The Australian Food and Drinks Bloggers Conference, Eat Drink Blog, is the major community event organised by and for the Australian food and drinks blogging community.

Each year, Eat Drink Blog is organised by a different volunteer committee of local bloggers from the host state.

The Eat Drink Blog 4 organising committee is now looking for a new team to organise Eat Drink Blog 5.

Eat Drink Blog 5 follows on from the four previous conferences:

• Eat Drink Blog 1, Melbourne, 2010;
• Eat Drink Blog 2, Sydney, 2011;
• Eat Drink Blog 3, Adelaide, 2012.and
• Eat Drink Blog 4, Perth 2013.

As this is a national food blogging conference, each state has the opportunity to host Eat Drink Blog. All parties are encouraged to submit a proposal, but we are particularly interested in hearing from states that have not yet hosted the conference.

The format of Eat Drink Blog each year is entirely up to the organising committee. There is no requirement to duplicate what has been done in previous years.

The organising committee is responsible for:

• Choosing the date of the conference.
• Organising and managing a venue.
• Finding and working with speakers and presenters to deliver the conference programme.
• Securing and managing sponsors (if desired) to provide in-kind or cash support to cover the expenses required to run the conference. Traditionally, Eat Drink Blog has been completely free to attend as costs have been covered by sponsors. In the past, delegates have only been responsible for their flights, accommodation and personal expenses.
• Organising refreshments (e.g. breakfast, morning and afternoon tea, lunch, and dinner).
• Promotion, marketing, PR and social media for the event.
• Creating conference collateral e.g. printed programme, slideshows and venue signage.
• Communication with potential and confirmed conference delegates before, during and after the event.
• Organising the conference competitions (i.e. food writing and photography), judging panels and prizes (if desired).
• Organising any other food and wine experiences (if desired).
• Organising gifts for speakers and bags for delegates (if desired).
• Documentation of the conference (videos and photographs).

From experience, we recommend no fewer than three people on the organising committee to share the workload for organising Eat Drink Blog.

It is recommended that you discuss your interest in hosting Eat Drink Blog with fellow bloggers in your state to get an idea of who can be part of the organising committee and discuss what your vision is.

If you are interested in organising Eat Drink Blog 5 we would love to hear from you.

Simply email us at [email protected] with the following details:

1. Your full name, blog name + url (add extra lines for extra people if you are applying together)
2. Your telephone number and/or Skype name.
3. Your city and why you think it would be a great place to host Eat Drink Blog 5.
4. A few paragraphs detailing your vision for Eat Drink Blog 5.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss any aspect of Eat Drink Blog, please contact Ai-Ling Truong, Chair of Eat Drink Blog 4, at [email protected] to arrange a confidential discussion.

Deadline for expressions of interest: Monday, 13 January 2014.

The Eat Drink Blog 4, 2013 Organising Committee