I just got home from the Food Allergy Bloggers Conference (the first ever!) in Las Vegas. I’m exhuasted after traveling for so many weeks in a row, but the conference definitely reenergized me to keep advocating!

I had fun with all of my gluten-free friends, and I loved meeting a lot of new allergen-friendly best friends! Even though they’re not gluten-free, we ALL eat differently, and we all have to be so careful in our lives with food. We all have a very unique relationship with food that others outside the community don’t really understand. It was a great kumbaya moment for all of us. Plus, we got a ton of allergen-friendly swag – who could be bummed on that?

Below are three sessions that I really loved. Although I don’t have a ton of time for summary recaps, I’m posting my tweets from the sessions for highlights. At the bottom, there’s a video wrap-up with some of my favorite blogger friends!

BEST BUSINESS SESSION: The Company You Keep with Tess Masters (the Blender Girl), Joel Warady from Enjoy Life Foods, and Annelies Zijderveld from Attune Foods

• Professionalism, honesty and transparency are things that @EnjoyLifeCMO looks for when looking at bloggers. #FABlogCon
• MIND BLOWN! Companies have blogger dossiers that keep track of bloggers, their reviews & their followers. WOW. #FABlogCon @EnjoyLifeCMO
• “Think of yourself as a company,hold yourself to the same strict standard & moral guidelines as these companies” @theblendergirl #FABlogCon
• HONESTY INTEGRITY & CONSISTENCY are the 3 things you should mold your brand around. Brands are looking at you! #FABlogCon @theblendergirl
• “Money is not the only valuable currency when you’re working with a brand.” @theblendergirl #FABLogCon YES! 🙂
• “If we go to your website we have to understand who you are and what you stand for in under 1 minute” @theblendergirl #FABlogCon
• If you’re a blogger – DO NOT HIJAK A VENDORS TIME AT AN EVENT! They’re there for consumers, not you! #FABlogCon @EnjoyLifeCMO
• Hey bloggers, companies ask other bloggers about your reputation! #FABlogCon #foodblogger
• The FIRST PLACE that @EnjoyLifeCMO goes to is LINKED IN and searches for a photo & profile. Do it bloggers! #FABlogCon!
• Q: Am I allowed to be sassy as a blogger? A: YES! “be true to yourself””own that” “You’re not going to please everybody” #FABlogCon

BEST NERD OUT: Mary Fran’s Nitty Gritty Make it Pretty

• serif or sans serif, it doesn’t affect the usability of the site.
• KEEP IT SIMPLE. One or two fonts – fonts should be kept to a minimum. If you aren’t sure, it’s better to skip it.
• Dark fonts on light backgrounds are easiest to read. White text on black CAN be read, but not as easy as white on black.
• If content is king, function is queen. Function = usability, updatability, accessibility! #FABlogCon @frannycakesblog
• Consistency make things usability. Consumers have formed patterns/habits. Like looking for main nav stretched over top with logo
• HEY BLOGGERS: If you have 25 event badges in your 1 sidebar, you may want to rethink where you’re putting it.
• How people are used to viewing content: LEFT = sub navigation, RIGHT = supporting content (like your sidebar).
• Pick photographic style & STICK WITH IT! If you instagram everything in dark + moody & then have super bright photos = confusing! #FABlogCon
• Make sure that there’s contract in your color palette and never more than 5 colors! #FABlogCon @frannycakesblog
• It’s important to know the width of your content area so you don’t upload an image bigger than your content area! #FABlogCon
• ALWAYS USE A TITLE on your link! title=”A keyword-rich phrase” – helps get key words into your post for Google to read! #FABlogCon
• ALWAYS ADD A TARGET to tell link to open in a new window, don’t take them away from your site! “target=_blank” in code view
• ALTERNATE TEXT ON PHOTOS = short description of what’s in the image. Say all the keywords! #Googlejuice & assistive devices!
• LINK WITH LOVE – link to other people’s content. Makes BOTH of your posts more usable for people and increases SEO. #FABlogCon
• PLEASE FORGET THAT COMIC SANS AND PAPYRUS FONTS EXIST! #FABlogCon @frannycakesblog
• Lots of images in a posts are okay – but only if they all add something (tell a story, etc.) #FAblogCon @frannycakesblog

BEST ERICA DOES NOT BELONG HERE SESSION: The Art of Recipe Development: Colette Martin, Kelly Rudnicki, Cybele Pascal

• “Give your readers permission to change things up – unless it’s a baking recipe” – @kellyrudnicki on writing recipes #FABlogCon
• “There’s no limit to how many plays can be written because everyone has their own stories to tell” same w/ recipes @CybelePascal #FABlogCon
• You can copyright pictures & the way you’ve presented your recipes, but you can’t copyright the ingredients in your recipes #FABlogCon
• The only way to achieve that is tons of mistakes. Expect failure, it will bring you to where you ultimately need to be #recipes #FABlogCon
• I don’t think people know how much failure goes into recipe development. @CybelePascal #FABlogCon
• Wow, @CybelePascal has TWO oven thermometers! And she recommends that you have to know your oven. Become BFF w/ your oven #FABlogCon
• Everyone here loves parchment paper. @CybelePascal recommends light pans, not dark colored pans. Learning so much! #FABlogCon
• If you’re avoiding gluten AND eggs it’s better off to start with your own recipe than modifying @colettefmartin #FABlogCon

 VIDEO WRAP UP WITH FOOD ALLERGY BLOGGERS!

Click on the above image or visit : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJS5-F01an0&feature=youtu.be

Tagged: celiac, FABlogCon, Food Allergies, food allergy bloggers conference, gluten free, Las Vegas