About the #SOSFood Chat
For one night only on July 30th, we’re inviting people to share in the fun and follow our special Twitter Hashtag (#SOSFood). Event panelists and participants or peeps will be using this tag whenever they comment, allowing others on Twitter to watch and join the foodie chat! Our chat will include a panel, participants and moderator. This online fundraising event is going to be a Twitter party focusing on all things foodie and food blogging. More information on the chat follows, or visit http://www.GreatAmericanBakeSale.org/vgabs. Throughout the evening, we’ll be tweeting for donations. To add to the excitement, we’ll have giveaways and raffle prizes that include Flip Video cameras, 1800flowers.com gift cards and more! When: July 30th from 9:00pm-11:00pm EST Where: Anywhere you can log on to Twitter! Who: You and a fabulous panel of big name foodies including @ryanthegirl (Foodbuzz.com), @5DollarDinners (5dollardinners.com), @steamykitchen (steamykitchen.com) and @ruhlman (Ruhlman.com). Moderator will be Kate Miller @ASimpleWalk of (StolenMomentsCooking.com). Topics include: In’s & out’s of food blogging, building and growing a successful food blog and food photography. How: Point your browser to http://search.twitter.com or any Twitter client of your choosing and search for #SOSFood to follow and join in the conversation. Please remember to use the #SOSFood Hashtag whenever replying to the conversation or asking a question of the panelists. For more information, visit http://www.GreatAmericanBakeSale.org/vgabs
How the Chat Works
As an example of how a typical chat works, here's a link to a recent chat for association folks: http://bit.ly/2b1Now. Peeps show up at the appointed time and the moderator kicks things off. In this example, #assnchat is the Hashtag used, 'pinnovation' is the moderator, and the chat began at 1:00pm. This particular chat doesn't have a panel of experts but you should be able to get a general idea for how the conversation flows. To get our chat going, I'll offer up a few tweets about the chat itself and then by way of introduction, ask panel and participants to tweet about themselves. Remember to end each of your tweets with the #SOSFood Hashtag so that others
can follow along. Peeps can follow along by using a Twitter tool such as http://search.twitter.com or http://tweetchat.com. In our chat, I'll be asking the panelists questions throughout the night (question tweets noted by Q1:, Q2:, etc). Please keep in mind that peeps will chime in with their own thoughts on questions asked or even address each other as we roll along. There will also be quite a bit of RTing/retweeting going on as peeps see tweets of interest. My job is to keep us moving along and help facilitate the conversation. You will also find in this document suggested discussion topics and agenda. Due to the interactive nature of these chats, the schedule may change. We won't get to all of these topics but this should still give us 'food for thought'. Please let me know which topics you'd like to address or feel free to offer your own! We'll put together questions based on those topics and then circulate the list before our chat. I’m sure that peeps will also have questions for the panel! As a panelist, we'll want you to be prepared to answer questions and participate. That's all there is to it! We've already started to get the word out about our foodie chat and you can see the results in the Twitterfeed found on the website: http://www.GreatAmericanBakeSale.org/vgabs.
Help us spread the word!
*Will you please help spread the word about our foodie chat by RTing/retweeting the following? Food bloggers: Join @sharestrength's #SOSFood event! Benefits Great American Bake Sale. 7/30, 9-11pm EST. http://cli.gs/SOSFood Pls RT!
More info on Twitter chats
Tweeting With Your Twitter Community: How To Participate In A Twitter Chat http://bit.ly/GMFn Hashtag Happy Hours: How Moms Party Down on Twitter http://mashable.com/2008/12/15/twitter-mom-party
Suggested Topics
Topic 1: The Ins & Outs of Food Blogging ~ What Life Is Like As A Foodie Blogger, Community
What made you decide to write a food blog? Why do you blog? How valuable is the online foodie community to you? Is it a tool you use to grow your blog? To find the support, encouragement and friendship of a community? Or both? Who are your favorite foodie bloggers and mentors? [twitter handles, if possible] How large of a role does your blog play in your daily life? How much time do you spend each week? What do your friends and family think of your blog? Do others support you in the effort?
Topic 2: Building & Growing A Successful Food Blog, Best Practices
What has been the most successful means of growth for your blog? What are your top 3 blogging tools? How do you feel about monetizing your blog? If you do monetize your blog, what are your favorite companies to work with? How do you deal with negative comments on your blog? How much time do you spend on your blog in a typical day?
Topic 3: Food Blog Content & Photography
Where do you find ideas and decide what to blog about? Where do your recipe inspirations come from? How do you keep your blog fresh? How often do you update your blog? Is Twittering mandatory if you have a blog? Do you have to Twitter? What are your top photography tips? What are your favorite photography tools? (Camera, software, light boxes, props, etc.) Have you ever faced any copyright issues? What are your favorite image sharing sites?
Suggested Agenda: July 30, 9-11p EST
9:00p Intro to #SOSFOOD as a fundraiser. Info about Share Our Strength. Direction to landing page. First giveaway Intro of panelists
9:10p
First round of questions to panelists [Kate]
9:20p
Giveaways, tweet to landing page
9:30p
Second round of questions to panelists [Kate]
9:40p
Giveaways, update on ChipIn totals
10:00p Giveaways, tweet to landing page
Third round of questions to panelists [Kate]
10:20p Giveaways, update on ChipIn totals
10:30p Fourth round of questions to panelists [Kate]
10:40p Giveaways, tweet to landing page
11:00p Giveaways, update on ChipIn totals