The 2011 WBC agenda below is tentative and not in full detail. In addition to what you see, we will be planning a pre-conference excursion, potentially starting in Washington DC on Wednesday, July 20th and finishing in Charlottesville on Thursday late afternoon.
Thursday, July 21
7:30 PM International Wine Tasting Night
Friday, July 22
10:00 AM Registration and Meet the Sponsors (ends 12:45 PM)
1:00 PM Conference Welcome
1:15 PM Keynote Speech
2:00 PM Presentation of 2011 Wine Blog Awards
2:45 PM Breakout Sessions
4:00 PM Breakout Sessions
5:15 PM Live Wine Blogging – Whites & Roses
7:00 PM Heavy appetizers reception at Monticello
9:00 PM After Hours Party at hotel
Saturday, July 23
8:55 AM Depart hotel for visits to local vineyards and wineries
3:00 PM Moderated Unconference led by bloggers
5:15 PM Live Wine Blogging – Reds
7:00 PM Dinner
9:00 PM After Hours Party at hotel
Sunday, July 24
9:00 AM Breakout Sessions
10:15 AM Breakout Sessions
11:30 AM Discussion of 2011 Conference & Preview of 2012
12:00 noon Conference finish
Program Content
- International Wine Night: On Thursday evening we will have a number of sponsors pouring international wines. Details coming soon!
- Registration, Wine Tasting and Meet the Sponsors: Registration starts at 10:00 AM and runs through 1:00 PM. After you have registered, meet all the fabulous sponsors one-on-one. You will have the opportunity to taste wines from a select group of winery sponsors in addition to meeting and learning more about other sponsors and their products and services.
- Friday and Saturday Keynotes: More information to come. Your suggestions are welcome.
- 2011 Wine Blog Awards: The 2011 Wine Blog Awards winners will be announced live at the conference.
- Breakout Sessions: More information to come.
- Live Wine Blogging: Bloggers will taste, review, and blog or Tweet about wines, all while hearing directly from the vintners themselves. The conference will be divided into tables of approximately seven participants and each winery will have five minutes to pour, give a short explanation of the wine, and answer questions while bloggers are recording their thoughts (live). Wineries then rotate to the next table. It’s a fast process (although slower than speed dating) but this format allows winemakers and conference participants the opportunity to interact in a small group setting. We will have separate Live Wine Blogging sessions for white wines (Friday) and red wines (Saturday).
- Friday Reception at Monticello: More information to come.
- Friday and Saturday After Hours Parties: More information to come.
- Saturday Morning Wine Country Visit: After breakfast bloggers will break into small groups to visit the Charlottesville area wineries, including lunch. More information to come.
- Moderated Unconference: We will bring back the Unconference from our first WBC in 2008, with a few changes. Bloggers will suggest and vote on topics to discuss. We will have three or four topics running simultaneously, similar to Breakout Sessions but with no panels. All questions, content, and discussions will be provided by bloggers themselves. One blogger will be selected to moderate each discussion.
- Saturday After Hours Party: More information to come.
- Wrapup: We’ll take a little time to review the conference, introduce the 2011 European Wine Bloggers Conference, and announce the 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference location.
