It’s perhaps the biggest thing in wine and social media, at least in North America, as 300 wine bloggers, foodies, writers, social media “geeks” and wine industry professionals get ready to descend upon Penticton for three days immersed in B.C. wine.

The Wine Bloggers Conference comes to Canada for the first time from June 6-8, and registration is open to anyone with a taste for BC wine and food. “WBC” features breakout sessions on blogging and social media, as well as sessions meant to educate on wine, and several receptions with local chefs that will tantalize the taste buds.

What does this mean for Penticton and the South Okanagan? A potential outpouring of online exposure. Previous conferences have resulted in double digit increases in a region’s wine sales and wine tourism, both leading up to and in the months after the event.

Having been to four previous WBCs, I can tell you we have big wine glasses to fill. Wine bloggers can carry much influence, alongside traditional wine writers (many of whom now also have blogs), and our industry is young, with much to prove. Let’s get ready to show these visitors that we have much more to offer than icewine.

Anyone can attend as either a Citizen Wine Blogger (those unaffiliated with a business or organization), an Industry Wine Bloggers (those whose blog is affiliated with a winery, retail store, or other business or organization), or as a non-blogger. The registration fees rise with each level, but attendees are “fed and watered” through the majority of the conference. It’s a bargain, even if all you factor in is the amount of wine you’ll consume.

Not a blogger? Here’s your chance to get started, or simply learn more about social media or wine writing. In the industry? This is your shot to network “in real life” with some of the top bloggers in food and wine from across North America. BC wineries, come help build momentum for the industry on a worldwide platform.

This is the sixth WBC. It’s always a fantastic learning experience. And there’s wine. Lots and lots of wine.

If you’re keen to learn about social media and wine, register now for WBC, and be sure to follow @wbcokanagan and @winebloggerscon on Twitter.

In the fall of 2013, Eat.Drink.Tweet. will return as a series of educational seminars, with great food and wine, of course.

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Fueled by tuna. Taking over the world.

Bowing to public (read:  Twitter) pressure, my three cats — collectively known under the hashtag #coupdeschats — now have their own Instagram account.

Why? First of all, cats are big on social media. Just look at the LOL cats of I can haz cheeseburger, or the phenom that is Grumpy Cat, who’s now trademarked and is the most talked about mammal on social media, according to this infographic. Grumpy’s debut cat food commercial should be appearing soon.

Second, rather than inundating Facebook friends and Twitter or Pinterest followers with cat photos, the kitties will live in one spot with selective photos cross-posted. And the Instagram account has its own brand;  while the cats are part of my personal brand, they don’t need to integrate with my other business-oriented pages, such as the All She Wrote Facebook page.

Third, I listened to my Twitter followers, who ask about the kitties every now and then, and wondered when they’d have their own handles. A part of social media success is generating content your followers demand.

So, enjoy the CoupDesChats. Send tuna.

Penticton, BC: Eat.Drink.Tweet., an event that spawned more than 2.5 million hits on Twitter last March and led to its founder getting a tattoo to mark the achievement, returns to the Penticton campus of Okanagan College from February 17-19.

Eat.Drink.Tweet. is a unique conference about social media that combines education with “IRL” — in real life — networking opportunities featuring craft beer, BC wine, and gourmet food. This year, the gourmet goodies will be provided by Penticton’s Cannery Brewing, the wineries of the Naramata Bench, and Kelowna’s Okanagan Street Food.

“My goal with the original Eat.Drink.Tweet. was to educate people on the power of social media as a marketing and communications tool,” says Allison Markin, principal of All She Wrote Consulting, the marketing firm that established Eat.Drink.Tweet. in partnership with Okanagan College in 2011. “The event itself, as a bonus, ended up being a social media phenomenon all its own.”

Since the first event in March, 2011, Markin has gone on to host smaller EDT events throughout British Columbia, winning the Thompson-Okanagan Tourism Association‘s award for Social Media Initiative, and sharing a prestigious International LERN Award for marketing with Okanagan College, beating out a number of international entries from post-secondary programs around the world.

At the inaugural event, Markin posted on Twitter that she would get a tattoo if the Twitter hashtag “#eatdrinktweet” trended on Twitter in Canada; it did, for three days straight, resulting in much online attention across North America, reaching as far away as Germany. Markin, who teaches social media classes at Okanagan College, was true to her word, and got the Eat.Drink.Tweet. logo — a stylized fork, wine glass and computer mouse — tattooed on her ankle.

While in Virginia this past summer to successfully negotiate, on behalf of Penticton & Wine Country Tourism, bringing the 2013 North American Wine Bloggers Conference to Penticton, Markin was recognized by the tattoo.

“Several times bloggers from regions such as California, Chicago and Texas came up to me at the 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference and exclaimed, ‘you’re that Eat.Drink.Tweet. girl!’ which was somewhat bizarre, but also very flattering,” says Markin.

This year’s Eat.Drink.Tweet. is portioned into several sections:  a pre-conference day on Friday just on blogging led by one of Canada’s top bloggers, Lorraine Murphy of Raincoaster.com; a networking event on Friday night featuring keynote speaker Rob Duncan, who will present Work together to win! Why collaborating with the competition can be the smartest thing you do., followed immediately by the live Twitter wine tasting; and a full day of seminars on Saturday, with a half day on Sunday. Seminar topics will include sessions on Facebook marketing, QR codes, Twitter, YouTube, social media management and more.

“This is a great learning opportunity for any small to medium sized business wanting to begin or improve their social media presence, and the sessions are designed with beginners in mind,” says Markin.

Registration is through Eventbrite; last year Eat.Drink.Tweet. was a sellout.

Pondering registering for Eat.Drink.Tweet., coming up February 17-19 at Okanagan College in Penticton, but not sure what to register for? Here’s a handy-dandy guide.

First, determine if you are in one of these categories, or if you are simply someone who enjoys learning over craft beer, a glass of wine, and gourmet munchies:

• a marketer in the hospitality sector — wineries, restaurants, attractions, accommodations, arts and culture organizations a tourism operators and stakeholders;
• an event manager or planner;
• a small-to-medium sized business-owner;
• someone who wants to increase their social media savvy and network online and “IRL” — with colleagues over a glass of wine and gourmet food.

Next, decide what you’d like to learn by deciding which statement is most accurate:

1. “I just want to learn how to blog, enjoy some beer, and hang out with cool people on a Friday night.”
2. “I’m not big on blogging, I just want to take a bunch of social media seminars in one shot, have a nice lunch, and spend a Sunday morning learning about some quirky things like odd advertising and messed-up liquor laws.”
3. “All I want to do is break out the smartphone on a Friday night, take pictures of food and post them to Twitter, and drink some fine BC wine. Or maybe I’ll leave the smartphone at home and just socialize IRL*, as the kids say.”
4. “I need to know everything about social media, and quite likely, that will require a sip of beer or a glass of wine at some point.”

If you selected option one, then choose BEER’n'BLOGS pre-conference when registering, and be prepared to master blogging, enjoy a fine beer from Cannery Brewing at lunch and get a ticket to a networking event that night featuring Naramata Bench Wines. You can sleep in the next day.

If you selected option two, choose CONFERENCE – Saturday and Sunday Seminars when registering. You’ll miss some of fun on Friday, but you’ll learn what a QR code is and what all the fuss is about Pinterest by the time you’re done on Sunday.

If you selected option three, you’ll miss most of the learning — you’ll hear author/actor/LinkedIn dude Rob Duncan speak about collaboration in business — but you’ll be able to clink glasses of good wine with some pals, and if you’re on Twitter, perhaps be part of making the hashtag #eatdrinktweet trend in Canada again. Select FRIDAY NIGHT NETWORKING when registering. *In real life.

If you selected option four, prepare for a full-on onslaught of eating, drinking and tweeting for two and a half days; you’ll emerge with a load of knowledge, some fond memories, and perhaps a little information-overload, but it’ll be worth it. Select FULL CONFERENCE when registering.

Easy peasy! Register online now, and if you need a  place to stay, ask the Penticton Ramada for the Eat.Drink.Tweet. rate., just $49 for a standard room.

PS:  If you thought the # in the title of this post was an error, you really need to register. Seriously.

Eat.Drink.Tweet.

Following the success of last year’s sold out event, and subsequent EDT’s held around the province, All She Wrote has once again partnered with Okanagan College to host Eat.Drink.Tweet., a social media conference with a culinary twist. This year, Naramata Bench Wineries returns to pour for the live Twitter wine tasting, which will be paired with creations by Okanagan Street Food, and a pre-conference day on the art of blogging — titled “Beer’n'Blogs” will see Chef Neil Schroeter’s food paired with craft beer from Penticton’s own Cannery Brewing.

The pre EDT Beer’n'Blogs session takes place on Friday, February 17th, and will be led by Lorraine Murphy, a prolific blogger on her own site, Raincoaster, and now a reporter for TheDailyDot.com. Ask Lorraine about the time she got into a “flamewar” with Albania. The morning will see an intro to WordPress session, followed by two breakout sessions featuring Cathy Browne — she of the aforementioned legal blindness –and Kathleen Rake of Click Media Works. The day will end with a panel on the best practices to build and maintain your blog.

Friday evening marks the return of live Twitter wine tasting, but not before keynote Rob Duncan — author, actor, researcher — presents his talk Work together to win! Why collaborating with the competition can be the smartest thing you do…Rob is the author of the forthcoming book “Collaborative Intelligence” and will reveal some of his recent findings. Read his bio.

The learning truly gets underway on Saturday, with a slate of twelve seminars to choose from; attendees will have a tough time choosing which ones they’ll want to go to from a list that includes sessions on Facebook marketing, QR codes, Twitter, YouTube, social media management and more. Check out the schedule and speakers.

And on Sunday, Eat.Drink.Tweet. wraps up with a somewhat “TED” style morning of three short sessions, back-to-back:  How Did We Get Into This Mess? A Ridiculous History of Liquor Control in BC, presented by blogger and historian Chris Mathieson; Out-Rage-Us! Controversy in Advertising, presented by Mark Rucker of The Rucker Archive (the image at the top of this post is from his collection); and Get social now! A look ahead to the 2013 North American Wine Bloggers Conference and how it can grow everyone’s business, presented by yours truly.

All social media skill levels are welcome, as the presenters keep in mind that not everyone knows what a hashtag is, and anyone in any business will benefit both from the sessions and learning new marketing tricks, as well as networking “IRL” — in real life, in online lingo — with colleagues and other businesses from across the region.

Register for the entire weekend or just a portion via Eventbrite.

The data for this list was collated by Uptake, a website — rather, it looks to be a new social network in beta form — that bills itself as helping you “uncover your social travel network on Facebook, identifying those friends that have been to the destination you are researching and allowing you to ask for recommendations and tips from those you trust…the largest independent travel research site, helping more than 30 million travelers research their trips in 2011.” I’ve now joined.

So how does a small town in the middle of British Columbia, far from urbanity, with a largely non-social media-savvy population, get so much traffic on Facebook? Here are some handy dandy tips if you’d like to get your destination noticed.

TIP NUMBER ONE: Be a honey badger. Badger, badger, badger people and businesses who may not be enthused about social media, or who are afraid of it, to not just start accounts, but educate themselves on best practices and how to use social media to engage users outside of your local circle.

TIP NUMBER TWO: Ignore people who roll their eyes and tell you to stop badgering them (see step one) about social media.

TIP NUMBER THREE: Demystify social media by offering educational opportunities (see Eat.Drink.Tweet.) at a variety of levels for both individuals and businesses, from learning the basics of setting up accounts and managing privacy, to developing strategies and measuring reach.

TIP NUMBER FOUR: Take advantage of big things like worldwide Cabernet Day from big thinkers like Rick Bakas. This photo of a wine glass taken at a Cabernet Day tweetup in Penticton (the view is from Poplar Grove Winery), was viewed 700 times. In five minutes. An upcoming big social media thing in Penticton:  the 2013 North American Wine Bloggers Conference.

TIP NUMBER FIVE: Like Amway or Katy Perry’s parents … recruit converts. Penticton is on this list not merely because it’s a fabulous destination, but because social media put it there. Because organizations like Penticton & Wine Country Tourism, the Downtown Penticton Association, the Naramata Bench Wineries Association (full disclosure, all clients) and fellow marketers like DogLeg Marketing — who encourages its clients Cannery Brewing, the Similkameen Wineries Association and a number of other businesses in Penticton to get on Facebook and Twitter — recognize the value of social media, maintain their accounts, run contests, keep up the Facebook chatter and bring in expert help to move forward when needed.

The title of a social media panel I’ll be on at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival says it all:  “You’ll tell two friends…”.

The infamous CoupDesChats.

Nevertheless, as 2011 draws to a close, I give you:  things that happened in 2011. Enjoy.

Did not learn to cook. Anything. | Continued to win fans with Twitter hashtag #coupdeschats. | Visited Thomas Jefferson’s wine cellar. | Gained weight. | Held first Eat.Drink.Tweet. event, took it on the road around BC. | Made accountants laugh. | Raised $3000 with Team All She Wrote for MS Walk. | Led a Virginia ham to freedom in Canada. | Coined the term “alcohocolate”. | Passed eight years free of the Big C. | Yearned for CD of Boney M’s greatest hits, still stuck in the car stereo. | Appeared on Goonies Jail Cam. | Led successful bid to bring North American Wine Bloggers Conference to Penticton in 2013. | Drank “Chardonnel”. | Won TOTA and LERN awards. | Cruised. | Tweeted it up. | Bribed cats with ‘nip and “party mix.” | Checked-in, was briefly mayor of some rocking chairs in North Carolina. | Pierced Dr. Eclectic‘s ear for his 70th birthday. | Met Jancis Robinson and Rick Bakas (not at the same time). | Meatinis. | Toured Similkameen and Cowichan wine regions. | Won lunch with Mayor Dan Ashton, still have to collect. | Discovered the best sushi. | Towel bunnies. | Watched an inordinate amount of live hockey. | Feline epilepsy. | “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.” | Slept. |

It’s going to be an epic year for Eat.Drink.Tweet., beginning with the Penticton version in February. The event is already a quarter sold, so don’t delay in registering. Your next chance to go to an EDT will be in Vancouver — at the Four Seasons Hotel — or Edmonton, and perhaps a few places in-between, in 2012, as we expand. To that end, Christina Ferreira of Impact Events & Project Management and Lisa Baadsvik of Vintage Hospitality have come on board with All She Wrote to handle logistics and sponsorship. If you went to the first EDT, Lisa cleared your lunch plates.

Also returning to the Penticton version:  Naramata Bench Wineries <Facebook | Twitter> As a Trending Topic Sponsor, members of the association will be pouring their wines at the live Twitter wine tasting, which trended in Canada during the first EDT, resulting in a tattoo dare that was eventually fulfilled. You’ll have to come to an EDT to see the ink, or pick up the temporary version. This year, if you’d just like to socialize at the wine tasting on the Friday night of EDT, you can purchase tickets solely for that event.

But, why skip all the fun learning? We’ve added a pre-conference day on blogging, to get everyone savvy for the 2013 North America Wine Bloggers Conference in Penticton. Beer’n'Blogs will cover topics such as how to build a WordPress blog, how to write for the web and increase your audience, and of course there will be a gourmet lunch featuring Hashtag Sponsor Cannery Brewing <Facebook | Twitter>. In fact, we’re going to let you decide which if their brews get poured. Stay tuned.

We’d also like to thank Crema Communications <Facebook | Twitter> for joining us as a Hashtag Sponsor, and of course, our host venue, Okanagan College in Penticton. Not to mention the Ramada Penticton <Facebook> for offering a special Eat.Drink.Tweet. rate. If you’d like to take advantage of 2.5 million impressions on Twitter, download a sponsor brief and give us a shout.

And finally, watch for a whole new All She Wrote website early in 2012, as well as the full line-up of awesome Eat.Drink.Tweet. speakers. Happy holidays!

Eat, drink and ski (er, board) at Big White!

The fine folks at Big White Ski Resort <Twitter:  @bigwhite | Facebook: Big White Ski Resort> have teamed up with All She Wrote for a cool — pun intended — contest. Who likes to eat, drink and ski?

Coming up December 10th at Big White, a fabulous event for foodies and wine lovers:  Big Reds at Big White <RSVP to the event on Facebook>, now in it’s fourth year, featuring more than 30 local winemakers pairing their reds — it’s winter, of course it’s gonna be red wine — with gourmet delights from the finest chefs on the mountain. There may even be a few new releases in the mix.

Want to win your way to Big Reds? Finish this phrase and post it to Twitter:

I deserve to #eatdrinkski @bigwhite because …

The prize package includes:

• Two tickets to Big Reds at Big White
• A day of alpine or nordic skiing or boarding, including night skiing or boarding if available (two adult passes)
• One night’s accomodation (for two adults) in one of the full-service hotels at Big White

Note that you must be 19 years or older to win this contest, and you are responsible for your own transportation to and from Big White to attend Big Reds at Big White on December 10th, 2011.

Don’t forget to visit Big White’s YouTube channel for the latest on snow conditions, the ice-climbing wall, tubing, skating and everything else winter up on the mountain. You may even see me riding some sort of large snow and/or ice-making machine…

Now, off you go to Twitter! You have until 5pm PST on Friday, December 2 to enter. You may enter multiple times with multiple tweets, but the winner will be chosen at random. Read more in the fine print below.