Client Connections is a Labor of Love - And It’s All For You
The Client Connection Guidebook is more than 100 pages long. It’s our bible, if you will, first penned around a decade ago and edited so many times it’s impossible to count. That’s because Client Connections (CC), ASJA’s signature networking event for professional members, a baby I adopted from the phenomenal CC chairs who came before me, has been improved upon every year since it was conceived two decades ago.
The next Client Connections will take place in person on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at the Fashion Institute of Technology in conjunction with ASJA: Always in Fashion, NYC2025, Feb. 24-26. It’ll be the fourth Client Connections I have chaired.
Think of Client Connections 2025 as an Investment
Client Connections is an investment. It’s a financial investment by ASJA and it’s an investment of time by dedicated volunteers, especially for me and my co-chairs, Richard Eisenberg and Kat Bannan. Together we donate thousands of unpaid hours to find clients for you — ASJA’s professional members — to meet and pitch: editors from magazines, newspapers, digital pubs, and content marketing agencies, as well as literary agents and publishers.
In other words, Richard, Kat and I and other member volunteers spend a lot of time helping boost your writing career. We have weekly Zoom meetings, and send hundreds of emails to each other and hundreds more to potential clients. I’m pretty sure if we were to print out a day’s worth of texts, the stream of words would run the length of my Washington, D.C. row house.
The Client Connections Learning Curve
Besides the time investment, there’s a steep learning curving; it’s why the Guidebook is so darn long! Creating Client Connections isn’t for the faint of heart and it certainly doesn’t just happen. Editors from the New York Times and Smithsonian don’t just show up. We start from page one of the Guidebook with a timeline that begins seven months prior to the next event. This year, that meant starting to plan for Client Connection 2025 in August when we were still in the midst of finalizing Client Connections 2024, the virtual event we hosted with great fanfare in September on the AirMeet platform.
Despite the anxiety and time-management challenges, we volunteer to bring professional members this unparalleled pitch event because we love doing it. Seeing a client register is almost as exciting as getting a personal email from an editor saying, “We’d love you to write this piece for us!”
CC2025 Sign Ups So Far
So far, 12 clients have committed to joining Client Connections 2025 on Tuesday, Feb. 25. Most are staying for all three hours, including an editor from AARP’s finance vertical. Check out the growing list here. Because of FIT space considerations, CC25 will be limited to no more than 40 clients.
Don’t be put off by the smaller number of clients attending. Because this is an in-person event, and the first in-person Client Connections in New York City since 2019, there will be additional opportunities to chat it up with people who might want to hire you. Many clients will come early and join attendees for lunch before CC25 begins at 1 p.m. Still others will stick around for the cocktail party at the end of the day.
CC2025 Registration Fees and Extra Early Bird Pricing
All of that costs money. It’s the reason Client Connections is more expensive this year. However, if you register before Dec. 6, you can get extra early bird pricing of $548 for professional members for CC2025 and the full conference, which cuts some cost.
Look at it this way: Landing one assignment from CC25 will pay for the cost of participating. Think of it as your holiday gift to your career and CC25 as our holiday gift to ASJA’s professional members.
Why I Love to Help Lead Client Connections
As 2024 winds to a close, Richard, Kat and I will continue to strategize to make CC25 a fantastic event for everyone who signs up. We’ll be checking our lists, twice – including our database of 3,000 clients – sending out invitations and doing our best to ensure that the final gift we present you with is, indeed, what you wished for.
Honestly, it’s a little nerve wracking. I hate disappointing people.
So, why do I chair the event every year? It’s a pretty easy question to answer and it has three parts.
Client Connections changed the trajectory of my freelance journalism career. I became a professional member in 2017 and participated in my first CC in 2018. I landed articles with LeapsMag (now Upworthy), Discover, and EatingWell magazine (unfortunately, now shuttered). The articles I wrote for each of those outlets became a rolling stone that continues to roll.
Second, many of ASJA’s professional members send kind emails to me or post their exciting news on social media about a landing or contract that came out of a Client Connections meeting. That feels so great. It’s a win for me, too.
But, the key reason I keep coming back is the people I get to work with — an incredibly dedicated team of volunteers who make ASJA run, including ASJA President Emily Paulsen, VP and incoming President Darcy Lewis, and committee heads like publications chair Michelle Rafter. And, of course, Richard and Kat, whom I get to meet at the proverbial water cooler at least once a week. Those meetings soothe the isolation of living the freelance life I’ve chosen.
To keep up with news and updates about Client Connections 2025 and ASJA: Always in Fashion, NYC2025, subscribe to the ASJA Weekly newsletter and read the ASJA Confidential blog.
ASJA board member Cari Shane is a freelance journalist, ski addict, hot yoga apologist, Airbnb “Superhost” and Manhattan native who lives in Washington, DC. Her byline has appeared in a variety of outlets including AARP, ESPN’s Andscape, Fast Company, Fodor’s, Insider, Leaps, Scientific American and Smithsonian. She’s also a volunteer editor for Street Sense Media, a non-profit that elevates the voices of DC residents experiencing homelessness.