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Flickr Photo by Ryan Opaz

If you’ve ever considered planning an international conference in Spain, don’t think, just do it. If you actually take a moment to think about it, you may find yourself crouched in a corner, rocking back and forth, saying to yourself, “Are you kidding me? I don’t have a the language skills to put this together!”. But the fact is, is that it isn’t impossible. All it takes is a little courage, a lot of gumption, and little hesitation. It’s another one of those situations where either you do it, or you simply talk about it wondering what it “would have been like” if you actually followed through with your desires.

Always follow your dreams!

However, I wouldn’t suggest you follow my particular lead. My husband Ryan, our friend Robert, and I took a leap of faith about 6 months ago and decided to plan and organize the first European Wine Blogger’s Conference in La Rioja Spain (Flickr Photos). Noticing an enormous lack of conversation and connection among wine bloggers, we buckled down and organized a three day event attracting over 40 wine bloggers from around the world.

How did the event go? To our great suprise, really well! However, with 20/20 hindsight, I can now offer you some suggestions could make your event run a touch smoother:

1. Pick any other date than July and August for your event. As Spain completely shuts down at this time, you’ll be pulling out your hair trying to get businesses to help you organize and/or carry out the event. From hiring bus companies to obtaining sponsors, summer is a tough sell in Spain.
2. Use a telephone, not email. Although many other countries prefer email as an effective was to finalize business, Iberia tends to rely on the telephone and/or a lunch meetings instead. So rather than get frustrated wondering why you haven’t received a reply to your email, pick up the phone and call.
3. Telephone = Speaking Spanish! Why yes, yes it does. So tackle the problem head on by first getting an intercambio (language partner) on a website like Conversation Exchange.com, or the newspaper, and have them help you put together a “speech” of sorts to get your vocabulary and fluidity up to par.  There is no reason to suffer by winging it. Instead, have a clear message and practice. Nothing to it!
4. Confirm Event Locations and Suppliers. If you are in a smaller city like Logrono, many of your suppliers, or service providers, will be family run businesses that may have a long list of other clients they need to handle that same day. Therefore, it is in your best interest to call the week of the event to confirm the time and date of service. Additionally, program the contact number in your mobile, as the person helping you with the service, may be the only person running the business. Hence, if there is an issue, you’ve got his/her number handy at all times.
5. Dietary Issues. Spain, especially La Rioja, is renowned for their roasted meats. Whatever you order will most likely have 90/10 split of meat versus veggies on the menu. That said, if you have a vegetarian, or vegan, at the event, make sure you triple check alternative options for their meal.
6. Get a Mobile Broadband: If your business relies on Internet, I highly suggest you purchase a Mobile Broadband. for 15 euros you can at least guarantee a connection, as several areas in Spain are without it, or may charge you through the nose in connection fees.

Have you ever planned an event in Spain? If so, what have been your experiences?

Saludos,

Gabriella Opaz

Gabriella Opaz is the co-founder of catavino.net, a website dedicated to Spanish and Portuguese wine.

This morning, with my cup of piping hot coffee in hand, I was scanning through my feedreader when I came across an interesting article on the way in which American health scientists tend to perceive overly extracted, fabricated and altered food as a permanent part of the American diet. Rather than being a human constructed consumable, it is looked upon as an integral part of our daily diet that cannot be changed or altered. The irony is that it can, simply by committing to the slow food movement. But rather than encourage critical thinking, and good choices, health scientists seem more like pharmacists, suggesting new pills that will counter the consequences of fast food.

I feel like the message is: “Don’t help people change their attitudes or choices, just make them down a pill to counteract the consequences of their last poor choice, which will then need another pill to counteract the side-effects from the last pill, and so on and so forth”.

Sound familiar? (más…)