Wine Communicators bring Rick Bakas to Australia
Industry body Wine Communicators of Australia will host social media guru Rick Bakas – to present a series of lectures and social media events across Australia.
The announcement:
Wine Communicators of Australia (WCA) is thrilled to announce the impending visit to Australia of internationally-renowned social media guru Rick Bakas from Bakas Media (www.bakasmedia.com). WCA will host Bakas for the 2011 Annual Lecture Series.
Bakas is one of the world’s foremost social media experts and is a leader in wine communications in the digital age. He is the first Director of Social Media in the wine industry and continues to shape new ideas and concepts that connect wineries to new consumers by harnessing digital communications. He is a prominent author and certified sommelier, and is known as a leading authority in building brands and communities online. His global reach will mean this is one of Australia’s most significant tours by a social media influencer and strategist.
Bakas will undertake a two-week tour to Australia, presenting lectures and hosting social media events, across four states. This will be the biggest series of wine social media events ever held in this country, and will deliver powerful insights into building wine brands online, along with providing opportunities for wineries and wine enthusiasts to tell their own stories to a global audience.
Lecture Series:
Bakas will present the Annual WCA Lectures addressing trends and case studies of social media and wine with the topic: “Not in new media in 2011? Then not in business by 2016.”
The lectures will be held in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Taste and Tweet events will follow each lecture giving participants the chance to bring along a bottle of wine in a designated theme to see social media in practice. Similar events are often charged at over $1000 per day, without being tailored specifically to the wine industry, making this perhaps the best opportunity to garner further insight into ‘best practice’ wine industry social media.
The evening lecture series will be presented in a formal lecture format including wine and canapés.
Dates:Sydney: Tuesday 29th March
Melbourne: Thursday 31st March
Adelaide: Tuesday 5th April
Perth: Friday 8th April
Costs:Lecture inc. Taste and Tweet WCA Members $125 Non Members $175
Regional Tweet-ups:
The series of day-time Regional tweet-ups will be social media forum events. Participants will be encouraged to bring their own wine to engage with a global audience through a ‘tweet-up’ session – a communal tasting utilising Twitter. This will be simultaneously held in conjunction with USA influencers and wine lovers who will be following and expressing their thoughts on the region of focus. Non-Twitter users are encouraged to attend to gain an understanding of the power of the medium, highlighted by global tastings that will be synchronised with our local ‘tweet-up’ events.
All participants will receive a complimentary e-book copy of the Rick Bakas’ book; “Quick Bites”, 75 Savoury Tips for Social Media Success.” Rick’s ideas could help you make 2011 your year to unleash your brand online. This is great added value for your registration fee.
Dates:Hunter Valley: Monday 28th March
Yarra Valley: Thursday 31st March
Barossa Valley: Monday 4th April
Costs:Regional Taste and Tweet One price: $30
Can’t make it to the tweet up in person?
We know not everyone will be able to join in the tweet-up at the venue. Whilst you’ll miss the opportunity to meet Rick, network with fellow WCA members and taste some amazing wines, we encourage you to get involved wherever you are in the world. Simply grab a bottle of Australian wine in the theme of the day and use #WCATT
About Rick Bakas
Rick Bakas lives and breathes the world of wine and social media. He has over 49,000 twitter followers and over 4,500 Facebook fans – one of the real pioneers globally of changing communication. Many will be aware of global initiatives Rick spearheaded in 2010 like #chardonnay day and #Cabernet Day (over 9,000 tweets, 4,500 Facebook posts and 75 meet ups in six countries. The estimated participation was 3,500-5,000 people. Prior to entering the wine industry in 2004, Rick created and managed brands at NIKE, Inc where he led branding efforts for the NFL’s Denver Broncos, New York Giants and the University of Oregon.
Source: Wine Communicators of Australia
Great news to hear that bakas “the social media guru” is visiting Australia to share his ideas and concepts which can boost up the industry. Good luck for him and wishing that his tour will be a grand success.
User ID not verified.
Rick Bakas hits Oz wine country in April! You can participate from anywhere in the world, pull out your favourite regional wines and get tasting and tweeting!
Follow @WineComAust @rickbakas @radvine and don’t forget to include these tags in your tweets: #WCATT #hunterwine #yarrawine #barossawine #mclarenvale #vicwine #mriverwine
User ID not verified.
I met Rick at a past Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa, California, where we all were gathered to learn the ins and outs of social networking for wineries and wine geeks.
I hope Rick’s next trip will bring him to Portugal to show more Portuguese wineries how to get involved with interacting with their wine fans via the social networking tools!
Our winery, Cortes de Cima, in Alentejo, Southern Portugal has been blogging, tweeting and on facebook for many years, and we don’t look back! Cheers!
User ID not verified.
Spaces booking out quickly for the RIck Bakas tour. Anyone can come along – great chance to meet Rick and try some amazing wines. Will definitely be the largest co-ordinated wine social media initiative in Australia.
Book at http://www.winecommunicators.com.au or follow
@Rickbakas, @mastermindtb @winecomaust for regular updates.
A great way to learn from one of the best and have a bit of fun.
User ID not verified.
Nice work making it happen, Trish. I want to meet as many people as possible during this visit and stay connected after it’s over.
@Carrie – second half of the year is open as of now. Might be in Croatia in May, Germany and Spain in September. Please contact me to discuss Portugal.
User ID not verified.