IFBC 2014: Making the Most of a Food Blogging Conference
September 18, 2014 • Informational
I just arrived in Seattle last night, and I’m gearing up for the IFBC conference that starts tomorrow night. This isn’t my first blogger conference – I’ve been to BlogHer Food, a Foodbuzz conference, and IFBC in the past – so this year I’m working to maximize my time here, combining the conference with a book tour for my new cookbook, and adding in lots of fun culinary adventures. If you’re coming to Seattle any time soon, bookmark this post for trip ideas!
The very first thing I’m doing today is heading up to Woodinville to spend the day doing some wine tasting at the wineries there, and visiting Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery to pick up wine for my book launch party tomorrow. If you want to visit this wine region that’s so close to the city, check out the Woodinville Wine Country Map
Here’s a tip for any blogger visiting another city: check out what other bloggers are doing in the area before your trip. In this case, I found out that Plum Deluxe is hosting Evergreen Enchantment tonight, Seattle’s End of Summer Celebration, a four course gourmet wine pairing dinner. I signed up last week and look forward to meeting some local foodies tonight.
Tomorrow, from Noon until 2pm, I’ll be at the famous Pike Place Chowder to sign cookbooks for the lunch crowd. If you are in or near the Pacific Place Center on Pine Street I hope you’ll stop by to see me!
At 4:30 in the Denny Room of the Westin Seattle, I’ll be hosting a Wine Reception and Book Signing party for my new cookbook. I hope lots of my IFBC colleagues will make their way down to the Denny Room to join in the celebration – click here for signup information. After the reception, it’s off to the grand opening event for IFBC!
Conferences can be full of great information, but can also be exhausting, and in the case of food blogging conferences, very filling. My approach is to select the few key sessions that are most meaningful to me and make time for them. I’ll make time for the keynote speakers on Saturday morning – Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, award-winning authors of The Flavor Bible, What to Eat with What You Drink – and then I’ll make my way to the Proctor neighborhood in Tacoma for a book signing event at the Pacific Northwest Shop during the market. Then I’ll return in time to take in an afternoon session on Beef Butchery and a workshop on describing food tastes with writer Dianne Jacob before heading to the grand tasting event in the evening. On Sunday morning I’ll take in a session about shooting videos – something I’m always trying to figure out how to do better.
Also on Sunday, I’ll be stopping by Kitchen ‘N Things in Seattle for a Book Signing and Tasting from 11 to 1 – if you’re in the area, I do hope you’ll say hi.
I signed up for an optional extended session on Sunday afternoon with the writer Kathleen Flinn. As a food writer, I think it’s important to continually hone your craft, and I’m looking forward to talking about things like food memoirs and more. That means I’ll need to keep track of the Broncos-Seahawks game quietly on my phone during the session!
If you are part of any professional organizations, it’s always nice to see what’s going on in another city when you travel. I recently joined the philanthropic organization Les Dames d’Escoffier and was pleased to see that the Seattle chapter is hosting an event at the Pike Place Market on Monday night: Project Feast – Empowering Immigrant & Refugee Cooks. Project Feast’s programs assist refugees in harnessing the unique and delicious qualities inherent in their native cultural dishes and conferring on the participants the necessary skills they need to attain employment in a culinary field.
The rest of my time in Washington will be spent on book signing events, like a dinner at Maxwell’s in Tacoma on the 24th – it’s going to be a fun dinner and we’d love to have you join us. Click here for the info to signup.
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Erica @ Abbie and Erica's Adventures says:
This is my second food blogger’s conference and I can’t wait. I am excited to eat all the things Seattle has to offer :)Hope to meet you at some point!
September 18, 2014 at 9:37 am