Camp Blogaway 2011: Registration Is Officially Open!

If you're reading this food blog, chances are good that you might have one of your own. Perhaps you write about recipes, restaurants, chef crushes, or even obscure flavors of Kit Kats. In my opinion, whether you have 10,000 loyal followers, or twenty casual readers of the friend-and-family variety, it never hurts to get a refresher course about what makes -- and keeps -- a blog successful. Enter Camp Blogaway, a two-day blogger workshop from Friday, April 29th to Sunday, May 1st, complete with expert panels, skills workshops, and of course, lots and lots of grub.

The weekend workshop is the brainchild of Patti Londre, a leading food industry marketing pro, founder of The Londre Company and staunch food blogger educator and advocate. Priced at $325 per person, Camp Blogaway includes two nights' lodging in Angelus Oaks's (near Big Bear) rustic yet heated bunk rooms, all meals and snacks, workshop materials, swag and as much foodie networking as you can stand.

Guest speakers include Carolyn O'Neil, RN, CNN's food reporter and Alton Brown's "Lady of the Refrigerator" on Food Network's Good Eats, who teaches bloggers how to perfect the art of video blogging. Cheryl Sternman Rule of 5 Second Rule, and Susan Russo ofFoodBlogga, shares tips on how to build community and increase your blog's traffic. Lori Lange of RecipeGirl, Jennifer Leal of Savor the Thyme, and Greg Henry of SippitySupanswer the "Hon, will this blogging thing ever take off?" concern plaguing bloggers today.

Between panel discussions, get out of the main room and into nature for small group breakout sessions like "Recipes: writing, techniques, guidelines," "Selling your own ads: pros, cons, how-to," "Contests: how, why, results, worth the trouble," "Camera Mastery: settings, white balance," "Food Styling: tips, tricks," among others. And what would a food blogger "camp" be without a kick-off wine tasting event, sponsored by NorCal's Wente Vineyards. For more info, visit Camp Blogaway's website. Or if you're ready to register -- the event fills up fast -- visit the the camp's registration page.