The three day conference will bring together an international audience of wine tour providers and the wineries seeking to host them. In addition to conference sessions on Portugal as a wine and culinary destination, there will be presentations on wines from other regions, and a full slate of marketing seminars designed to help attendees get the most out of their tour programs and offers incorporating the tools of social media.
I will be speaking at the conference in a seminar called Beyond the Brochure—Blogging with Personality and Content that Connects. My talk will explain the joys of incorporating narrative elements using text and video. There will be seminars and talks on a huge array of topics and you can see them all by downloading the IWTC 2011 app. That’s right, there’s an app for that. Pretty cool, huh? You can find it in the app store by searching IWTC 2011.
I’ll also be joining the Blogger/Media Press trip to the Minho and Douro wine regions, and I am beyond excited to visit these areas. I can’t wait to delve into the many aspects of Port and visit Vinho Verde country. I know press trips can be overwhelming, but this one promises to be packed with absolutely everything I would have chosen for myself, including historical lodging in Pousadas and dining in acclaimed restaurants of the region. You can find links to the Pre-conference program here.
I’m especially happy that the press tour will take us to Quevedo Winery in São João da Pesqueira. I’ve been planning to visit Oscar Quevedo’s winery ever since I met him two years ago at the Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa, California. I’m also looking forward to meeting the other participants and celebrating my birthday in style along the way. (Oh yeah, did I mention it will be my birthday while I’m there?)
But if you can’t make it in person, stay tuned-- I’ll be blogging and tweeting all about it in just a few weeks.
