Dennis Crowley, Mike Schneider and Alexa Andrzejeweski (photo by Derek Wilmot)
By now you may have heard about an event held in Cambridge earlier this week combining the best minds in Social Media and Restaurants/Foodies/bloggers and more. I won’t recap the event for you because many others did (see below). Thanks everyone!
http://blogs.a-g.com/wp/?p=6152
http://sarahwallace.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/my-take-away-from-eat-drink-be-social/
http://thebostonfoodie.blogspot.com/2010/05/foodies-and-social-media.html
http://sierratierra.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/business-advice-tapas-from-food-and-social-media-conference/
http://bostinnovation.com/2010/05/24/eat-drink-and-be-social-bringing-together-local-and-national-tech-foodies/
http://www.grangehallmedia.com/2010/05/eat-drink-be-social-wrap-up/#more-75
But what I WILL do is thank the people that made it possible.
Eric Schwarz over at Grange Hall Media- he created the logo and the catchy name. The next version of this event won’t be called “Eat, Drink and Be Social” because well, Eric has other plans for the name. So stay tuned for a new name for a similar event announced in the next week or so. If you’d like the chance to pick the new name (and get 5 comp tickets to the next event- head on over here.)
Derek Wilmot. Pictures tell a thousand words, and well- take a look at these pictures that he took. If you are ever interested in hiring a top notch photographer for your event- he gets it.
Lindsay Pollard from Arrangements. Did you notice the flowers? Hope you did, and hope you hire her for your next event.
Ellie O’Keefe from Nestle Waters. During the event we didn’t drink from your standard plastic bottle of Poland Spring. We enjoyed Pelligrino and Aqua Panna in bottles. After all, we’re foodies.
Dante De Magistris. On Sunday night, the panelists were treated to a custom-designed dinner for us, a 6-course feast that took us about 2 hours to eat. A BIG Thank you goes to Jessica and Dante over in Cambridge for opening up their hearts, their kitchen, and their restaurant to us.
Joselin Mane and Boston Tweetup. Great promotional video, great publicity for the event, and stay tuned because Joselin is going to share some video excerpts from the panel with Mike Schneider, Alexa and Dennis.
Christine Major and Awareness. Remember that food you had on Sunday night at Dante? That was Awareness. Thank you Christine!
John Pepper and Boloco: For the inspired burritos on Monday afternoon. We were dying to have John attend, but he was out of town. Next time John, next time.
B. Good. This was my first time meeting Jon Olinto face to face AND tasting one of his burgers. Jon tells a great story, has a fantastic restaurant business, and I’m happy to be part of his family. (I just don’t want to run a marathon in a burger suit)…
Below are some sample pictures from the event- more of them can be found here.
Mike Schneider and Alexa Andrzejewski (photo by Derek Wilmot)
The program (photo by Derek Wilmot)
Alexa Andrzejeweski and Dennis Crowley (photo by Derek Wilmot)
Leighann Farrelly: Yelp, Aaron Cohen, @eatboston (photo by Derek Wilmot)
Jody Adams: Rialto, Barbara Lynch, BLGruppo (photo by Derek Wilmot)
Mary Catherine Deibel , Naomi Kooker, Amy Traverso, Leighann Farrelly (photo by Derek Wilmot)
Justin Levy (photo by Derek Wilmot)
(photo by Derek Wilmot)
Derek Wilmot and Dennis Crowley
Flowers by Arrangements (photo by Derek Wilmot)
Jon Olinto: B Good, Naomi Kooker (photo by Derek Wilmot)
The Menu from Sunday night at Restaurant Dante
The best way to teach social media is to find a topic that a person has a passion for. Adam Cohen of Rosetta spells this out perfectly in a recent (ok- a year ago) blog post.
So I thought to myself, I LOVE food (my waistline will prove it). Why not bring together other passionate foodies (restaurants owners, chefs, caterers and food bloggers) and help them learn even more about how to combine their love of food with social media.
Sure, there’s Twitter and Facebook, but there’s much, much more out there….
Foodspotting: A terrific new application. Find dishes, not just restaurants. Let’s say you’ve just arrived in Maine and are looking for the BEST Lobster Roll. It may be at a roadside shack,a food truck, or (gasp) Red Lobster. Why not go to Foodspotting first, take a look at some pictures (with user-generated “Noms” or Likes) and find yourself the best Lobster Roll in Maine..
FourSquare: Geolocation meets retail. Let’s say you’re a frequent customer at a local restaurant. Use your mobile phone to “check in” at this restaurant. If you’re a regular there, wouldn’t it be nice to be recognized as the “mayor” of the establishment? If you’ve checked in more than anyone else, bingo, you’re the “mayor”, and if you are a smart/savvy restaurateur, you’d reward them with something, right? Starbucks is doing it, Harvard is doing it, and a local establishment here in Boston, Boloco is doing it. And doing it very well actually. They’ve actually turned this into a cause-related marketing campaign to reward the mayor AND a local non-profit.
Video: Bring your food/dining experience to your customer. If they haven’t been to your restaurant yet, why not bring it to them? Create a video, interview your chef, highlight your special of the day. Heck, take a picture of it and upload it to Foodspotting..
So much more to talk about it here, but if you’re a foodie and you live in the Boston area, I’d love to meet a fellow foodie at my May 24th Event
Some of the best social media minds in Boston (and fellow foodies) will be there to guide you through it all. They are: Mike Langford, Jeff Cutler, Justin Levy, Mike Schneider, Aaron Cohen
