Food Marketing & Publicity Summit 2008
Posted in Culture Bites on 19. Nov, 2008
This past Monday I attended the Bulldog Reporter’s Food Marketing & Publicity Summit 2008 in New York City. Wide-eyed and bouncing, I made my way to the Princeton Club reporter’s notebook in hand.
The commute was a blur as my head filled with dreams of meeting some of my foodie idols: Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen; Sara Moulton from the Food Network and Gourmet magazine; Dr. Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics and What To Eat; Megan Steintrager from Epicurious.com; Victoria Von Biel, Food Editor of Bon Appétit…the list of panelists and guests just went on and on.
On the outside I may have been a composed professional, but inside was a screaming foodie fangirl bursting to get out. For serious.
The conference was targeting towards public relations professionals who work in the food industry, touted as “an intensive one-day summit that brings you up to date on the latest food trends, marketing challenges, breakthrough techniques and controversies.”
While I was obviously the youngest person there (by years) and not a PR professional (not yet at least), it was no less meaningful and helpful for me as a food blogger and a journalist – the only difference was that the advice was sort of flipped around.
Sessions included discussions and tips on embracing and utilizing new media and taking advantage of the “web 2.0″ wave, which includes services like Twitter, Delicious, and other social networking sites to promote yourself and your Web site.
I’ve collected a huge list of ideas and tips to help promote and expand online- invaluable for any fledgling food blogger aspiring to be as big as blogs like Smitten Kitchen or La Tartine Gourmande. And I’m going to share them with you! A full report of my travels and findings will follow in the features section, but for now you can check out my live Twitter feed from Monday.
5:43 AM Nov 17th Getting ready for my trek to NYC for the Food Marketing & Publicity Conference!! Coffeeeee…gotta catch the train at 6:31am.
6:31 AM Feeling so …commuter, with my coffee, NYT, and dress slacks waiting on the train.
8:49 AM I am in heaven. So thrilled. Sara Moulton, executive chef of Gourmet mag, is the first keynote speaker. Talking about pitching a cookbook.
9:19 AM She’s so witty! Talking about all the horrible commenters on the Internet food forums haha. I can’t wait to buy her book later
10:28 AM Hour 2 of the conference & the topic of Twitter finally surfaces! The newspaper food writer panel has been immensely helpful & intriguing.
12:37 PM My phone is already on 20% battery. So much going on; enjoying the conference despite chaos with both my jobs at Rowan and constant emails!
1:58 PM Just met Deb from Smitten Kitchen!!! We’re totally going to be bff now.
3:30 PM Positively drooling over this panel of the editors from Saveur, Food & Wine, and Bon Appetit. All of my dream employers! HIRE MEEE
5:05 PM Took at least 15 full pages of notes today. Now I’m off for cocktails and networking, then wandering around in search of cheap Thai food.
5:35 PM COCKTAILS. YES. Phone is dying in 3…2…1.
looks like i woulda been in heaven there.. mmmmmm web marketing is delicious (haha that is a web nerd pun!)
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