Conference Details

The 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference will take place August 17-19 in Portland, Oregon. Wine bloggers, industry bloggers, and other wine and social media professionals will gather from throughout North America and beyond to meet, learn, and share.

Who Should Attend

• Citizen Bloggers or writers who write about wine or the wine industry on their own.
• Industry Bloggers who maintain a blog to support their winery or other wine-related business.
• New Media Innovators who work in the world of blogging and social media.
• Wine Industry members who would like to learn about new media or interact with bloggers.

Cost, Payment, Cancellation, and What is Included

The cost of the conference is $95 for citizen wine bloggers (those unaffiliated with a business or organization), $295 for industry bloggers (those whose blog is affiliated with a winery, retail store, or other business or organization), and $395 for non-blogger participants (industry, media relations professionals, friends and family, etc). We are able to offer a lower price to citizen bloggers and wine-industry bloggers because it is for these folks our sponsors underwrite the conference. Payment is required in advance by credit card.

If you must cancel your registration, your payment is 50% refundable through July 17, 2012 and not refundable after that. Please note you can insure against losing your conference registration fee (and your airplane tickets) by purchasing trip insurance. This is only good for those of you traveling from outside of the conference area and staying overnight.

The conference includes multiple wine tastings, two dinners, an afternoon of winery visits, one brunch, and outstanding content. Not included in the conference price are your hotel and transportation to and from Portland.

Arrival and Departure

Registration begins at 10:00 AM on Friday, August 17. We will also be presenting an opening Welcome Reception on Thursday evening, August 16, so we encourage you to arrive the day before. Additionally, please see the Pre & Post tab of this website for information on pre-conference excursions.

Getting to Portland is easy. You will fly into Portland International Airport (PDX) and by far the easiest way to reach the conference hotel is via the Portland MAX Light Rail system. Take the red line from the airport to the Lloyd Center / NE 11th Avenue station and walk 1/10th of a mile (one block north and 1/2 block west) to the hotel. The conference will finish at 12:00 PM on Sunday and we suggest you plan an hour to walk to the light rail, catch a train, and get back to the airport.

Host Hotel

It is not easy finding a hotel that will allow us to hold a Wine Bloggers Conference in which we bring in and pour our own wine but the Portland Doubletree is welcoming us with open arms. Located at 1000 NE Multnomah Street, the hotel is directly across the river and an easy light rail ride from downtown. It was also the first Green Seal certified hotel in Portland. We have a block of rooms on hold for conference attendees and highly suggest you stay at the Doubletree since all conference activities will either be held there or will start and end with transport from and to the hotel. Our group rate is $139 (or $159 for a “premium room”). Please book your room today using our Doubletree Hotel WBC site as the host hotel has sold out the past two years.

Weather & Dress Code

Dress is “wine country casual”. What does that mean? Really, you should dress as you feel comfortable. For daytime sessions, jeans or shorts and a polo shirt are fine. For the Saturday evening banquet, many people will dress up a bit. August in Portland is usually dry and warm to hot but be prepared for anything. Remember to dress appropriately for our visits to the nearby wine country.