Writing and Social Media for the Wine Industry
The first-ever Wine Media Conference Virtual Summit finished on Saturday and was a big success. We will post again shortly with more information, including numbers of participants and survey results. For now, we wanted to share the closing three-minute video from Zephyr Conferences’ president Allan Wright, who discusses the virtual event and plans for 2021.
The Wine Media Conference, scheduled for August 20 – 22 in Eugene, Oregon, will be postponed until August 5 – 7, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This August we will host a virtual event with tastings for the wine media community. WMC21 will be paired with the Wine Marketing & Tourism Conference, which will take place immediately prior on August 3 – 5.
At this point, three months out from the event, we do not know if we will legally be able to run the conference. While the country is gradually starting to ease restrictions on social distancing, non-essential travel, and group gatherings, we do not know whether Oregon will allow a conference of 225 – 250 attendees in August.
Just as importantly, even if we are allowed to hold the conference, we at Zephyr Conferences are not confident we can do so safely. We might be able to keep social distancing in a conference room but it will be difficult for tastings and excursions. Even if we were to hold the conference it is probable many of our speakers, sponsors, and attendees would not participate because of health or economic concerns.
Therefore, rather than continue to plan for a conference that might not happen and might not serve our community well if it does happen, we have decided to postpone the event for one year. We hope this will allow all of you to attend, so we can bring a full complement of wine writers, bloggers, and influencers to Oregon.
Registered attendees of the 2020 event will automatically be registered for the 2021 conference. You need do nothing.
As a way to keep our community together, we will plan a virtual event for sometime in the period August 20 – 22, this year’s scheduled date. The event will have speakers, content, and tastings. Our Oregon wine industry partners who are hosting the six pre-conference and post-conference excursions will do tastings (complete with wine sent to your door) for all of you signed up for those excursions. Consorzio DOC Delle Venezia and Velenosi Wines, two of our sponsors who have agreed to roll over to 2021, will also do small tastings on a first come, first served basis for registered attendees. The virtual event will be free to those registered for the 2021 conference and low cost to everyone else. Exact details will be announced soon.
We are also announcing that the Wine Marketing & Tourism Conference, which was just held in Eugene in March, will return to Oregon August 3 – 5 next year to take place immediately prior to the Wine Media Conference. The exact location in Oregon is still pending. We promise big changes to the content for those who attended last year and hope this will draw more wine industry members to Oregon next August, including those who potentially will attend both events. Media can receive a 50% discount to the WMTC.
It is not a fun decision to have to postpone the Wine Media Conference. We realize we are disappointing many members of our community who were looking forward to a trip to Oregon in August as well as the Oregon wine industry which was looking forward to welcoming so many media. However, we have determined this is the responsible decision to make.
Registration remains open for the Wine Media Conference. We hope you can join us!
We have partnered with The Oregon Wine Board to offer three pre-conference excursions and three post-conference excursions for the 2020 Wine Media Conference, which will take place August 20 – 22 in Eugene. This will allow the expected 220 conference attendees to visit wine regions throughout Oregon on their visit to the state.
Pre-conference and post-conference excursions have been a staple of the Wine Media Conference for years and are some of the most popular, highly-rated events attached to the conference. The excursions allow media to experience wineries, meet industry leaders, and taste wines. In 2020 our excursions include:
Pre-Conference
Post-Conference
Excursions are open only to registered attendees of the Wine Media Conference. Excursions include meals, winery visits, and ground transportation. There is a nominal fee of $25 and participants pay their own hotel, except for one in which hotel will be booked by the excursion host at an additional cost.
We at Zephyr Conferences run media conferences in the wine, beer, and food industries. There are distinct differences between the three groups, one of which is how well non-professional media promote themselves and, ultimately, monetize their efforts. Non-professional food media (bloggers and influencers) do this exceptionally well, in large part because of their effort to create personal brands that resonate with consumers.
As a simple example, a wine blogger might create a site focused on a certain subject, such as Pinot Noir wines or Central California Coast wines. The site title, home page photo, and description are about the subject matter. A food blogger is much more likely to create a blog and social media centered around his or her own personality. And it works.
It is because of this we are thrilled to have Sarah Tracey, influencer at The Lush Life, speaking on Personal Branding at the 2020 Wine Media Conference. Sarah is a wine blogger and influencer taking the personal branding route. We caught up with Sarah to ask her a few questions:
What does “personal branding” mean in the world of wine media?
A personal brand is how you promote yourself, your values, and what you stand for. Today’s media consumers are craving an emotional connection to content creators and your personal brand is the promise you make of the experience you deliver. How do people feel when they see your name on a byline, your newsletter in their inbox, or your photo in their social feeds? Your personal brand is what makes you unique: your perspective on the world and the way you communicate it like no one else can. It is your calling card and the most authentic expression of you.
What have you specifically done to grow your personal brand?
The number one thing for me was a conscious decision to make myself visible and not hide behind my keyboard or camera lens. I encourage everyone to show themselves, and interact with your audience! Whether that means attending more local events in your community to forge in-person relationships, or simply posting a selfie on your social feed with some fun facts about you your followers may not know– these things build connection, and putting yourself out there is crucial. Trust me, it gets easier as you go!
Do you believe the wine world is behind other industries such as lifestyle, food, and travel in terms of personal branding?
So far, wine hasn’t become mainstream on television the way food, lifestyle, and travel are: so it’s true we don’t have a Bourdain or an Emeril or a Martha with a universally recognizable brand. But on a smaller scale, there are definitely wine personalities that have done an excellent job at communicating their perspective and purpose: if I mention James Suckling, Alice Feiring, Marissa Ross– those names evoke an image and a feeling. You know exactly what they’re about. I think defining a brand for yourself is only going to become more and more important– the days of the faceless, anonymous wine critic dispensing wisdom from an ivory tower are behind us.
Do you consider yourself a wine blogger?
I do! While I don’t review wines, I do blog about the intersection of wine, food, and lifestyle. It’s my journey and it’s much more personal than the articles I write for other media outlets, much more in my own voice. I feel like my blog readers are old friends by now. No matter what other projects I take on, I always go back to my blog as home base.
Sarah Tracey is a sommelier, speaker, wine educator and lifestyle expert based in New York City. A veteran of some of the city’s top restaurants, her career has spanned from spit-bucket-emptier to Michelin-starred Wine Director. When not vineyard-hopping, you can find her sharing wine, travel, and lifestyle content for millennial women on her site The Lush Life. An accomplished wine writer and content creator, she is currently the go-to wine authority for Martha Stewart Living, writing their online wine column since 2015. She is widely cited as an industry expert in the media, sharing expertise with outlets like ‘O’ The Oprah Magazine, Food & Wine, The Food Network, Town & Country, Refinery 29, Forbes, Elle, Brides, and CheddarTV. Named one of the Top 20 Wine Influencers in the US, Sarah holds a certification from the Court of Master Sommeliers and is known for her fun and relatable style.
Cyril Penn, Editor-in-Chief of Wine Business Monthly, will provide the opening keynote at the 2020 Wine Media Conference, scheduled for August 20 – 22 in Eugene, Oregon.
Penn has spent almost 20 years in the wine industry as an editor at Wine Business Monthly and has spent his career engaged with the wine industry, professional wine writers, and bloggers.
“Wine bloggers and independent writers have been important to me in my role at Wine Business Monthly since the beginning,” explains Penn about his interest in bloggers. “We aggregate content and even now aggregate content from blogs and independent sites.”
Wine blogging has changed over the past 12 years and the conference has changed with it, rebranding from the Wine Bloggers Conference to the Wine Media Conference. There are still writers who were some of the original wine bloggers but many attending the WMC now are much newer.
“I believe all the lines have blurred”, states Penn. “WordPress is no longer a blogging platform but one that drives many websites. Bloggers often write for publications and professional writers often blog. There is not much difference anymore and what matters is the quality of the writing.”
Penn will be speaking on Wine Writers and the Wine Industry. He will address how he evaluates wine writers whether bloggers or otherwise; tips for how wine writers can present themselves and their work more credibly; how wine writers impact the industry; and what changes we might see in the future of wine media.
The Wine Media Conference is now in its 13th year and is expecting approximately 250 attendees, ranging from wine bloggers to professional wine writers, from media agencies to winery marketing staff.