Art Predator Off to the 2009 Wine Bloggers Conference in Sonoma

Well, Hardy Wallace may be the goode guy who got that high profile blogging job in Sonoma County, but in a day or two, I’ll be there too, congratulating him and wishing him the best as we both attend the 2009 Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa, in the heart of the Sonoma County Wine country, right next door to Napa.

Honestly, I was so consumed with my application for the Murphy-Goode wine blogging job that the conference filled up and, like last year,  I joined the waiting list.

I’m not a passive waiting list person. I’m a proactive waiting type person, and thus, last year, at the last minute, I was able to squeeze myself in to the 2008 Wine Bloggers Conference even though there wasn’t room or food for me at the Friday night dinner. The rest of the conference was well worth missing most of the first day.

So this year, when I received an email that said I probably wouldn’t get in this year, I took action and wrote the following to the organizers Reno Walsh and Allan Wright of Zephyr Travel and Joel Vincent of Open Wine Consortium:

Hey Reno and Allan and Joel,

Not to bug you or anything, but I’m wondering if we can work something out so that I can attend at least some of the sessions and/or some of the tastings at this year’s WBC.

I learned so much at last year’s conference, both about wine and social media, and I met so many awesome people, that I have really been looking forward to attending this year, and even planned my summer, my summer school class syllabus, and my child care needs around it. (I know, so why didn’t I get myself registered? sigh).

I imagine all the Murphy-Goode madness (yes, I was caught up in it too and even made a video which you can see on https://artpredator.wordpress.com or http://winepredator.wordpress.com) has made the conference attendance even more desirable by everyone in the industry. Not to mention pressure to allow the MG finalists who are already up there to be able to attend.

Since I’d really like to make the move INTO the industry, attending the conference, even in some small odd way, just to connect with folks, is really important to me. Much of the networking goes on at the after parties and beside the pool I know, but if I go up there, I’d like to be able to have at least “some” legitimacy–I’d like to attend some if not all of the sessions so I can learn learn learn!

So I’m wondering:

Can I help out with the conference at all?  I can be there early Friday or even Thurs to help set up. I have LOTS of event experience–stage manager, house manager, event manager, poetry host 6 years, etc, etc as well as lots of experience working at and organizing conferences.

Can I skip some of the sessions that are going to be too full? Scouts honor I won’t try to sneak on the bus or sit at a banquet table if there’s no room…and I swear I won’t say anything either!

Or maybe one of the wineries or presenters needs a hand and that would get me in a few of the doors?

I’m easy going, flexible, and a good problem solver. Let me know soonest if something can be worked out.

best, gwendolyn aka art predator aka the woman who blogged from the bus…

A few hours later, I got a call from Reno. Yes, my letter convinced them I really wanted to be there and I belonged there, and yes, they could use my help at the conference, and yes, they thought they could make space for me for most of the events–except of course the Friday night dinner!

YAY! Off I go! Next stop, SF to stay with Burning Mom Toni Moran and then on to the 2009 Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa where you’l be hearing a lot more from me–both about all the wonderful wine and social media!

And who knows what other exciting developments might occur in the next few days!!