The first ever Food Bloggers of Canada Conference - my thoughts

I've been debating writing this post since getting back from the Food Bloggers of Canada Conference back on the weekend of April 12th. There were a couple of reasons for this.

The cop out reason, the one I used to trick myself into not writing this, was that one of the things they told us was to not just follow the herd. If everyone is talking about what to give for Mother's Day you should be talking about something totally different so you don't get lost in the crowd. Well after getting back from the conference, heck even while at the conference attendees were flooding the conference  Facebook page with links to their blog posts about the event.

The one thing every single one of the attendees posts had in common, every single one, from people who attended to guests to the organizers, was that they were overwhelmingly positive. This leads to my second reason for not writing this post until now: I didn't find the weekend overwhelmingly positive. My head was filled with a mix of my mom saying: "If you don't have anything nice to say" and thinking that I don't want to be "that guy" The one asshole trying to ruin everyone's good time.

I asked friends, family and the people who are cool enough to follow Big Dude Likes Food on Facebook if they thought I should write a summary and they all told me I should do it. That people are going to be interested to hear another side of the story. People who didn't attend will want to hear the good and the bad and make an informed decision on whether or not to go next year. They also pointed out that I've never been one to shy away from posting a negative opinion before. So here I am.

Okay first off: it wasn't a bad experience. Don't get me wrong. I hope the above didn't make you think I had this horrible weekend and that it was a total waste of time. It was great getting away from the kids for the weekend. The room was nice. I had some great food and met some great people. I guess it just wasn't what I expected, though I don't actually know what that was either.

The beautiful spring weather.

I'm new to food blogging. I only started this gig in January this year. My wife though is some kind of pro-blogger: Maple Leaf Mommy. She's been to quite a few of these conferences and is often there as an organizer, guest speaker or panel expert. She's the one that encouraged me to know that Canada Beef was doing a twitter party, the one where  my wife ended up winning a ticket to the conference. At the time she was the one that suggested we both go. Holy crap were tickets ever expensive, $700, before tax. We debated it for a couple days, hotly at times. I don't know about the other attendees but for us that's a huge chunk of change. Note also, I cannot business expense this as I haven't monetized my blog at all and am not running a business. Obviously we eventually went for it. The combination of the hotel stay, all our meals being paid for and a kid free weekend won over the budget.

The drive sucked. It was rain then sleet then snow. The temperature dropped 10 degrees as we headed up north. Our GPS Phone thing (something my Wife was reviewing for her blog) ran out of batteries right at the end of the trip, right when we needed it. Then we got to the resort and the power was out. What a mess.

My wife and I.

The first night was awkward and backwards, at least to me. This was the big 'party night' where we were supposed to meet the brands. It seemed odd that we would do this first. I also missed the memo that this was supposed to be a dress up deal. Sure I had some khaki's and a golf shirt but I might have tried a bit harder if I had known. Things were just poorly set up. A thin hall, a check in center where you got more stuff than you can carry right there (causing most people to have to get their stuff and then immediately leave to go drop it in their room), and really no direction. One of the things that I think could have improved this particular event is if the Brands, special guests and attendees all had different badges. That way you would instantly know if you were talking to a brand ambassador or another food blogger. I also would have much preferred this event at the end of the weekend. After we had learned all there was to learn, loosened up, met some people and talked. Being in a hot hall with something like one hundred other people who had just arrived just wasn't the best time to walk up and say "Hey I'm a big guy that likes to eat and I really dig your hummus. What's this new thing you have here? Maybe we can work together?"

Dinner the first night.

Dinner that first night was also sub-par. I later found out it was due to the fact the power was out, but man that was some of the worst poutine I've ever had. The rest of the meal was okay but not great. Not at all what you would expect for a dinner for about one hundred people who talk a lot about food.

After dinner there was a movie, sponsored by KitchenAid. This was a cool idea and the milk shakes they were making were awesome. The movie was Back to the Future which I though was odd, it just didn't fit. After about 45 minutes in my wife and I left, and I think there were only 3 other people still in there watching. Yeah that didn't seem to go over well.

Back in our rooms we got to check out the loot! Wow! Now here was the first thing I'd seen at the conference that made it seem worth it. Holy Swag Batman! Topping the long list of stuff we each got was a free Delta Touch Faucet. That added to the kick ass Nordic Wear cookware we got was making this weekend seem more worth while.

The first nights Poutine

Okay I know no one wants a day by day, event by event commentary here so I'm going to sum up most of the rest of the conference in less detail. This is mainly because most of the rest of the conference was sitting listening to people talk. There were panels on brands working with blogs, the critic vs. the chef, tech for your blogs, monetization, photography, cook books, chats with Dianne Jacob, a Q&A with David Liete and more. What was odd here, at least based on what I know about other similar cons is that it was a one track show. Everything was scheduled for you. There were no options and except for a small half hour window on Saturday there was no free time. Where were the options? What if I don't care about writing a cook book (the topic of at least three panels)? When the heck am I supposed to hook up with Canada Beef and pitch them getting me grilling this summer?

Regarding the actual panels and the speakers, I have mixed feelings. I will say every speaker was excellent. They knew their stuff, they were funny and engaging and were great at answering questions. It just wasn't all stuff that I needed or wanted to hear. There was some truly great advice. Things like having your own voice. Producing your own content. How to be morally responsible and transparent about everything. Wait, except for when you are taking pictures, then you are clear to lie, I guess, as that's what I was told, twice.

David Liete a highligh of the event.

There seemed to be this opinion, held by every person presenting that blogging is not something you do professionally. It's something you do to get published. It's what you do so that people have heard of you when you sell your cookbook. Obviously no one just wants to blog and be happy with that. Obviously. Also everyone wants to be published and write a book. A physical book. Sure 'vanity press' is loosing it's stigma... wait a minute. I can't go on. What year is it? Have none of the speakers seen Kickstarter? I saw a bunch of bloggers with tablets, you can't tell me they don't have recipes in PDF, recipe apps, read food reviews online. It just seemed, I dunno, out of touch. Maybe it's me. Maybe in this case the Gaming Industry is way ahead of the food industry when it comes to digital media. I can't see it though.

While everyone assuming I want a book out there with my name on it was somewhat insulting and annoying it didn't bother me nearly as much as the fact that almost every panel was directed at Recipe writers, which meant that there was very little that targeted me specifically. I honestly think it should have been called the Recipe Bloggers of Canada Conference. Even the photography class, which was cool, was all about how to get good pictures of your recipes, or rather stuff that looks like your recipes. There was really only one panel about food reviewing and restaurants, the topics I actually care about. Here is where multiple tracks would have been great. A track for food commentary and review and a track for people cooking food. A lost opportunity that I hope they fix by next year.

Overall yes I learned some things during the panels. I also had a great time listening to the guests. There were some hilarious moments and every panel was enjoyable to be part of. They just weren't topics I really needed to hear about and I think my time could have been better spent.

The other thing worth talking about in regards to Saturday and Sunday is the food. As I mentioned, the meal the first night was a bit of a let down. Thankfully the rest of the weekend was the opposite. Everything was amazing. From breakfast buffets to amazing lunch spreads, each meal was different and excellent. Dinner Saturday night was fantastic and one of the best meals I've had.

Each main meal was teamed up with wine. This was pretty cool. They had the wineries there talking about each drink as it was being poured and the wines were paired up with each course. It's odd that I enjoyed this as I'm not much of a wine drinker. Actually I usually tell people I don't like wine. What was I going to do in this case, say no? So I drank up, and surprisingly enjoyed almost every one I had. My favourite was The Grange Chardonnay.

I still would have really preferred some beer. At least one night. I think it would be great if the Food Bloggers of Canada hooked up with the Ontario Craft Brewers for next years event and offered beer pairings for at least one meal.

So there you have it. My, long winded, summary of my weekend up in Hockley Valley for the first ever Food Bloggers of Canada Conference. I will admit: I had a good time. It was great to get away and I met some awesome people and had some great food. Based on the feedback I've seen I seem to have enjoyed this less than many of the other attendees. Yeah, it wasn't awesome. It wasn't our best trip out of town and there were times where I was thinking there were many other things I would rather be doing. I did learn some things, and I did make some contacts I never would have met otherwise. I think most importantly though, I was inspired. Despite listening to people tell me I was only in this for a book deal I was inspired to come home and blog. Not only that, I was inspired to come home and improve my blog. Sure there was stuff I would change, but that inspiration made this trip worth it to me. I look forward to going to the Second Annual Canadian Food Bloggers Conference in 2014 and I hope to see you there, and share a beer.