OPA 2019 Conference Registration and Workshop Descriptions

Join us for our fall conference and annual membership meeting September 14th and 15th!

$105.00 Member – $125.00 Non-Member – $60.00 student

Our conference theme, “Our Common Life,” is highlighted by this year’s keynote speaker, Penelope Scambly Schott, with her topic The Personal “I” in the Community of “We.” She says, “Skim through any contemporary poetry journal and you will find lots of poems written in first person singular. Some are persona poems but most are the poet’s own voice describing that poet’s own experience. How does the “I” poem relate to our shared world?”

Our conference location is the Salem Convention Center, 200 Commercial St., SE, Salem, OR. Free parking at the Convention Center parking garage across the street. 

The Grand Hotel, 201 Liberty St., SE, Salem, OR 97301 (next to the Convention Center). Phone: (503) 540-7800, is offering a deluxe double queen rooms for (Friday and Saturday nights) Sept. 13-14, at the reduced rate of $159 plus tax for conference guests until August 10, at which time the rate will change to whatever rate is current. Also, there are several other hotels near the Convention Center, some for a lower cost.

Registration begins at 7:45 – 8:50 a.m. on Saturday, upstairs in the hallway outside the large, dividable, Croisan Creek Room where all the sessions are held. The book room will be set up in the Pringle Creek Room right next door. After you check in, if you have books for sale, continue on to the book room and check in your books.

The book room will be open on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. (except during the membership meeting). It will open again for a short time at 6:15 – 6:45 p.m. before the Open Mic.

The keynote opens the conference on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. Attendees can bring guests to the keynote. Sessions will begin at 10:15 a.m. and end at 4:30 p.m. The Croisan Creek Room will be divided into three meeting rooms. A buffet lunch will commence at 12:30 p.m., followed by the annual membership meeting. More sessions pick up following the meeting. There will be a break for dinner on your own.

The readings for winning poets (fall 2018 and spring 2019) will open the Open Mic session at 7:00 pm. The amount of time available per person at the Open Mic will be decided by the moderator. Attendees can bring guests to this part of the conference, as is the case with the keynote in the morning.

Sunday there is a special limited number “Walkabout and Write” session which begins at 7:30 a.m. Details for that will be at the registration desk on Saturday. On Sunday, sessions start at 9:00 a.m. and end at 12:30 p.m.  The book room opens at 8:30 a.m., while authors’ book pick up is 12:30 – 1:00 p.m. The conference closes at that time with the exception of a new executive board meeting of less than one hour.

The following material will be available in your information packet at the registration table. If you would like to read about the 17 sessions that will be available and the bios of the presenters, check the links below for a downloadable PDF. Also the session schedule is also available for each day in the same format below. Please note that session schedules may be slightly changed by conference time.

We look forward to meeting you at the conference.

1 thought on “OPA 2019 Conference Registration and Workshop Descriptions”

  1. Question about Session 1, 4 Poets, Salem Conference on 9/14:

    I’m considering registering for the conference, and I have a query. The description in the program reads Four Poets (if signed up). I would like to be one of the 4 poets to give a 10-minute reading. How and when could I sign up for a slot?
    Thank you. Dan

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