2020 Wine Media Conference Agenda
Below is the skeleton of a 2020 Agenda. In the coming weeks we will issue a Call for Speakers. To stay updated, please enter your email address in the Subscribe to WMC News box to the right. In the meantime, please see the 2019 Agenda as a sample.
Monday – Wednesday, August 17 – 19
Pre-Conference Excursions: We are working with the Oregon Wine Board to offer three pre-conference excursions in the state. These excursions give attendees the opportunity to have an in-depth look at other wine regions outside the Eugene area. There will be a small additional registration cost and attendees are responsible for their own hotel but winery visits, tastings, and most meals are included. Excursions might be one, two or three days. Please wait to book your airfare to Oregon until after we announce the excursions, planned at the end of February.
Thursday, August 20
12:00 – 6:00 PM Registration
12:30 – 4:30 PM Wine Education Sessions: These small-group sessions are your opportunity to taste unusual, rare, or high value wines.
4:30 – 6:00 PM Welcome Reception and Taste of Eugene: This should be an amazing introductory reception and something we have never before done at this conference. Borrowing from our sister conference, the International Food Blogger Conference, our local partner Travel Lane County will invite in 10 – 15 local restaurants to serve small bites to attendees. Combined with wines served by our sponsors and partners, this will be a fantastic way to open the conference.
6:00 PM Evening Reception (tentative)
Friday, August 21
Breakfast on Your Own
8:30 AM – 5:55 PM Registration & Expo: Meet our sponsors on breaks throughout the day
9:00 – 9:20 AM Official Conference Opening: By Zephyr Conferences
9:20 – 10:05 AM Introduction to Eugene, the Willamette Valley, and Oregon: Here from a panel of locals about the terroir, history, and current state of grape growing and winemaking in the region.
10:05 – 10:40 AM Keynote
10:40 – 10:55 AM Break
10:55 – 11:55 AM All Group Session
11:55 AM – 1:25 PM Lunch on Your Own
1:25 – 2:10 PM Breakout Sessions: Choose one of two
2:10 – 2:25 PM Break
2:25 – 3:25 PM Discovery Sessions: Taste wines and learn in depth about a specific region of the world from our sponsors.
3:25 – 3:40 PM Break
3:40 – 4:25 PM All Group Session
4:25 – 5:25 PM Live Wine Social – Red: Live Wine Social is the signature event of the conference, in which wineries each have five minutes to pour one wine for a table of attendees. Bloggers, writers, and influencers taste, analyze, and write about the wine or winery on the spot. Wineries then move to a new table in a speed-dating format.
5:25 – 5:55 PM Live Wine Social Follow-up – Meet the Winemakers: Take a few minutes to ask additional questions or try the wines of winemakers who did not reach your table.
6:00 – 10:00 PM Wine Country Dinner Excursions: These dinner excursions are included in the ticket price and will be organized by the Southern Willamette Wineries Association.
Saturday, August 22
Breakfast on Your Own
8:30 AM – 5:35 PM Registration & Expo
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM Breakout Sessions
9:30 – 9:35 AM Break
9:35 – 10:05 AM Breakout Sessions
10:05 – 10:10 AM Break
10:10 – 10:40 AM Breakout Sessions
10:40 – 10:55 AM Break
10:55 – 11:55 AM Discovery Sessions: Taste wines and learn in depth about a specific region of the world from our sponsors.
11:55 AM – 1:25 PM Sponsored Lunch
1:25 – 1:55 PM A View From the Top: Speaker 1: In these four presentations we will hear from four wine media figures who have created successful careers writing about wine.
1:55 – 2:25 PM A View From the Top: Speaker 2
2:25 – 2:40 PM Break
2:40 – 3:10 PM A View From the Top: Speaker 3
3:10 – 3:40 PM A View From the Top: Speaker 4
3:40 – 4:10 PM Conference Close and Announcement of 2021 Location
4:10 – 5:05 PM Live Wine Social – White/Rosé: Live Wine Social (previously Live Wine Blogging) is the signature event of the conference, in which wineries each have five minutes to pour one wine for a table of attendees. Bloggers, writers, and influencers taste, analyze, and write about the wine or winery on the spot. Wineries then move to a new table in a speed-dating format.
5:05 – 5:35 PM Live Wine Social Follow-up – Meet the Winemakers: Take a few minutes to ask additional questions or try the wines of winemakers who did not reach your table.
5:35 – 6:15 PM Lightning Talks: This is the opportunity to hear from your fellow attendees. We will have eight speakers, each of whom will have five minutes to present on a subject that is near to his or her heart. The catch is each speaker has to use 20 slides that are set to auto-rotate every 15 seconds, which keeps the talks fast and fun. Not only that, this is at the end of the conference and after a bit of wine tasting, so the event should be fun and a bit rowdy!
Sunday – Monday, August 23 – 24
Post-Conference Excursions: We are working with the Oregon Wine Board to offer three post-conference excursions in the state. These excursions give attendees the opportunity to have an in-depth look at other wine regions outside the Eugene area. There will be a small additional registration cost and attendees are responsible for their own hotel but winery visits, tastings, and most meals are included. Excursions might be one, two or three days. Please wait to book your airfare to Oregon until after we announce the excursions, planned at the end of February.