Zephyr Adventures, the Montana-based active travel company that co-organizes the Wine Bloggers Conference, also organizes conferences for other niche markets. The Beer Bloggers Conference sprouted from the Wine Bloggers Conference and will have two 2011 settings: London, England in May and Portland, Oregon in August. The Fitness & Health Bloggers Conference will take place in Boulder, Colorado on June 24-26.
Zephyr also organizes the International Food Bloggers Conference in cooperation with its partner Foodista with two 2011 venues: August 26-28 in New Orleans and November 11-13 in Santa Monica.
Obviously, we at Zephyr are firm believers in the positive aspects of niche blogger conferences. Wine bloggers who attend the WBC gain inspiration from meeting others involved in their practice, hear from experts about how to improve their blogs, and are treated to an amazing variety of wines they would not normally get to try.
But that all happens when you participate in a conference centered around the blogging you already do. What happens if you attend a conference that is only peripheral to your blogging niche?
One of the presentations at WBC10 featured Wine & Food Pairing and discussion promoted the idea of including food pairing information on your wine blog. While that presentation just touched on the subject, we can strongly recommend you consider attending the International Food Bloggers Conference in New Orleans or Santa Monica for a full-blown food initiation. The cost of the conference is a bit higher ($350 for all attendees) but the food you will taste is amazing, coming from some of the best local chefs. The half a dozen wine bloggers who attended both the WBC and the IFBC last summer were pleased.
And if you can’t make the conference, at least go check out our partner Foodista, “The Cooking Encyclopedia Everyone Can Edit”. The site is a sort of wikipedia of food and a search for “wine” will bring up over 22,000 results. These include definitions of common wine grapes, recipes that include wine (such as “Clams in Garlic and White Wine Sauce”), and wine gadget reviews. You can contribute your knowledge too or register your blog so you will perhaps get selected the Featured Drink Blog of the Day.
So sign up for Foodista, join us at the International Food Bloggers Conference, or just make the switch to start thinking about food with your wine, if you haven’t already. If you are like us, you’ll find a whole new passion.
Well Santa Monica is certainly in my neck of the woods! Let me know if I can give you hand at that conference in exchange for some leftovers!