Tech Munch Tampa 2012 ~ Recap

Last weekend April 20-21, 2012 a handful of food bloggers got together in Tampa, Fl for some "food" talk. The event was hosted by Babette Pepaj founder of Techmunch, Bakespace.com and Cookbook cafe with a collaboration in the Tampa area of Jeff Houck, Food Editor of The Stew-Tampa Tribune.

Friday evening, was the kick-off cocktail party at the Tampa Museum of Art. I couldn't attend to this part of the event. I was carpooling with Robin from Simply Southern Baking and had decided to drive up to Tampa on Saturday morning. We did just that.

The next morning we arrived at Roosevelt 2.0 where our conference was being held. It was a great place, very artistic and eclectic kinda place. Loved it! The best place to hold about 50-60 of "us" food lovers together!

Breakfast was complements of Datz with fruits and smoothies made fresh thanks to Driscoll's Berries.

The moderator of the event was Erik Deutisch (ExcelPR). Which by the way did an amazing job with his questions to the panel and connecting all of us present to the speakers! 

The first round table was about Tapping into Leveraging Food Trends and Social Media with Todd Sturtz (Tastingtampa.com), Julius Mayo, Jr. (Droolius.com), Brian Roberts (from Roosevelt2.0). I'm missing the name of the last speaker in this picture (above), but couldn't seem to find it. If you know his name, please comment and pass on the info, please! Wouldn't want to leave anyone behind!

The next panel group consisted of: Sara O'Donnell (AverageBetty.com), Merry-Jennifer Marham (MerryGourmet.com) and Sandi McKenna (MidlifeRoadTrip.tv). They were collaborating on the topic: Developing, Organizing and Syndicating Multimedia Content. These busy women showed us that you can do it all and keep a sane life! Enjoyed listening to them and learned that it's ok if I can only do one post a week. Don't hurt yourself if you can't go above your goal of posts per week on any given time. Be honest with yourself and enjoy blogging! Have fun!

Right before lunch time we all enjoyed Josh Unseth, SEO expert. He brought us his insight of effective SEO. It's super important to maintain your writing to its best, "keeping it real".

When you have food bloggers together, no matter if you are two or more, there is nothing you look forward to most than the meal. It's all about the "food"! 

We all enjoyed a wonderful Mexican meal thanks to Chef Rene from Taco Bus. Do I need to say more? Well I will, it was scrumptious! 

My husband would've loved it, he is a big fan of Mexican food. I can show him the pictures, or will that be too mean? :)

After lunch we had the pleasure of enjoying the company of Laura Baddish (The Baddish Group), Ray Lampe (DrBBQ.com), Jaden Hair (SteamyKitchen.com) and Jeff Houck (Tampa Tribune). They all talked about Pitching Your Brand: Lessons from the Pros. And pros they are!!!

Here are Babette Pepaj (BakeSpace.com), Steve Wilson and Tom Setzer (both co-founders of GrillingChampion.com). They have all pushed the boundaries of the digital kitchen and got together to talk to us about it with the topic: The Future of Food Content...The Digital Kitchen.

The last speaker of the day was Susan Filson (Stickygooeycreamychewy.com). She asked for some companions and Julius (Droolius.com) volunteered along side with Todd (Tastingtampa.com). They became "her people". They are hilarious!!! Her topic was: Top 10 Tips to Boost Your Site's Photography.

Another picture of me with Robin (Simply Southern Baking) 

and Katie (Katie's Cucina)

Had a real good time last Saturday surrounded by a very talented group of Food Bloggers. Even though I had the worst allergies ever seen. Well, that's my opinion! The event was organized to have an intimate group of bloggers together and create that perfect atmosphere for networking and getting to know each other better. A very smart idea if I say so myself!! Plus, it worked!