So will there be a Salon next year? I certainly hope so as I've been every year since 1990 and have already reserved my room at the Hotel du Mail in the centre of Angers. The 2010 catalogue rather ambiguously asks people not to forget the 25th edition of the Salon 'Debut Février 2010' and promising a 'nouvelle formule: un salon encore plus adapté aux besoin de la profession'. But, gentlemen, unless I'm seriously mistaken, we are now right at the end of February 2010.
I spoke to Bénoît Roumet, director of the Bureau du Centre Loire, yesterday and he was adamant that there would be a Salon in 2011, although the date hasn't yet been fixed and there will be a meeting to discuss what changes if any will be made. There is no date yet for this meeting.
It will be interesting to see what changes they make. If it is to survive the Loire Salon needs to be held every year. Were it to become bi-annual I'm sure it would soon disappear. The Salon remains a generally well run and friendly event. Although it would look more professional if all the exhibitors arrived on time. Even on the Monday – first morning of the fair – many of the stands are habitually empty with exhibitors drifting in leisurely as the clock moves towards 9.30.
Salon des Vins de Loire Wine Bloggers' Trophy
I'd definitely make changes here. Having been a trophy winner in 2009 I was invited to be one of the judges. We had some 20 shortlisted blogs to judge across the four categories and given around two weeks for the task. Not easy to do when some blogs have hundreds of postings to look at. Unfortunately the organisers were obviously determined to shortlist seven blogs in each category, irrespective of quality but there were a few very poor blogs on the shortlist.
It would make the judging much easier if bloggers had to enter the competition and to pick out five or six postings to be judged on.
When the results came out I was amazed to see that the best overall blog was one that hadn't won any of the four categories and had only been shortlisted in one category – some blogs had been shortlisted in two. When I queried the result with the organisers I was told that the marks had been averaged out so as not to disadvantage blogs that were only shortlisted in one category!
Not just one language
* Aurelia has a real screen presence in the same way that Gary V does. Having started only in December 2009 she has already built up a considerable presence. To really built her following I think she soon needs to build in greater variety into her videos, which are becoming formulaic – look how Gary V varies his show. I'm sure Aurelia has the personality and drive to succeed.
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