Food Bloggers Conference of Canada 2013 – Sensational!

Day 1 – registered for the weekend

I am amazed by all my blogging experiences since I uploaded my first post just a few months ago in January.   My husband assisted in choosing my Spicewife alias.  My sister offered to guide me with her expertise in blogging and copyright law, to ensure that I abide on the path of the virtuous writer.  My boys have endured delays at dinner while I photographed every step of my preparations plus the plating of final dishes before delving in.

When my sister suggested that I attend the first Food Bloggers Conference 2013 with her, I figured, why not?  A sisterly bonding time  plus meeting some other foodies.  What could be better?  But little did I know that this would be the turning point in the epicurean segment of my life.

The conference was absolutely amazing.  The hours of preparation by volunteers  were impressive.  The weekend began with a reception of sponsors, from Wine Country Ontario to the Manitoba Canola Growers.  The Friday night dinner was sponsored by the Canadian Beef Inc.  and the keynote speaker was David Leite who spoke of the 10 steps to writing a successful post.  KitchenAid Canada sponsored evening treats and a movie.

Saturday was filled to the brim with a diverse group of speakers and panels of experts, ranging from technology and food photography to publishing and future trends in the industry.  Dinner was sponsored by the Turkey Farmers of Canada and the evening treats and musical entertainment by Campbells Foods.

The enthusiasm of all the sponsors, which I cannot begin to list here was only matched by the excitement and comraderie of the attendees.  I feel that I have made over 100 new friends and colleagues and hope to learn from the more experienced folks to bring you a better food blog.

So, this will be my new recipe for future posts:

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp. of fun photos
• 4 tbsp. of verbs and adjectives, heavy on the verbs
• 4 tbsp. of own voice
• 1 1/2 cups of honesty
• 3 cups of passion

Directions

1. Mix together the first 3 ingredients until I have found my focus.  Blend slowly until I see my story unfolding.
2. Stir until I have found my own words.  Recognize my writing style and know what I stand for.
3. Add remaining ingredients and continue to write for a specific purpose — don’t write for writing’s sake.  Remember my readers that I am writing for.
4. Bake at 350° C until all paragraphs and photographs meld together to render a perfect blog post.
5. Never stop learning.

And on that note, Mushrooms Canada gave each of us a home growing mushrooms kit.  I will follow their directions right down to the ‘Grow me, Blog me’ command and hopefully, in 10 days, I will show you what I have grown and will find some appropriate herb and spice mushroom recipe to share with you.

Thank you for taking this journey with me.

Shelley

Tags: Food Bloggers of Canada, mushrooms