The Wine Blogger Unconference

The final day (Sunday, October 26) of the Wine Bloggers Conference began with what was billed as an unconference. What is an unconference? Here is how the Moderator Michelle Lentz of My Wine Education describes it:

Two things usually happen when I attend a conference. The thing I wanted to hear about / discuss isn’t on the agenda and my brain is overwhelmed with everything I did learn. The Unconference will help you with both of those.

Unconferences are a hybrid of a teach-in and a jam session, with a little show-and-tell mixed in. The agenda isn’t determined until the opening day of the event. Everyone who shows up is a potential speaker, and those who don’t speak contribute by posting photos, blog entries, podcasts, and video clips of the proceedings. The important part is that all those gathered will have the opportunity to put conference sessions on the agenda. No session will be voted off or ‘won’t happen’ for some other reason. All sessions are welcome.

You do not need to do preparation in order to convene a session. If you get an idea the day of the event, call a session.

Joel Vincent addressing the unconference. Photo Courtesy of Tim Elliott at Winecast.

The activity was lightly attended, probably because the concept was little abstract. In fact, I found this exercise to be one of the most rewarding of the whole conference. The topics were decided by the group and Michelle wrote them on a whiteboard. Each topic was discussed at a specific table. For 15 minutes we would discuss, then move to whichever other table we were interested in. I attended three of the discussions and here were some of the key points of the discussion.

Negative reviews of wine
Some argued that bloggers have an obligation to say what they think. Good or bad. Withholding these reviews may be a disservice to the reader. Most bloggers, however, do not post negative reviews. Why? First, reviews are subjective, so most are disinclined to stick their necks out. Second, it can take more time to include negative reviews along with positives, because there is a lot of bad wine out there. Third, reviews of a wine are temporal. They are a snapshot of what the wine is like at the moment of the review. The wine will change over time and will definitely be different with the next vintage.

Also, some argued that readers may not remember negative reviews at all, just positive ones.

So, what are some standards bloggers should follow?

• It is a personal choice. Be honest with your audience with how you review/score.
• Don’t make it personal. There is a difference between being critical of the wine, and lashing out at winemaker or winery.
• Tone down language. Instead of writing “I don’t like this wine,” write “Not my style.”
• Consider a panel of judges. If you all agree on a wine, it becomes less subjective.

Wine 2.0 2009
This session was led by Abdi Humphreys of Wine 2.0. It was really less of a discussion and more of a presentation. There will be 14 Wine 2.0 events nationally in 2009. The Annual Expo will be held in San Francisco on April 2, 2009. The general format is an educational component in the monring, a trade portion in the afternoon, and a consumer portion in the evening. Abdi was looking for ideas on how to better include bloggers in these events. We didn’t really come to any great conclusions. I suggested that they create a blogger advisory group to discuss how these events can benefit bloggers.

Twitter
This ended up being an educational session for those at the table who were unfamiliar with Twitter. Rather than rehash it here, I will refer you to my lesson on Microblogging.

In addition to these topics, I overheard a few other topics at different tables. It sounded as if there were lively and constructive discussions at each one. I look forward to trying this again at some future event.

Tags: Microblogging, reviews, unconference, wine 2.0, wine bloggers conference