all important lady’s maid and valet. Electoral Politics and How Upper Class Women Participated with Rose Lerner The Regency British political system was complex, evolving, and unique–and even if women couldn’t sit in Parliament, they were involved in it everywhere, as patronesses, hostesses, possessers of pocket boroughs, information brokers, canvassers, and more. You’ll get a brief overview of Parliament, political parties, elections, and the patronage system, and then explore the many ways that contemporary elite women participated. Rose Lerner’s Lively St. Lemeston series focuses on a small Sussex town where political loyalties run deep and tensions run high.
10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.	Opera During the Regency with Louisa Cornell Evenings in Regency London provided many sources of entertainment. One of the most prestigious and well-attended entertainments consisted of a burlesque show, fashion show, fraternity party, political rally, sex scandal and sometimes all out riot at which a serious (or sometimes comic) musical piece called an opera broke out. In this workshop Louisa will cover opera audiences and their behaviors (and misbehaviors,) the houses, the operas actually performed and the vociferous hired groups responsible for their success or failure, the forms an opera might take, singers and composers, and some of the social aspects of opera attendance. “Every theatre is an insane asylum, but an opera theatre is the ward for the incurables.” — Franz Schalk Everything You Need to Know About Waterloo, including a Visit to the Battleground with Victoria Hinshaw Victoria Hinshaw visited the Waterloo Battleground for the 195th anniversary of the battle June 18, 2010. Using her pictures and historical paintings, memoirs, and maps, she will cover the lead-up, the battle itself, and its aftermath. Tour the French and British/Allied encampments and walk the battlefield, even today a field of corn dotted with a chateau and farmstead in ruins interspersed with memorials to the troops who fought so bravely and long. The first and only battle in which Napoleon faced the Duke of Wellington, Waterloo began a century of general peace in Europe shattered finally in August, 1914, when WWI began.
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.	In Pursuit of Perfection: The English Country House with Cheryl Bolen Perhaps no other attraction is so uniquely British or so awe inspiring as the English country home. Neither the term “country house” nor “stately homes” adequately captures the essence of these palatial homes built in bygone centuries by England’s aristocracy on vast farming estates that fed the families’ immense wealth. Certainly, no other country has revered, preserved, and conserved these properties as thoroughly as the English. Drawing on almost 30 years of traveling in the UK, New York Times bestselling author of English-set historicals as well as the contemporary series, The Stately Homes Murders, Cheryl Bolen will explain all the elements of these grand estates. These include vast parkland landscapes, architectural influences of the Grand Tour, and opulent interiors. And there will be floor plans and pictures!
12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.	Lunch with Keynote Speaker Vicky Dreiling
2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.	What the Historical Reader Really Wants (and how to promote to them) with Jade Lee & Elizabeth Hoyt What’s really selling in historical romance and what sort of publicity really works? Two bestselling, multi-published historical romance authors give you the scoop! Elizabeth Hoyt is a New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author of thirteen historical romances. Jade Lee is a USA Today bestselling author of over forty novels.
7:30 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.	Soiree in Salons J and K

 

Registration Fees

Soiree Only for Members $25
Soiree Only for Non-Members $40
Early Bird* Full Conference for Members $130
Early Bird* Full Conference for Non-Members $150
Full Conference for Members $160
Full Conference for Non-Members $180

*Early Bird prices available until June 15, 2014
Full conference fees include breakfast, lunch and soiree.

Register at myRWA »

Unable to attend conference but would like to join us for the annual meeting? Please email President Karen Erickson (breakfast is included with the meeting).

Questions? Please email President Karen Erickson.