I admit it. I’m actually a bit nervous. I spend most of my time at home — homeschooling three little ones, working on the Food Renegade site and related projects, and housekeeping. It suits me because I’m an introvert. I enjoy writing, emailing, blogging. I enjoy being with my family. I guess I’m a homebody. I’m the sort of person that goes to hear Joel Salatin speak, but I don’t introduce myself despite the fact that we’ve shared email exchanges and he’s written guest posts for me before.
So, what’s an introvert like me doing going to the 2011 Wise Traditions Conference in Dallas, TX next month? Why am I subjecting myself to a crowd of like-minded people? Rubbing shoulders with folks like Sally Fallon Morell, Mark McAffee, Dr. Mercola, and others? What was I thinking when I agreed to get up in front of an audience and actually speak in public about my experience blogging?
I’ll tell you what I was thinking. I was thinking “Boo-Yah!”
My excitement for this conference far outweighs my social discomforts.
The weekend will begin on Thursday night, November 10th, at the 2011 FundRAISER — a fundraising dinner, cook off, concert, and dance put on by the Farm To Consumer Legal Defense Fund. They describe it as an “Old Time Festive Texas Country Supper, Offal Appetizer Cook Off, Fiddle Concert, Dance and Much Much More…”
I grew up spending weekends with my grandfather as he went from small Texas town to small Texas town playing at local Lion’s Club dances, country jamborees, and other local festivities in a monthly circuit of homespun communal fun that defined the central Texas musical landscape. Fiddles and Two Stepping make me mildly nostalgic, and I can’t wait to re-live this little slice of my childhood on the dance floor at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Dallas.
Friday will see the first official conference activities and a host of speakers on simultaneous tracks that I expect to find it impossible to choose between. Good thing the conference will be recorded so that I can buy the DVDs and MP3s later!
That night, I’ll be on the Real Food Bloggers Panel. I don’t know what to expect from that, but if you’re around you should stop by and ask me a question about the wonders of social media for spreading our message. 🙂
Saturday is another full conference day — a whirlwind of speakers, exhibitor booths, samples of outstanding foods, and a to-die for lunch featuring the nutrient-rich foods I love.
The theme of this year’s conference is Mythbusters, and I’ve got to say that Saturday’s feature track looks unbelievably exciting to a nutrition geek like me:
- Introduction to the work of Weston A. Price, Sally Fallon Morell
- Fat Myths, Chris Masterjohn
- Salt Myths, Mortin Satin, PhD
- The China Study Myths, Denise Minger
- Industrial Sweeteners Myths, Russ Bianchi, PhD
Saturday night features a keynote address by Dr. Mercola. I am so NOT going to miss that!
Then Sunday is yet ANOTHER full day packed with ANOTHER array of hotshot speakers and foods.
Want to Attend?
You can customize your entire experience!
The exhibitor hall is open to the public, so you don’t have to register for the conference if you just want to walk around, meet people, and sample products.
Alternatively, you can register for just a day or for the whole weekend. You can buy meals, or not. You can enroll your kids in the children’s program and keep yourself free to attend the talks of your choice. You can go to just the fundraising events, or tack those on to your conference experience.
Find out more by going to the
2011 conference website. They’ve got a slew of information up including speaker bios, schedules, menus, and more.
Come meet me!
I may look like a deer caught in the headlights when you say hello to me, but I’ll still be happy to put a face to your internet name. After all, even introverts need to make friends. And who’d make better friends than like-minded nutrition nuts?
 |
Hi Kristen,
Your blog post resonated with me. I could have written the same thing. I, too, am an introvert who stays home homeschooling my 3 little ones and trying to run a website. I am going to the conference this year for the first time and am totally nervous, yet excited. I can’t want to meet everyone and listen to all the wonderful speakers. If I don’t get the nerve up to introduce myself to you, take a look around, I will be that awkward girl standing against the wall pretending to read the program (yet again). 🙂
I hope to see you there AND actually meet you!
I live in the metroplex but can’t afford to come. I would love to go and meet you and all the people I read about each and every day. But thanks for letting me know that the exhibitor hall is open to the public! I’ll get to walk around and see some of the exhibits and that’ll be fun.
It’s one of the reasons I put the information out there. From what I hear, being at the booths and meeting all those farmers and producers can be almost as engaging, fun, and informative as actually going to sessions.
Hey Kristen,
I will be there (my first WAPF conference), and will definitely say hello. Looking forward to hearing the panel discussion!
…Tim (had been writing a lot at Soil to Sustenance but am now busy with My Athletic Life)
Neat!
Kristin – looking forward to meeting you! (I will say hello) I’m volunteering at the conference but I’ll be going to the Bloggers panel. Glad you are coming up to the metroplex – we have lots of good stuff going on up here!
I wish I could go to the farm tour on Monday and see the area farmers, but I think I’ve got to pass. I used to live in Duncanville, and I still have lots of family in the DFW area. But, it’s been more than a decade since I lived there, and I wasn’t into real, farm fresh food then.
Hi Kristen, I’m looking forward to meeting you!
Same here. I’m excited to hear you speak!
I, too, am a fan of fiddles and two-stepping! I miss Texas. I’m looking forward to being back home, enjoying the conference, and really looking forward to finally meeting you!
Ditto. It’s strange because I feel like I know you and Kelly and Jenny already thanks to all our phone calls, emails, and such. And having seen videos of you all even gives me faces and memories to match to your voices. It’s surreal that I haven’t actually met any of you in person. I’m jazzed!
You’re krazy, Kristen. Just plain, plumb crazy…. *eeeek* people everywhere!!!
I don’t mind people as long as there’s anonymity to go with it. I can do people watching and be chill. But I have a feeling I won’t be very anonymous here…
Kristen,
I won’t be in Dallas, but I just wanted to send you a big wave of appreciation for the information you share on your blog. Enjoy your time in Texas!
Thanks, Lisa.
I can’t be there, I went to the last two and I can say those going will have an eye-opening experience and eat the best food possible.
Well, hopefully I’ll get so hooked that I keep going. I know that’s been how it was for my other blogging friends. If that’s the case for me, then I’ll get another crack at you next year or the year after.
Howdy!!! I will be there too and would love to meet you! So excited to be amongst ‘the choir’!
deb
Hi girl!
Thanks for posting about the exhibit hall being open to the public! I won’t be at the conference itself but I’m definitely going to come to the exhibits. I love your blog; hopefully I’ll get to meet you!
Will you please post video of your talk if you’re able to? Thanks, and have a great time!
Another introvert checking in. :). I’m going to my first conference and really looking forward to it. Hope to meet all the Real Food bloggers!
Kristen, I wish I could come! I’ve got a nursing 5-month-old in tow and we live in North Carolina. It’s not our year, YET! But he and I are traveling closer to home with his father, and it’s so hard to eat real food while traveling! Blech! What has this country come to? I was wondering what you will be doing to keep eating real food while on the road. What do others do without a kitchen, a pantry, and a fridge while traveling? It sounds like some of your meals will be real food, but what about the rest, and going to and from the conference? Perhaps you already have a post on this, so please pardon me if I missed it! Blessings and ENJOY THE CONFERENCE, Real Foodies!
Hey Kristen! I am an extrovert, so the conference is my heaven! But, even I find it overwhelming at times! So, if you’d like to hang out at the FTCLDF table during the breaks, your readers can find you! It’s sometimes nice to have a “home” to go to, and having a place to go to, like a booth is great. Besides, people will want to know where to find you!
I may just do that, Cathy. I’m pretty good at public speaking, and I like people-watching. The part that overwhelms me is the constant introductions to new faces and people. I’m OKAY at it if people walk up to me (kind of), but I totally have almost NO ABILITY to make those sorts of introductions myself. I just freeze up. If I’m hanging with you or the Real Food Media ladies, I don’t expect I’ll feel that way. Something about being part of a group takes the edge off it.
Have fun at the conference, Kristen!
I went last year – it was amazing. I wish I could go this year, there is such a fantastic lineup of presenters! It would have been nice to meet you as well. I’m looking forward to reading about your experience on your blog.
I love your blog–what you say and how you say it. I’ll look for you at the conference maybe at the FTCLDF table as Kathy recommended. I’ve been to the last two conferences and they’re great–addictive–and the food is wonderful!
It’ll be great to meet you!
Oh man I so wish I could be there!!!!! And I agree Food Renegade is one of my favorite blogs I aspire to make mine like this My blog was on vacation for the last week getting a make over. I was very stubborn and insisted on writing my own WordPress theme. I was getting traffic from blogging but no one was commenting. I have employed a professionally designed theme that let me make the changes I wanted and now I would love anyone that has a minute to check it out and let me know what you think in the comments. http://organicallythought.com/ we also have a milk category of course.
I am not an introvert and so wish that I was going to Dallas. I am going to pretend that I got to go and meet everyone and eat with people who don’t think I am a freak show. A TRAVELLING freak show. I hope you have a safe trip, a fun time, and have great stories and pics to share with us at home.
I am a new follower of your blog, found you through Kelly the Kitchen Kop. Entered the giveaway for your upcoming e-course but didnt win:( I am seriously considering trying to figure out how to work our budget so I can take the class since we have struggled with getting pregnant and I KNOW I need to make improvements in eating (particularly protein) and eating more often. Anyway, I would love to go to the conference but I am also an introvert and just haven’t been around the real food blogging world long enough to know many of you! Maybe next year! Have a great time.