And in light of our mission to spread the good word about Social Media, we decided to kick off the 2010 EWBC with a tasting of Austrian Wines spearheaded by Willi Klinger, President of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board. Have fun watching the film, and don’t forget that we’re still looking for people interested in proposing a seminar or workshop at this year’s conference!

EWBC 2010 Launch from Ryan and Gabriella Opaz on Vimeo.

Time: 16:00 – 16:45 pm

Roundtable:

• Esteban Cabezas – The Wine Academy Spain
• Marcio Ferriera – ViniPortugal
• Evelyne Resnick – Wine Brands

Theme: We will have just spent a day looking at where the world wine and online media have converged; how video is changing the way we communicate about wine; how wineries and wine bloggers can communicate better. So to end the day, we want to look at the future, and what tomorrow will  bring us? Will we become more open, or will the inverse occur, creating virtual walls around individual content?

Questions:

• What role will blogging have in the next 5 years of wine communication?
• What importance will we place on video as we move into the next generation of wine communication?
• Do Twitter and Facebook serve a purpose or are they just steps in the evolution of wine communication?
• How can Generics better embrace the benefits of Social Media? And when will we see them doing more?
• The Social Wine world is highly personlized and time consuming at times. Is this method sustainable, or will we see less authentic forms of it in the future?

Originally, we had warned that prices would increase on September 1st. But as Europe is only now waking from its restful summer slumber, having been drinking mojitos under swaying palm trees, we felt it was only fair to extend the date of registration before prices increase.

But that doesn’t mean you should wait until last minute to purchase your ticket. As businesses and families alike get into their normal routine, we anticipate registrations to increase dramatically!

Don’t let September get the best of you without registering for the EWBC. Sign up TODAY!!

What does your ticket include?

• Discount on a hotel room (which includes breakfast) at the VIP Grand Lisboa – location of the EWBC
• 2 sponsored lunches
• 2 sponsored dinners
• 2 sponsored grand tastings
• A full day of winery visits in 1 of the 3 Portuguese wine regions: Setabul / Terras do Sado, Ribatejo or Alentejo
• A full day of sessions on everything from monetizing your blog to videoblogging 101
• Enormous amounts of networking opportunities
• A chance to taste wines from across Portugal
• An opportunity to attend the Douro Boys Press Junket trip to the Douro after the conference
• And much much more!

So go HERE and reserve your space before someone else does!!

On Sunday, June 14, from 11.00 to 19.00 in Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, Vinix will host an open unconference a day before the Terroir de Vino wine fair. Vinix is an aggregator of wine communities both online and offline, where professionals and enthusiasts can talk about wine, food and networking, and was created by our EWBC alumni, Filippo Ronco.

The aim of the unconference is to open the floor to anyone interested in participating in the conversation as it pertains to food, wine and networking. You don’t need to be a member of Vinix to participate. You only need to interested in contributing to the conversation. There will be several sessions planned, such as Robert’s discussion on the EWBC 2009,  so as to make it worth your while, but if conversations seem to lean in another direction, the unconference model will adapt to wherever the participants want to go.

The event is free, but anyone who is able and willing to help with the logistics and planning is more than welcome to offer their services. Additionally, anyone who is interested in running a session, or attending the dinner, should contact Vinix as soon as possible.
If you have additional questions or suggestions or just want to help out, please write to: unconference@vinix.it

General informations about Vinix Unplugged Unconference
Sara Maternini
E-mail: sara.maternini@terroirvino.it
Cell +39 339.1311630
Fax +39 06 233 220 684

General informations about Terroir Vino
Filippo Ronco
Web: www.terroirvino.it
E-mail: info@terroirvino.it
Cell +39 347 2119450 (Always On)
Fax +39 06 233 220 684

Why do I bring this up? Because yesterday, Ryan and I recycled 3 garbage bags filled to the brim with winery brochures, catalogs and DVDs. We rationalized even trying to get some of the photos off the catalogs, but it would require so much work that in the end, it clearly wasn’t worth it. The only option we had was to accept that we enabled a small forest to be wiped out and vowed to do something different.

At the II Annual European Wine Bloggers Conference, we will provide all participants with a USB drive, rather than a bag filled with sponsorship information that can be downloaded to their computer and accessed for future articles or as material to be shared with others. Later, the USB drive can be reused over and over again, thereby promoting sustainability. Materials will also be made available to all readers through an exclusive online content channel that will encourage these materials to be shared with a wider audience.

We also want to make it clear this is a kind of “no winery left behind” initiative! In other words this year any and all wineries can be a small sponsor of the EWBC, thus showing their support for the event. Here’s how it’s going to work:

• For 25 euros you get 10mb’s of space = A couple of PDF’s and a photo or two
• For 200 euros you get 100mb’s of space = With this you could fit a small video, slideshow, Powerpoint presentation and maybe more!
• For 600 euros you get 1 gigabyte of space = With this you could put an feature length movie on the thumbdrive, your whole catalog of wines and a full slideshow!

What can a sponsor put on the USB drive? Well lot’s of stuff, but we hope that a few of you/them, take the time to be creative. Make a mini website that is accessible on the drive. Do a fun video that shows your wines in a new way. Put together a mix tape of your favorite music to drink your wines with. The sky’s the limit

• Videos
• Photos
• Website
• Technical Sheets
• Winery Info
• A song about the EWBC (really hoping for this one)

Clearly, the sky is the limit. If you are interested in more information about the USB, contact us! Or if you have an idea for a fun way to make this even more interactive we’d love to hear about it!

Cheers,

The EWBC Crew

• Participants
• Sponsors
• Flickr photos
• Video Interviews from VinusTV
• Keynote Tasting
• Conference Sessions: Blog Writing, Wine Scores, Advertising
• Tasting Notes on Adegga
  
• Wrap Up Posts – Ryan, Gabriella, Robert