Hey guys! I spent the weekend up in Vermont for the annual dietitian and nutrition blogger workshop/mini-conference called Blog Brulee. It’s a small, intimate setting, which I love, and this was both the 3rd year of the conference and my 3rd year speaking at it. (Disclosure: as a speaker, I was paid an honorarium and my travel and lodging were covered.) It was a big honor to be asked back again – it’s one of my favorite conferences to attend because I always learn so much and it’s a blast to network with fellow communications-focused dietitians.
As before, the weekend took place at beautiful Smuggler’s Notch near Burlington, Vermont. During our break on Saturday, a bunch of us enjoyed walking around on the trails on the property. I love Vermont in fall!
The agenda was a great mix of content – lots of actionable items. Even though I was there as a speaker I attended all the sessions as usual and have quite a long to-do list of things to follow up on – there’s always more to do when you have a blog!
Here’s more about the weekend agenda and the food.
2016 Speakers and Sessions:
- Me! – I spoke about How to Work With Brands as a Blogger (<—post I wrote a few years ago on the topic if you’re interested) again this year.
- Gretchen Brown and Deanna-Seagrave Daly taught us the basics of photography and photo editing for both DSLRs and smartphones. If you have an iPhone, download the Camera+ app (for taking photos) and the Snapseed app (for editing photos) – they are great! Snapseed just added the option to put text on your photos, too – fun! Here’s a before and after – the left is obviously unedited and the right is edited. :)
- Katy Widrick deciphered the logistics and jargon related to SEO (search engine optimization) and how to improve search traffic to our blogs. (Psst: she has a great e-book on the subject: Make Your Old Content New Again. You might also like this post on my site on the subject: How to Get More Blog Traffic and Keep Readers Engaged)
- Regan Jones walked us through the basics of self-produced videos. I especially liked this “anatomy of video editing” slide she shared – so helpful!
- Regan Jones and Robin Plotkin educated us on the basics of contracts (as related to brand partnerships) and things to look for (like exclusivity, use of likeness), etc.
- Katie Webster showed us her tips for food styling. Her photos (and recipes) are gorgeous – she has a beautiful Maple Cookbook (affiliate link) that she photographed entirely by herself. Mad props! Here’s a behind the scenes shot of her setup. Her biggest tip? Buy a tripod (affiliate link) if you don’t have one! Gets rid of a lot of that blurry camera shake situation. :)
- Sally Kuzmechak discussed how to tell a story and build an engaged and positive community on Facebook (here’s her page: Real Mom Nutrition on Facebook)
- Aggie Goodman gave tips for building a substantial Pinterest following (here’s her page: Aggie’s Kitchen on Pinterest)
- Amanda Finks shared her best strategies for growing your Instagram presence (here’s her page: The Wholesome Dish on Instagram)
- Such a great lineup! Outside of the sessions, we also had some great food, as usual, thanks to the event sponsors as well as the venue.
I was excited the annual tradition of s’mores was still in action! Perfect weather for it – sunny but cold!
Dinner on Saturday night was one of the big food highlights – we started with an amazing kale salad, followed by the entrée of our choice (there were 3 options – I had the salmon with grilled polenta and roasted root veggies, and dessert was ice cream. Plus wine from Aldi!
As always, the weekend went by WAY too quickly. I wish we had had more time – I always love being surrounded by such smart, driven women. It always re-inspires me to continue working hard and following my own dreams career-wise!
Above with fellow previous Cabot Fit Team members (wish we’d had time to get in a run together!) – from left: me, Katie, Deanna, Jess, Amanda
Thank you again to the conference founders, Registered Dietitians Regan Jones, Deanna Seagrave-Daly, Robin Plotkin, and Gretchen Brown, for having me back again this year! And thank you to the event sponsors for making it all possible. <3
I will leave you with a list of the 2016 Attendees – check them out if you want some great new dietitian/healthy food blogs to follow! :)
- Ginger Hultin, MS RDN CSO ··· Champagne Nutrition
- Brittany Poulson, MDA, RDN, CD, CDE ··· Your Choice Nutrition
- Tawnie Kroll, RDN ··· Krolls Korner
- Jodi Danen, RD ··· The Average RD
- Christy Brissette, MS, RD ··· 80 Twenty Nutrition – Healthy Eating Made Simple
- Natalie Rizzo, MS, RD ··· Nutrition A La Natalie.com
- Elizabeth (Liz) Shaw, MS, RDN, CLT ··· Shaw Simple Swaps
- Stephanie McKercher, MS, RDN ··· Grateful Grazer
- Annemarie Rossi ··· Real Food Real Deals
- Kristy Hegner, MPH, RD ··· Chocolate Slopes
- Lauren Sharifi, RD LDN ··· Bite of Health Nutrition
- Jessica DeGore RD LDN ··· Dietitian Jess
- Bailey Sissom ··· Simply Sissom
- Rebecca Clyde RD, CD ··· Nourish Nutrition Co.
- Kelli Shallal MPH, RD, CPT ··· Hungry Hobby
- Amber Ketchum, MDS, RD ··· Homemade Nutrition
- Dianna Sinni, RDN, LD ··· Chard In Charge
- Emily Cope-Kyle, MS, RDN ··· Emily Kyle Nutrition
- Kristen Smith, MS, RDN, LD ··· 360 Family Nutrition
If you’re a Registered Dietitian blogger or healthy food blogger interested in attending Blog Brulee next year, check out their website, BlogBrulee.com, for more information on how to get involved.
Do you regularly attend conferences/workshops within your profession? I always leave them feeling so reenergized and inspired! I’m also attending FNCE, the big annual national Registered Dietitian conference, in October, so I’m looking forward to seeing many of these women again there – as well as some of the amazing Blog Brulee alumni! :)
This looks like such a great conference! I would love to be able to attend one day. I also haven’t been to FNCE. I go to CPSDA conference each year and definitely feel energized and excited afterwards. Thanks for sharing your conference recap and I am saving this for later to definitely check out some more awesome RD bloggers!
SCAN is another great RD conference to check out – have you been? I went in 2015 and it was excellent!
I haven’t! When I was in school, I could usually only swing one conference a year so it was always CPSDA. Depending on location I’ll definitely try to get to SCAN or FNCE one of these years!
Another year and another big thanks to you for sharing your wisdom with our bloggers (I think one of my fav lines of the weekend was when Gretchen introduced you and said you have attended more Blog Brulee events than her – lol) And bonus to get to catch up with you on the ride up to Smuggs Friday. See you in Boston!!
Such a great weekend – it’s always one of my favorites of the year! Thank you for having me again – it was an honor to be back. See you at FNCE! :)
Loved finally getting to meet you Anne! You are such a great role model for RDNs and I love that you were just as real in person as I pictured you when I read your blog! Your voice was just as happy :) :) :) !!! Hope to see you at FNCE this year too!
Loved meeting you too, Liz! Thank you for the sweet words — it was such a pleasure hanging with all of you guys. Can’t wait to see all of you again at FNCE and to watch your career success in the years to come! xo
So glad you had fun! The food looks delicious but I guess that is to be expected at an RD conference :)
Had fun meeting you and learned a ton from your presentation. Updating my media kit right now!
Awesome! Great meeting you too! :)
I love Snapseed for editing! Sounds like a great conference and nice it is so small. I agree – spending time learning from and speaking with other people in your industry/field can be so inspiring and re-energizing!
Looks like a great conference. All of the educational presentations sound SO informative. I’m hoping I can make it next year! I hope to see you at FNCE!
Yes, I’ll be there! :)
I have to say the food was absolutely AMAZING this weekend. Love your pics and recap, and LOVED meeting you in real life finally. You are so sweet and I enjoyed hanging out! Hope to see you again soon! xo
Loved finally meeting you, too!! So crazy we hadn’t met yet after all these years of blogging. Looking forward to staying in touch – and to following you on your journey to becoming an RD! So exciting! :)
Wow sounds like such a great experience! Also, totally jealous of that delicious food. Especially the s’mores!
Gorgeous photos, Anne! You really helped capture what an incredible weekend it was.
Such a pleasure to meet you and hope to see you soon :)
Loved meeting you too Christy! :)
Amazing pictures and recap! Great to meet you in person and thoroughly enjoyed your presentation!
Great meeting you too! :)