2009 Wine Bloggers' Conference July 24 -26

Just a few weeks now until hundreds of enthusiastic wine types will converge on Santa Rosa, California for the second wine blogger conference.

This is a rare and excellent opportunity for any winery operation to see how it works and how blogging and social media can work for their operation.

As new media and social media begin to carve out their own turf in the world of information transfer (our world of ideas), wineries are beginning to make some interesting discoveries.

Like many businesses, the give and take between customer and producer in the wine world has always been present. Now with blogging and other forms of social networking, wineries and their fans can feel like they're one step closer to each other.

For some, it means they can skip the role a large media conglomerate plays. They don't have to worry about censure, interpretation or house policies. Bloggers are citizen winedrinkers who simply post their opinions about something they enjoy and, in some cases, feel very passionate about.

Wine bloggers come in many styles. Some work for wineries; helping to link the consumer directly with the producer. Some are pure reviewers; they drink the wines and post their scores and thoughts for anyone to read. Others deal with the business side whether that be growing grapes or devising clever sales campaigns.

So where do I fit in?

I've been blogging about my wine making life since about 2005. At times it's lacked focus. And it's always been haphazardly scheduled. I'd be surprised if I blog more than 3 times a month on average. Others are much more productive like this one. I think she's posted at least daily for the last half year! WTG, WannabeWino!

There are not a lot of wine maker bloggers. Some are ghosted by other writers and some wineries have other staff doing the company blogging. Until recently, I was independent. Now, of course, I blog to promote my own label Black Cloud . Despite this change, I'm still one of the laziest bloggers I know.

At the conference I hope to: find out if another platform will be better for my blogging, discuss ways to monetize the efforts, discuss collaboration projects with other bloggers, and try to determine if the knowledge I've acquired is worth anything. Or should I just leave it to the experts?

One thing I do know, it's time to engage! I urge wineries, wine marketers, wine writers and food people to attend or sent their representative. It's a great deal for the dollar, too!
Here's the link:
Wine Blogger's Conference