International Beer Bloggers & Online Media Conference

The first-ever beer bloggers conference! Doesn't that sound awesome? If you're a beer blogger, that is?
 
Beer Bloggers Conference
 
And it's in Boulder, Colorado, making it even cooler in my mind. Of course, it's in November, so I'm guessing it's going to be really friggin' cold. At least to a Floridian. But I have gathered--some from reading about beer, brewing, and breweries, but mainly from looking at the label on the neat beers I've tried and seeing where they come from--that Colorado is up there in the ranking of Cool Beer States.
 
There will be speakers, including the co-founder of Stone Brewing, but what got me excited is that there are media professionals speaking about writing. Beer writing, of course, and that's something I could definitely learn a thing or two about. I can write, and I can surely drink beer, but that doesn't mean I'll be a great beer writer.
 
Two sessions that interest me in particular are Julia Herz from the Brewers Association: “Why Beer Bloggers Further the Revolution” and Jessica Daynor from Draft Magazine: “Beer Journalism: Beer Bloggers & the Print Media.”
 
Of course, the dinners at Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons and Boulder Beer Company are rather intriguing as well.
 
I'd really like to go to this. I could learn a lot (okay, a ton), meet some interesting people who are even more passionate about beer than I am, and make some good contacts.
 
However.
 
One thing that struck me on the conference blog was a post about five things the event organizers had learned from their other conference - one for wine bloggers:
 
"2. Making Money – Offline – From Wine Blogging: We learned loud and clear at the first Wine Bloggers Conference that most bloggers do not make more than pocket change from their blog and probably never will."
 
But this conference costs money. Maybe not a lot to some, but it's enough to give me pause. After all, I have a spouse whose input is needed, a home with items in need of repair/replacement, a dog with a healthy vet bill, etc. And this? This beer blogging thing? Not only am I just starting out, but it's not a money-making endeavour.
 
As an MBA dropout, I can't help but think . . . what's my ROI? How will this conference help me? My family? I have to ask myself - is this an indulgence?
 
That being said, the Beer Bloggers Conference looks like a great idea and any beer blogger, aspiring or otherwise, should at least consider attending. I mean, I'm still thinking about it...
 

 

Posted via email from Scurrilous Tosh