The 2010 Beer Bloggers Conference kicked off today at the Boulder Marriott with 114 enthusiastic bloggers and industry experts flying in to experience the world’s first beer bloggers conference! Some wasted no time and went straight to local breweries this morning, while others gathered to mingle and meet one another before the first session.
Our first speaker, Julia Herz, from the Brewers Association, did a fantastic job of explaining why bloggers are so important in the beer revolution. She spoke about the increasing demand in beer journalism and her goals for beer bloggers, including the necessity to shed beer stereotypes and allow readers to understand the uniqueness of craft beers.
Jessica Daynor from Draft Magazine kept things rolling with her talk on what beer bloggers can learn from print media. She gave some great writing tips for bloggers, such as establishing credibility to build an audience, choosing your words carefully, and making your point in as few words as possible!
SEO Expert Dustin Woodard shared his expertise on ways to show up more in organic listings, which are used by 80% of people. While learning about SEO can be complex, he offered a wealth of knowledge regarding simple ways to increase site hits.
For our last session of the day, buckets of Avery Beer were brought out so attendees could learn about food and beer pairings from The Kitchen’s general manager, Ray Decker. He offered some great tips for how to match certain beers with foods in order to maximize both flavors.
With some fresh beer samples and a discussion on food, it was the perfect way to end the day and prepare for tonight’s dinner at Oskar Blues, followed by “Bring your own bottles night”. Stay tuned to hear about the rest of our weekend.