You and Michelle sure have eased my mind that I missed BlogHer. I could go to a party anytime. Personally, I can’t wait until the next CWB meeting. Speaking of, is there a certain weekend of the month that it usually falls on so that I can bid for that time off in September?
.-= Christina Baita´s last blog ..Where Is The Weight Hiding? =-.

I was sad to not be invited to the Food Bloggers Dinner. I keep hearing that they couldn’t find everyone, but heck – I was on a Food Blogging panel, so I’m a little puzzled by that excuse. I was easy to find! Wine blogging is a subcategory of Food Blogging, just as Restaurant/Review blogging is. And Julie, you know that had I been invited, I’d have dragged you along in a heart beat. C’est la vie, I suppose. Live and learn, and it’s not really a big deal in the scheme of life.

I knew there was a beer blogger in the room – she is one of my closest friends. But the conversation never steered to anything to which she could contribute. Leftovers and beer just don’t mesh well. Well, okay, they do – but not necessarily in this context As for restaurant blogging, that topic was quickly steered back to leftovers and bringing flat storage containers to restaurants. We never really came back to the topic again. Elise – someone did say (and I’m not sure who) that no one cooks gourmet meals anymore and my immediate thought (and perhaps I should have opened my mouth) was that my friend Julie only cooks gourmet meals at home.

I had hoped, a lot, that we would get into topics such as ethics in accepting samples. Whether you eat out (comp’d meals) or accept samples like I do, it is definitely a way to affordably food/wine blog in a recession. It didn’t even come up. Also, how do you market a foodie blog in the recession? I know we had our conference call beforehand, but I left the conference call feeling that the session would go one of two ways – they way I dreaded (recipe swap!) or the way I hoped (blogging-related). Truthfully, this wasn’t unique to this panel. In several panels I was hoping for more information on handling the blogging on the topic as opposed to the topic itself, if that makes sense.

I speak on social media, blogging, and even wine blogging at a lot of national conferences. I’m not a conference newbie by any means. But my BlogHer experience was drastically different than any other conference I’ve ever attended.
.-= Michelle´s last blog ..Ethics and Integrity =-.

First let me state that I am truly sorry if I gave you the impression that I did not value your presence or input at the food blogging session. What you have interpreted as “disdain” was actually delight that you, as a restaurant blogger, were in the room and frankly stunned surprise that there were so few others. If I looked out the door, it was because the door was open and there was noise coming in from the hall, which I really wanted to have closed. (It did get closed thankfully.) If I said “no one makes gourmet meals” I do not remember it, and do not remember in what context I may have said it, because that’s certainly not true. We make gourmet meals, just not that often.

In planning for the session, we as a group focused on what we were doing on our blogs as bloggers that would be helpful to our readers confronted with recession realities. It came out that the session planners envisioned more of a session about cooking tips, but we weren’t nearly as interested in that as what we do as bloggers. In the session I did make several attempts to steer the conversation back to blogging, but also wanted to be responsive to what the group wanted to talk about, which much to our (the panelists) surprise ended up being cooking tips. I was also instructed to participate fully in the discussions. I did try to hold back, but obviously failed at that and failed you as a moderator. I do apologize.

Hi Carla,

We had a beer blogger in the room? That’s awesome! Did you raise your hand to ask a question and I didn’t call on you? If that’s the case I am sorry as I did make an effort to hear from as many people as possible.

By the way, there is a recap of the session posted at the BlogHer site: http://is.gd/1SVsP

BTW I didn’t organize this year’s food blogger supper but I did two years ago. It’s hard work, finding everyone! (And maybe that’s one of our tips for the BlogHer staff for another year, helping us know who our “birds of a feather” people will be attending BEFORE the conference.) I worked and worked and worked (right up until the last minute) and still missed people who would have been much welcomed at the dinner. (The restaurant thought I was crazy, keeping the numbers open up until the last minute.) I also know that Kalyn and Lydia, who did organize this year’s supper, did the same thing. The day before the conference, I saw a post saying someone was coming to the conference and forwarded it to Lydia, she extended an invitation, which was accepted.

Maybe you’d e-mail me? I’m working with some other bloggers on the content/organization of BlogHer Food in September and would love to include your thinking.

Again, thanks for chiming in. I just wish I’d known you were at the conference!

I really do appreciate you reaching out! I’ll shoot you an email, too.