Tracy IsemingerIn September I was lucky enough to attend the International Food Bloggers Conference 2013 in Seattle. It was held at the trendy W Hotel. Fortunately I live within a reasonable driving distance, so this conference was a MUST do. (especially with a price tag of just $99).
I missed the pre-conference activities held on Thursday (boo) I really wanted to attend the Chateau Ste Michelle winery tour and tasting. I did make it there for the official opening at lunch time on Friday. Lunch was served up by Chipotle Grill and it was fantastic! Following that we headed in as a group for the opening keynote speaker, Dori Greenspan. She was absolutely inspirational and is so down to earth considering her success.
We then rolled into the Amazon Affiliates presentation with live blogging and sampling from the Amazon Grocers Marketplace. We tried so many great items and had a great time learning how bloggers can monetize by partnering with Amazon in the affiliate program.
We then broke out for the educational sessions. I chose the building your blog followers seminar with Foodista and Allrecipes. I wrote a post on that last week. Remember… Sexy Bacon, lol!
We followed it up with a nice “Taste of Seattle” Dinner.
In the morning I slept in a bit! I arrived just in time for the cooking demo and photography tips session with Chef John and NY Times photographer Andrew Scrivani. That was a super fun session watching the chef make 4 different plates with one salmon and getting tips on the best way to plate and photograph them. Following, Andrew went through and discussed his tips on capturing outstanding images.
We then broke out into sessions again and I chose to spend my day learning about wines! First I attended an educational session and tasting of Bordeaux wines. I had never had a Bordeaux and let me tell you…. they were all wonderful!
Next I headed to the Chateau Ste Michelle food and wine pairing session in which we explored how what you eat really impacts the wine. It really does! For some party fun, pick a plate of food with different flavors and dimensions and experiment. You will be surprised to find out what complements each other!
We had a bit of time before our UrbanSpoon dinner outing. We were again treated to some tastings of Seattle flair as an appetizer and then sat with some new friends and drank the left over Bordeaux!
When my bus arrived for dinner, I was whisked away to Cafe Flora. You can also read about my experience there!
After a great meal, I called it a night.
Unfortunately, I was too exhausted to make it to the final day of the conference where there was yet another breakfast and session before the closing speakers.
I would highly recommend attending for anyone who is a food blogger or just loves to network. Not to mention the crazy ridiculous amount of “swag” I left with! (4 bags FULL) plus I won a new Anolon 10 inch Skillet!
Next year IFBC14 is already confirmed to be held in Seattle at the Westin Hotel September 20-22. Cost is just $95 if you write at least 3 blog posts!! This year sold out so grab your tickets early!
