First Ever Utah Bloggers Conference
Utah bloggers gathered tonight for the first annual Utah Bloggers Conference, organized by Phil Burns and Ryan Money. And through one of those technology miracles that we couldn’t have imagined a few years ago, by the time I got home, Phil Windley of the blog Technometria had already blogged about the conference and mentioned me, and I found it on Technorati. I promised Phil I would write about the food, which was kind of a joke, since it wasn’t particulary blogworthy (but free, due to generous sponsors whose names I’m sorry I can’t remember.)
I don’t know about other attendees, but the turnout far exceeded my expectations. Before this, the only other bloggers I knew personally in Utah were Vanessa from She Craves and Erin from Erin Eats, and neither of them was able to attend. The content was a little heavy on business, at least for my needs, and I desperately wanted the presenters to ask how many people in the audience blogged about specific topics. I was the only food blogger that I know of, and even more amazing, it seemed like lots of people in this business/techie crowd didn’t even realize that people blogged about food.
They gave away T-shirts (don’t worry Vanessa and Erin, I’ve got you covered.) I managed to score two extra T-shirts which I will give away to the first two people who read this who are attending the Blogher Conference in San Jose, since that’s the next blogging conference I’m attending. So if you’re coming to Blogher, leave a comment on this post and you can become an honorary Utah blogger with your own Utah Bloggers T-shirt.
Here’s a shot of the Utah Bloggers T-shirt which says “I’m blogging this” on the front and Utah Bloggers on the back.
Phil Windley doing a little Wi-fi blogging, with the panel discussion table in the background.
There was a crowd of about 175 people in attendance. For Utah, this was a diverse group (read: not everyone was wearing a white shirt and a tie.) It appeared that both political parties were represented.
Dinner was pizza from Godfather’s, which was plentiful and hot (and not on my diet, but I did eat some.)
They won’t win any awards for their food styling, but then, this was not a FOOD BLOGGERS conference.I have a feeling this is the first of many more Utah Blogger events. It was a great effort for the first time. Thanks to Phil and Ryan for getting it together.
Here are reports from some other bloggers about the conference:
Gary Thornock
Dee Taylor
Scott Lemon
Newspapergrl (Janet Meiners)
Richard Miller (modeling shirt)
Tim Burns writing at Utahbloggers.com
Tim Stay
Joseph Hall
Ryan Byrd
Bob Aagard (a Republican who has seen the light,
something we can use more of in Utah)
Josh Harrison
Out of Context (Salt Lake Tribune’s political blog)
If you’re a Utah Blogger who wrote about this, e-mail me (kalynskitchen AT comcast DOT net) and I’ll add your link.
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15 Comments on “First Ever Utah Bloggers Conference”
It was fun to meet you at the conference. Perhaps you can give your input for the food next time.
Easton, I will look for you at the next conference!
Vanessa, let’s get together soon! I’ll call you.
Gary, I will check out those blogs.
Matt, hope I can meet you next time. My blog should have a lot of recipes that are great for diabetes.
Jimmy, thanks for visiting and for your support.
I’m jealous, a blog conference? I’d be at one in South Carolina in a heartbeat! CONGRATS on your continued amazing success, Kalyn!
Kalyn,
I did not get a chance to meet you last night at Utah Bloggers. It was a great conference, but because I blog health care issues, the people i met were still trying to figure me out. I blog about diabetes, so I was pleased to find your site while reading the reviews this morning. Great blog and flair. I’ll refer to it, and I’ll enjoy some of the fare.
Matt
I appreciated your comments and questions at the conference.
I might note, while food isn’t the topic of my blog, there are a couple of food-related blogs here in Utah that I enjoy reading: Joseph Hall’s and the Utah Bakers Dozen. I’ll be sure to add yours to the list!
Kalyn, I’m sorry i missed it. Looks like there were a good bunch of folks there.
We should plan on getting together soon with Erin and anyone else in Utah…who wants to eat.
And yes, our food is always good.
Kalyn, it’s great to meet you – too bad I didn’t see you at the event last night in Sandy. I blog for Tim Stay at Know More Media and have tons of fun doing it. I echo your hope that the next Utah Bloggers meetup/conference will be even bigger than this first one!
Ilva, there were some interesting people there. I met a few, but wish I had been able to meet more. LOVE the idea of a food bloggers conference. Wouldn’t that be great? I envy the people who live in places like SF or NY where there is a big community of food bloggers. (Of course, you envy me with Vanessa and Erin. Wish you could come when we get together!)
Ryan, thanks for all your work. I was impressed that you had enough food, considering people didn’t have to RSVP, so no worries!
Newspapergrl, thanks for visiting. Fun finding your blog.
Steve, if we do have a food bloggers conference, you’re invited for sure.
Tim, that’s a good food photo. Did you take it? Thanks for visiting. I loved your write-up of the event. Very thought provoking.
Phil, fun meeting you too. Looking forward to the next one.
Tanna, I couldn’t agree more. It’s very exciting to watch people create their own media. No one from the SLC papers or television covered the blogging conference that I know of, and yet I’ve read reports from many people about it!!
Won’t it be interesting to see where this thing will take us. I don’t think anybody yet can see how this is changing the world.
It was great meeting you Kaylan, I enjoyed our short conversation. I love your blog!
I left a picture of some great food I would like to eat on my post just for you! It was a nice event and thanks for participating.
Kalyn,
I would’ve eaten what they served, but I’m in the St. George area. However, YOU HAVE TO invite me to the next food blogger conference — that is if there is tasty food there. You owe me, I added you to my list of Utah Bloggers… 😉
Kalyn, I love food blogs. Your post about tropical fruit flavored cotton candy was inspiring. Why don’t they innovate more on flavors? Who thought of doing it upscale. I’m a big fan of cotton candy.
I wish I’d met you at the conference, but good to read your report.
Now if I can just figure out why my post isn’t in Technorati and why my titles come up “Permalink”. Anyone??
Best,
Janet
newspapergrl.wordpress.com
Kalyn:
Thanks for coming to the event. I really appreciated your questions and comments. Thanks for not being too harsh on us about the food.
Ryan
How nice Kalyn! Did you meet any nice bloggers? I’m looking forward to the first Tuscan bloggers conference… We should try to make a food blogggers conference sometime in the future!