Monday, November 14, 2011

First NZ Food Bloggers Conference, Saturday 12 November 2011




On Saturday I went to the first NZ Food Bloggers Conference, held in Kumeu, deep in the Auckland's wine country region. It was an amazing day: the Food Blogging scene is really growing in New Zealand, and it was great to catch up with blogger friends, and meet new bloggers from all over New Zealand. We started at 9am with registration, followed by the welcome address by the conference organizer Allison Pirrie-Mawer. The first presentation at 9:30 was Web Design & Web Optimisation by Andrea Wong, followed by a talk on Social Media by Jaco Swart. Then we had a lovely morning tea at the Tasting Shed, and look at the the photo of the happy faces checking out the contents of our (very full) goodie bags! 

After morning tea I presented a session on Writing for different media types: books, blogs, magazines and private clients, which was fun! (Actually, Sasa said that it was hilarious!). Meanwhile attendees twitted like crazy about what was going on, so that those bloggers who couldn't attend could at least keep in touch with what was happening. After my session Emma Boyd talked about Fisher & Paykel's blog Our Kitchen (and lots of bloggers wished that they could blog as part of their job too!), before returning to the Tasting Shed for lunch and chats.




At 1:30pm we returned to our presentation venue for a Blogger Q&A Panel entitled Discussions around food blogging held by Bron Marshall, Sasa, Jemma Adams, Rosa Wakefield and Vanessa Opera. Of course the "buzzing" grew louder when the subject of "visitors' numbers" was raised! After the panel we had a Food product demo and taste session presented by Louise Fawcett of Pacific Harvest, followed by afternoon tea and a nose to palate wine tasting at Coopers Creek vineyard. The last session was a practical Food photography tips workshop, presented by Bron Marshall, before finishing off with more wonderful spot prizes for everyone! Finally we drove to Auckland for dinner and more chats at Cook the Books.
 



 Photos by Alessandra Zecchini©

A big thank you to all the bloggers that made the conference possible, to all the attendees, and to our sponsors:


The Tasting Shed
Cook the Books
New Holland Publishing NZ
Kohu Road

33 comments:

  1. Awww the day looked wonderful! I so wish I could have made it, maybe next year...

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  2. Great post Alessandra and a wonderful and inspiring presentation you gave.

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  3. :-). Thank you Allie for making it happen!

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  4. It was a most enjoyable day, wasn't it? And Sasa was right - your presentation was hilarious! I enjoyed it very much. Grazie mille Alessandra! :-)

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  5. A fantastic day & I loved your presentation too :)

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  6. I will definitely come next event. I am sure Samantha will be older by then.

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  7. @ Sugar and Mairi, cheers!

    @Arfi, we missed you!!!

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  8. You have catch the atmosphere of the day so well !
    Was happy to meet you and really liked your heartfelt presentation !

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  9. Lovely write up, Alessandra. I think that we were all inspired in some way during the day!

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  10. @Vanille, and I was a good girl not showing "too many faces" :-)

    @Andrea, thank you for your presentation too!!!! I will look at my fonts more carefully now :-)

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  11. What a great event. I can't help but notice from the photos, it appears the vast majority of attendees were women. Where are all the men who enjoy cooking? Perhaps I need to start a food blog... ;-)

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  12. @ Sasa, it pays to be speedy :-), of course I am behind with all my other posts, but news take priority!

    @ Steve, you are the perfect person to start a food blog! Go for it! I'll help you if you like :-). We only had two men, yes more would be good!

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  13. How about a list of the attendee's blogs, I'd follow them if I knew who they were..... Looks like you all had lots of fun.

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  14. @ Robyn, here is the list :-)

    http://alessandrazecchini.blogspot.com/
    www.peasepudding.wordpress.com
    http://www.dlish.co.nz
    http://bronmarshall.com
    http://easyfoodhacks.blogspot.com
    http://gninwordon.blogspot.com
    http://ellicestreetgalleykitchen.wordpress.com/
    http://rainbowcooking.co.nz
    http://timeforalittlesomething.com/
    http://grapengrain.blogspot.com
    www.domestic-executive.com
    http://plum-kitchen.blogspot.com/
    http://www.eatetc-lesley.blogspot.com
    http://toast-mairi.blogspot.com/
    http://milliemirepoix.wordpress.com
    http://aucklandvegan.wordpress.com
    http://www.mrscake.co.nz
    http://rowanbishopfoodwriter.blogspot.com
    http://sasasunakku.com
    http://sugarandspice-and-allthingsnice.blogspot.com/
    http://couscous-consciousness.blogspot.com/
    www.foodopera.blogspot.com
    http://atdownunder.com/
    http://ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com/
    http://www.pacificharvest.co.nz/

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  15. Hope you are popping back Robyn, your google profile is not available...

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  16. Lovely post Alessandra, it was such a good day! Lovely to meet you and I also enjoyed your presentation :)

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  17. qui da te si respira sempre un'atmosfera di condivisione, di gruppo che lavora insieme, bello Alessandra, complimenti per queste iniziative, un bacione!

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  18. eheheeh ma voi partite attrezzatissime..guarda te che tavolo, che gioielli di reflex e non posso non ammirare quel minuscolo cavalletto per compatte...grandeeeee O_O. Hai ragione sempre belli questi incontri soprattutto perchè si parla lo stesso linguaggio, inteso come interessi. Ciao Ale è sempre bello leggerti da me..non potevo non ricambiare. Un bacioneeeee, Ale. (anzi devo farlo più spesso...)

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  19. Wow! Thanks Alessandra for posting this - it looks like you all had a fantastic time and the food just looks sooooo good. I am very sad I missed the presentations, food of course, and meeting all of you! Hope to make it to the next one!

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  20. Now that sounds like a lot of fun...so glad you were able to meet up with so many amazing bloggers. Happy week to you.

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  21. Very cool! Looks like a great time! :)

    http://haymarket8.blogspot.com

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  22. Good Morning Alessandra

    Thank you very much for the blog list. I follow many blogs, but few of them are from NZ based bloggers. I'm delighted to be able to go check out so many more now, that will be seasonally in sync with my garden & kitchen.

    This morning I turned the computer on and the RSS showed a new post from David Lebovitz, (the one titled Moist Chocolate-Beet Cake), his actual topic is about our relationship with cookbooks and food blogs, endorsing why a new post from him will soon have my attention! It also reminded me to pop back here to see if it had been possible for you to share the links. Alessandra, you already know the 'secrets' of a compelling food blog, yours is another I will not delay clicking through to when the RSS feed alert appears.

    Thanks again, Robyn, Waiheke Island

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  23. wow!!!!!!! bellissimo questo incontro, molto bene organizzato, il tavolo, le conferenze, le foto...ma l'idea soprattutto, e come hai detto tu: i visi felici.
    bellissimo :)
    Barbara

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  24. @ Ale, io invece non avevo una di quelle macchinone... solo il mio iPhone
    :-)

    @ Robyn, I'll wait for your future comments then :-).

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  25. Looks like you all had a great time! It would have been surreal to meet up with so many bloggers. It was my birthday on this weekend so had chose that over this but maybe next year.

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  26. Great post Alessandra! I could relate to so much of your presentation, thank you for your honesty and encouragement. Can't wait to do it all again! xoxo

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  27. I think this is the best part of blogging - to be connected other like minded passionate people. How lucky you are to have been able to attend such an event and at such a spectacular venue.

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  28. Oh man! That looks awesome! Is there anywhere I can fins out about next years one yet? Or still way too early?

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  29. Wonderful write-up, Alessandra, and it was so nice to meet you finally! Loved your presentation too. Well done all around :)

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  30. @ Rosemary, maybe too early for next year, but you can start by joining the NZ Food bloggers association :-) http://www.foodbloggersnz.com/
    and they may be more events, maybe local, too!

    @ Mika, it was lovely to meet you too!

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  31. Great post alessandra. It sounds like a huge success.

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