last weekend, i attended the food media south conference right here in birmingham, hosted by southern foodways alliance. although i am not a food blogger, i am quite the food enthusiast, as well as a member of the media, so hey, why not? i went in expecting an insightful and rewarding experience, and i definitely got one.
the list of speakers was riddled with great names - bill addision of eater.com, jed portman of garden & gun, kyle tibbs jones of the bitter southerner, dorothy kalins (founding editor of saveur), erika council of southern souffle, roscoe hall of dreamland bbq alabama royalty, & so many more.
we were treated to a wonderful lunch from johnny's in homewood, and dinner later that evening from archibald's bbq, post office pies & syke's bbq. all in all, this was a stunning roundup of local food for the out-of-towners to sample.
key takeaways:
- dorothy kalins, on conducting interviews: "at the end of the interview... i usually keep one question in reserve. and then, with that question in mind, i thank the person, i start putting my papers together as if i'm ready to go, and then i kind of throw that question out, and by that time it's kind of a collegial environment where you're both in it together, like you've been working on something. revealing things happen in those moments."
- tina antolini, on podcasts: "if you're not gathering many times more tape than minutes of your podcast, you're probably not doing enough."
- kyle tibbs jones on social media: "social etiquette is social media etiquette. don't be the loud kid at the party."
- jed portman on short, list centric/"buzzfeed" type content: "there is a sweet spot between smart, informed & shareable content that doesn't have to be click bait."
- roscoe hall on the state of food, & how food needs to be "brought down" a few notches: "food is so good right now, it's disgusting."
what fascinated me was the lack of birmingham folks at this event. hey y'all, come to food media south next year! most everyone seemed to be from out of town, and all day i kept thinking about how many birmingham bloggers would have enjoyed this conference. though not blogging centric, food media south provided an enthusiastic space for creatives and entrepreneurs of all types, with gleaming insights from some hardcore professionals with years of experience writing, creating and putting their voices out there.
i'm looking forward to attending food media south again next year, and i strongly encourage some more birmingham folks to look into this conference. i left feeling motivated and inspired to pursue a few different projects. i also felt super inspired by birmingham itself -- hosting an event like this in this city reminds me that birmingham is a growing hub for not only food, but creativity and media in general. go birmingham!
What an exciting event! I wish I'd known about it beforehand!
ReplyDeleteOddly, SFA didn't seem to market much in Birmingham -- a lot of people didn't seem to know about the event. I'm hoping that next year more Birmingham folks turn out.
DeleteIt's probably going on my list for next year. Love the interview tip from Dorothy Kalins!
ReplyDeleteShe was so insightful!
DeleteIt was once a very heavily Birmingham event. I guess that's what happens when yet another local institution migrates to outside ownership.
ReplyDeleteThis year's lack of Birmingham attendees and local marketing outreach made me worry the conference will migrate to be hosted elsewhere in the coming years -- I'm strongly hoping not.
DeleteI talked with another 2015 attendee who wasn't crazy about the shift in focus from blogging to media/PR, or the loss of local food vendors integrated into the programming.
DeleteWhat incentive does SFA have to show off Birmingham's incredible food scene or bring in the big dollars from out-of-town attendees? I bet they would just as soon move the conference to Oxford (SFA HQ), or Atlanta or Nashville, where I'm told many of the new attendees are from.
I sensed this as well. Nothing is holding FMS in Birmingham. The content on media/PR was wonderful, but blogging was essentially removed from the conversation save a few people. It's an entirely different event than it was before.
DeleteGreat synopsis! I was there as well. While the content was very, very good and I learned a great deal, I was surprised at how "un-Birmingham" it was and, as a blogger, felt a little out of place among the media professionals. I was also a little underwhelmed by the conference amenities. I would have liked to have had a cup of coffee in the afternoon and maybe a mid-morning snack since lunch was not until 1. For it to be about Southern Food, you'd think there would have been at least a glass of sweet tea available! I also missed the local vendors. I'm debating on whether to go back next year or not.
ReplyDeleteHa! My friend Rachel made a comment during lunch about the noticeable lack of sweet tea, which I also found odd! As Wade mentioned above, nothing is really holding this event in Birmingham, and I feel that SFA will likely move it to another location and abandon it's blogging roots.
DeleteI did appreciate SFA working with Good People and other vendors for lunch and dinner. But where was the "Go Birmingham!"? There wasn't any. Which, y'know, I guess I can't expect that from everyone, but due to Birmingham's recent mini renaissance, I thought that would be at the forefront of the conference's dialogue regarding how food media can sculpt a city, as it has done here. I mean, we're in Birmingham. Why not?
Exactly! Why not?
ReplyDelete