*wipes blueberry crisp crumbs off face*
Hi again IT’S MEEE. Yes, guys, it’s Saturday, and I’m breaking blog schedule and popping in with some newsies.
As much as we love being at home in our T-shirts and jeans (okay fine sweats) all day, Bjork and I are getting all profesh and hitting the road this fall for some food slash blog conferencing. Beep beep!
When we were living half a world away in the Philippines, I started to get that sort of buggy feeling about wanting to (brace yourself for the obnoxious term) network and eat num food and make friends by going to some conferences. But at the time when I was wanting that, I was, uhm, like, way over in the jungle getting my world rocked and eating full cartons of mangoes.
Last fall after we came back to the States, we headed out to an IACP conference in Seattle for some awesome learning and speaking and people meeting (AND THE FOOD. worth it.) You guys, it was so fun for us to travel together and have this cool conference experience and we totally got the itch to do more of this sort of thing.
Buuuut behind the scenes it was kinda super stressful because after a very full weekend meeting people, presenting, and learning, we took a red-eye flight home (no no no no no) and then – wait for it – I went to school the next morning. I tried to be Awesome Elementary School Teacher Who Is Patient With Kids while making a mental note that we better keep conferences reserved for the time in our lives when we not only in the homeland country, but also not so overwhelmed with multiple jobs.
So here we are coming full circle and then some – our primo conference time is right now! We’re in the US, blogging and related entrepreneurial things are both of our primary jobs right now, and as a result, we’re both super pumped to be attending and speaking at two conferences this fall. I am crossing my fingers that you and I will find each other at the snack table at one of these events as we’re both reaching for the same goat cheese crostini and our hands will touch and we’ll look up and… fate.
Blog Elevated – September 25-27th
TEXAS. Bring it on, y’all. I have only been to Texas once but here goes round #2 since we’ll be attending and speaking at BlogElevated in Galveston at the end of September. Woot! This conference is a weekend event and as a Minnesota girl, I can say that I’m pretty excited to be heading out to AN ISLAND (squee) for all the bloggy things.
The fun thing about BlogElevated is that it’s for all kinds of bloggers, not just food bloggers. So everything that Bjork and I are speaking about will obviously be from the perspective of a food blog but geared towards anyone with a blog. Some of the awesomeness of this conference includes:
- Blog Like a Rock Star – Dayna Steele
- Monetizing Your Blog – Bjork Ostrom *mwah*
- Bookkeeping and Business Basics – Helena Swyter
- Pricing Your Worth as a Blogger – Amy Locurto
- eBooks for Bloggers -dats me
- Representing Brands with Style – Fred Goodall
- Photography Props and Set Ups Everyone Can Use – hey again
There are also Creative and Social Media tracks – and lots more events in between to keep us smart/happy. Since we’re only about a month away from this one, please tell me where a person should buy her first pair of cute cowgirl boots? Or no. Too much?
Wait wait wait for this little Rafflecopter widget to load just below this sentence and – boom! – you can enter to win a free ticket to BlogElevated 2014.
Chopped Conference – October 24, 2014
Bring on the barbeque! That’s what you eat in Kansas City, right? I am super pumped to be attending and speaking at Chopped Con with Bjork because in addition to meeting a boatload of food bloggers from the Best Midwest, there are a few panels with some of my favey food bloggers who I have never met because I have hermit tendences and I am going to hunt them down once and for all and give them hugs and kisses. Just… turn away.
This is a one-day conference on October 24, and it. is. power. packed. Think fun and educational and delish. I think just the air in this room is going to taste yum to the max – obvi a side effect of packing food bloggers into a room together. Some party conference highlights will include:
- The More You Know, The More You Can Eat! by conference Keynote Speaker, Carolyn O’Neil
- iPhones, Hashtags, and Filters, Oh My! Building and Expanding Your Social Media Presence on Instagram. Participants on this panel: Bev Weidner, Kristen Doyle, and Christina Lane
- The Art of Food Writing by Jill Silva
- Taking Your Food Blog from Good to Great by Lindsay & Bjork Ostrom (hiiii mom!)
- The Food Blogger Time Turner: How to Work With a Virtual Assistant by Milisa Armstrong
- Building Your Blog Power Hour: How to Work with Brands. Participants on this panel: Cheryl Sousan, Ali Ebright, and Kathryne Taylor
- Oh the Places You’ll Go: Why Food Blogging is More Than The Sum of Its Parts (i.e. revenue) by Kristen Doyle
This is a one-day powerhouse conference – I surely hope I will be seeing some fellow Midwestern, maybe even Minnie-sota bloggers there HINT HINT HINT. Check out this little Rafflecopter dittly to load under this sentence for the free ticket to this conference up for grabs. Free as in zero dollars yeh yeh booyeh.
That’s all for this Saturday, favorite peoples of the internet! Thanks for reading, attending conferences, friending us in person, and loving food.