Melbourne Food and Wine Blogging Event

I’ve been excitedly sitting on this one for a while now and am relieved to finally announce a new ProBlogger event that is coming up for Melbourne Food and Wine Bloggers (and anyone else who wants to travel to Melbourne for an evening).

The event is being held in collaboration with my good friend Shane Delia, an amazing chef and co-owner of restaurants including two of my favourites—Maha Bar and Grill and St Katherine’s, Kew.

Shane and I have talked for some time now about organising an event for bloggers and are today releasing tickets for the first of what we hope will be a series of events for foodies.

We have lined up what we hope will be a fun and informative evening that will feature three delightful speakers, an insightful panel discussion and a delicious three-course meal from the team at Maha (including wines to match each course).

Here are the event details:

• Date: Tuesday 17 July 2012
• Time: 6pm arrival
• Venue: Maha, 21 Bond St, Melbourne
• Inclusions: Event ticket with three-course meal and wine matching (served on communal tables)
• Cost: $120 per person

Our speaker lineup for the event draws on three fantastic people from different areas of the food and wine writing fraternity in Melbourne. We’ve chosen a wine writer, a food writer, and a blogger. Here’s who who’ve lined up:

Dan Sims, The Wine Guide


 A fresh perspective on wine writing

Cool, calm, and collected without pretentious frippery is how Dan likes to keep the world of wine. He’s an award-winning Sommelier and the engine room for many of The Wine Guide’s clients and for their events that happen around Australia and beyond.

Dan’s excitement for good wine is palpable whether in front of a camera, or in front of a room full of bloggers, and his even-handed approach to wine has drawn plenty of praise from the press and trade.

Dan will share his insights on how his no-nonsense approach to writing can be applied to your own blogging.

More about Dan | @dansims | Facebook



“Jetsetting Joyce”, MEL: Hot or Not



Successes and learnings from my food blogging journey

Jetsetting Joyce started blogging in 2007 when she lived in London. Back then, LDN: Hot or Not was a simple Blogger template with hardly any pictures and maybe one or two paragraphs about where she’d eaten, what play she’d seen, what shops she’d visited, and the places she stayed. It was a way of keeping in touch with family and friends, and was more of a travel diary than something meant for a wider audience.

When Joyce returned to Melbourne 2009 she was going to quit blogging … but found that it’d become quite an addictive habit. So MEL: Hot or Not was born and has continued to thrive for over three years with Joyce’s honest and informative reviews about everything Melbourne—restaurants, bars, theatre, festivals, events, shops, and businesses. All posts are written with one decisive criteria in mind: is it hot or not?

Joyce’s blogging addiction has meant she now also writes TOT: Hot or Not, a blog about parenting which started in August 2010 with her first pregnancy, plus a blog filled with cycle chic inspiration as part of her online bike shop CycleStyle. She fits all the blogging around her day job as an intellectual property and IT lawyer. (Yeah, she’s a busy lady!)

Joyce will share her learnings and successes and how she’s applied them to her blogging career.

More about Joyce | @jetsettingjoyce | Facebook



Hilary McNevin, Broadsheet, The Age



The art of writing a review: expressing your opinion, with context and effective, thoughtful communication

Hilary McNevin worked front-of-house, managing restaurants and studying wine in both Australia and the UK for 15 years before shifting careers. She studied Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT and, during her study and since finishing the course at the end of 2007, has freelanced for “Epicure” in The Age as a regular contributor, and fills in for senior reviewer Larissa Dubecki on the “Espresso” column.

Hilary has reviewed for and sub-edited The Age Good Food Guide 2008 and 2009, and continues to review for the guide. She is a reviewer for The Age Cheap Eats, The Age Good Cafe Guide, Good Food Shopping Guide and Good Bar Guide. She is the restaurant reviewer for The Moonee Valley Weekly, a Fairfax publication, and is a contributing food writer for Broadsheet.com.au.

She contributes regularly to Winestate magazine and the James Halliday Wine Companion magazine, and in July she’ll begin writing Melbourne food news for Delicious magazine. Hilary had her first book Guide to Fish: Choosing and Cooking Sustainable Species published by Fairfax in October 2008.

Hilary will share her extensive experience in writing reviews, providing key journalism hints and tips on the fine art of review writing.

More about Hilary | @hilarymcnevin

Tickets are limited: get yours today

This evening is going to be a lot of fun. Not only will you hear from these panelists (and Shane and myself), you’ll have the opportunity to connect with 100 other Melbourne foodies (and might even get the opportunity to meet Mrs ProBlogger who is eying off a ticket too).

Tickets for this event are limited, so register today to reserve a spot yourself and your friends (a maximum of four tickets is available per person).

Please Note: Registration is free via Eventbrite but will reserve your ticket only. Your seat at the venue will only be confirmed once payment is collected. A representative of Maha will make contact with you to confirm your payment details once you have reserved your seat via Eventbrite.

View more event details and a list of attendees at http://probloggerfoodwine.eventbrite.com/.