It was a thrilling Halloween this year as we got to announce both our 2014 Beer Bloggers Conference in San Diego and our 2014 Beer Bloggers Conference in Dublin, Ireland. Two epic cities with superb beer and beer culture. We are excited.
The Dublin conference is taking place June 27-28, and the San Diego conference will be taking place August 22-24. If you missed it, here is our announcement of both conferences. Registration is open, and with some healthy incentives to sign up early, both conferences are off to a good start!
Now, we’re fully aware that there are many reasons to attend a Beer Bloggers Conference, but we thought we’d compile this list of 5 or 6 reasons why YOU should attend a Beer Bloggers Conference in 2014:
1. Networking & Collaboration
The online beer community rocks. And while we spend 51 weeks of the year chatting with each other online, we spend a good portion of 1 week getting to know each other offline and face-to-face! At each conference, people who have only met online get to meet in person, people re-connect with others they’ve met in the past, and many great collaborative efforts have resulted from these encounters.
The above video was created by Delaware Valley Video
2. Connecting with the Industry
Beer bloggers and the beer industry enjoy a naturally symbiotic relationship. Whether it is getting to enjoy Utopias in the barrel room with Jim Koch, or getting to sit down and break bread with the social media director from your favorite brewery, there are countless ways for bloggers and folks from the beer industry to connect and get to know one another.
3. Improve Your Blogging and Social Media Presence
Whether your goal is to improve your writing, learn about ways to reach a wider audience, or whether you have questions about monetization, the beer bloggers conference works to currate relevant content and have it presented by highly qualified professionals and those with knowledge to share and pass on.
4. Beer, Beer, Beer
What kind of conference would we be if we didn’t have beer? Just a blogger conference, and (yawn….) we know how much fun those can be!! Ok, those can be fun too, but I digress. Beer is the glue that bonds us all together. We love to talk about it, write about it, share it, consume it, and repeat. Our industry supporters like to bring interesting and new beers to sample and attendees love to bring and share their favorite bottle. If there was perhaps one thing that this community loves more than beer, it’s sharing a favorite beer!
5. Locations
We don’t really think either San Diego or Dublin require much convincing… That said, both cities have vibrant beer scenes, are eager hosts, and we have great partners at work getting things organized for next summer. If you have an inkling towards beer and an interest in visiting either place, you should join us.
What we would l-o-v-e LOVE is to have more of our North American beer bloggers and European beer bloggers get a chance to meet. Dublin can be an affordable option for many on the eastern seaboard of the US and Canada. North American beer bloggers should absolutely consider making it over to EBBC! And while the trip is far, we’d love to have a few EBBC bloggers meet us in San Diego!!
In his own words, we’re going to let Hipster Brewfus summarize the above 5 points for us (from a comment off our Facebook page)
I was surround by friends I didn’t even know I had. We were all there for one reason..well two. We love beer, and we want to learn more and educate ourselves on how we can help advance it.
The dinners were all amazing, and learning experiences in themselves. The breakout sessions and speakers were where I took away the most information. I came back from Boston with a whole new box of tools, and I have seen my blog grow exponentially in the few short months since the conference. I have made a lot of friends in the community that I have been able to lean on when needing help or ideas or opinions.
I could wax intellect about it all, but I wont. But I swear to whatever God, this was the most all around amazing experience for me. And i will do everything in my power to make sure this is one event I will never miss during the life of my blog.
6. BONUS – Why the Industry Should Attend
Justification for the beer industry to attend a beer bloggers conference is littered throughout points 1 through 5 above, but we felt you, our industry friends, may need additional convincing – especially since it would likely be precious marketing dollars you’d be committing to such ruckus!
Did you know that the average beer blogger who attends a Beer Bloggers Conference has almost 9,000 visitors per month to their blog, has 5,000 Twitter followers, and engages with 2,500 Facebook fans? Multiplied by 165 attendees gives you an audience of 2.5 million beer drinkers.
Industry is encouraged to attend for all the above reasons, and if you’re interested in opportunities to showcase your beer at the conference, please inquire with Reno at reno@zephyradventures.com.
We’re going to close this little blog post with a another quote from our Facebook page – this time from the good folks at Blue Ridge Beverage Company and paraphrase a bit of their comment on why they attend the BBC (this being one of 4 reasons why they chose to go)
3) the ATMOSPHERE… attending with the unique perspective of an industry marketing professional who’s purpose in attending was to further understand the beer industry’s digital following, we were able to surround ourselves in the sphere of all things social media. One doesn’t need to worry about going alone because they will make plenty of contacts and friends throughout the experience.
Do you have any more reasons to add? Why should YOU attend a Beer Bloggers Conference next summer? Please leave your comments below!