Eat. Drink. Blog. Conference 2011

Wow, I think I'm still recovering from the Eat. Drink. Blog. conference that I attended on Saturday. It was an amazing, intense and exhausting thirteen hours. But I wouldn't have missed it!

Increasing numbers of people blog these days. I'm lucky enough to be friends with other bloggers. Whenever we meet up it is rare, if ever, that we give each other constructive feedback or discuss new media issues. Which is odd when you think that all types of bloggers give plenty of opinions in virtually every post. I don't think I'm alone in not discussing the 'art of blogging'.

The Eat. Drink. Blog conference sought to put that right. When I told people I was going to a food blogging conference they expressed envy that I'd be spending the day gorging on fabulous food. While there was some great food, we spent the day gorging on seminars about the less thought of topics involved in blogging. Copyright, deformation, search engine optimisation, writing skills, professional blogging, food culture and ethics. I haven't taken so many notes since I sat in a university lecture.

Lots to think about and there may be some changes to my blog as a result. I'm still digesting everything.

In addition to the seminars there were a number of masterclasses / workshops. During the meat masterclass we saw a whole lamb butchered. It looked deceptively easy and I now have the urge to buy a whole lamb! I also attended the crab and bread masterclass. It was great to meet Matt and Sarah from Brasserie Bread again to get some tips for my sourdough project.

I'll admit I was a bit nervous on my way to the conference as I only knew a couple of people from the eighty seven attendees. However, it was great to meet several people I've been reading for a while or to have a decent natter with people I've met once or twice before. I shouldn't have worried, food bloggers are a lovely bunch. Food club meets camera club. Perfect.

An enormous thank you to Jen, Reem, Simon and Trina for organising a fabulous day. If I was exhausted attending, I can't begin to imagine what it was like to put together. I take my hats off to them.