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Southeast Produce Council Conference

March 3, 2012 by Julie 71 Comments

Last night Ryan and I drove to St. Pete to drop Sadie off at my parents’ house before heading to Tampa where we spent the night because I had an early-morning wake up call for a special event!

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A few months ago I was contacted by the marketing team in charge of Southern Exposure, a conference organized by the Southeast Produce Council, and asked to speak on a panel about the relationship between bloggers, produce companies and consumers.

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My fellow panelists included Ricky from TastyChomps.com, Aggie from AggiesKitchen.com and Jeff Houck, a food writer and blogger for the Tampa Tribune.

We were asked all sorts of questions by audience members about a wide range of topics ranging from how brands can successfully reach out to bloggers and the benefits of social media to the world of blogging and marketing ideas. 

I receive a bunch of press releases every day and only a few actually stick out to me (or even align with my blog!), so I had a lot of ideas to share and feedback to provide.

I majored in public relations in college and worked in the field for a few years, so I understand the game of mass-emailing press releases to people in hopes that someone will find your event or product interesting, but had a great time offering new ideas to the audience. I love discussing marketing (not sales!), public relations and blogging, so being on the panel was a blast!

The panel went really well and I loved speaking with a lot of the attendees and vendors afterwards. 

Brunch

After the session, the panelists were invited to attend a brunch late in the morning and I was even able to bring Ryan along as my guest!

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Our meal started with fresh fruit which we ate while watching the keynote speaker, Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Adam Putnam.

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Commissioner Putnam previously served five terms as Congressman for Florida’s 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives and was a great public speaker. During his keynote address, there was unfortunately a lot of unplanned noise interruptions from the overhead speaker system. I know I would’ve been flustered, but he powered through and continued speaking with a great sense of humor.

The main course of the brunch included chicken, roasted potatoes, a stuffed tomato and green beans.

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I ate everything but my tomato because it was just a lil’ funky.

Dessert included a slice of chocolate cake with coffee mousse and key lime pie. Ryan and I shared the two pieces, though I ate more than he did and found myself in quite the sugar coma!

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And then it was time for the expo!

Expo

I didn’t really know what to expect when we were invited to attend the expo, but once we walked inside the large room in the Tampa convention center, I was blown away.

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There were produce vendors and samples everywhere! I was so pumped to talk with the vendors and learn more about produce and fun food products.

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Purple sweet potatoes!

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Ugli fruit, a hybrid of a grapefruit and a tangelo, was delicious!

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Ryan and I took advantage of the samples and filled two green bags full of food. I am currently so stuffed I could pop. Smile

One of my favorite samples of the day came from Atlas’ Caramel Natural dates.

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Oh my goodness, the coconut almond date rolls were fantastic. Ryan and I both loved them and left with a box that was already broken into on the car ride home.

Now I’m hoping to hang out and digest before packing in dinner. We’re spending the night at my parents’ house in St. Pete and my mom has a seafood feast planned. I cannot turn down clams and crab claws, so I’m really hoping my appetite returns soon!

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I'd love to connect with you! I am always so grateful when you let me know you tried one of my recipes or workouts and tag me in your photos or updates. Thank you so much!!!

Filed Under: Blogger Meet Ups, Blogging, Lunch, Uncategorized Tagged With: brunch, conference, Tampa Bay

About Julie

My name is Julie and I am a full-time blogger, new mama, fitness enthusiast (certified personal trainer and group exercise instructor) and food fanatic (mostly healthy... but also not-so-healthy) living in North Carolina with my husband, dog and baby boy. Thank you for visiting Peanut Butter Fingers! I hope you enjoy little glimpses into my life and have fun trying the sweaty workouts I frequently share and making some of my favorite recipes along the way!

« Bethenny’s Skinnygirl Workout
Walnut Oatmeal Date Balls »

Comments

  1. Katie says

    March 4, 2012 at 6:50 pm

    I wish they had events like that in Seattle! I would totally go!

    Reply
  2. Rachel @ The Peach and The Pit says

    March 4, 2012 at 6:57 pm

    so fun! love your dress 😉

    Reply
  3. Jessica says

    March 5, 2012 at 1:00 am

    So… Big question is– what are your thoughts on press releases? Ever successful? What do you suggest instead?

    PS- love Jeff houck!!!

    Reply
    • peanutbutterfingers says

      March 5, 2012 at 8:50 am

      when it comes to reaching out to bloggers, i always think personal is best! i probably get 20 emails from companies/brands a day, so the ones that actually seem to understand my blog or mention something specific make me feel like they invested the time and i should invest the time in responding. press releases are great for sending to media (tv stations, magazines, etc.), but i think that bloggers really love and appreciate personalization. 🙂 also, anything unique ALWAYS catches my attention!

      Reply
      • Andrea says

        March 5, 2012 at 11:15 am

        Great topic! I was also interested to hear your thoughts/advise for PR people who want to reach out to bloggers. I always find it hard to figure out how “to treat” bloggers, as it should definitely not be the same approach as with “regular” media, but am often unsure of what the best way would be. But then, I am also in the B2B finance sector, so things might be different anyway.

        Reply
  4. Emma Kate says

    March 5, 2012 at 2:33 am

    The purple variety are the most popular sweet potato here in New Zealand. However we call them kumara. So good!! My favourite food by faaar. I make stuffed, baked kumara (sweet potato), instead of using standard potatoes 🙂

    Reply
  5. Kayla says

    March 6, 2012 at 11:38 am

    you are glowing! i wouldn’t be surprised if you were pregnant!

    Reply
    • peanutbutterfingers says

      March 6, 2012 at 11:41 am

      no, definitely not! 🙂 we’ve got a few years before that happens!

      Reply
  6. Callie @ The Wannabe Athlete says

    March 16, 2012 at 1:48 pm

    No idea how I missed this recap at the time. Looks like I really missed out. Grr. I won’t be turning down that invitation again! I was worried it would be crazy over there with Gasparilla going on…

    Reply
« Older Comments

Trackbacks

  1. Rest of the Weekend | Peanut Butter Fingers says:
    March 4, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    […] Southeast Produce Council Conference […]

    Reply
  2. March Book Club | Peanut Butter Fingers says:
    March 6, 2012 at 4:00 pm

    […] Caramel Natural dates (one rolled in almonds, one in coconut) that I snagged from Saturday’s conference satisfied my sweet […]

    Reply
  3. Baked Lemon Pepper Sprout Chips and a Field Trip | Aggie's Kitchen says:
    March 13, 2012 at 1:01 am

    […] showcasing our day, as well as all the fruits, veggies and products we sampled. You can also read Julie’s recap on the conference here on Peanut Butter Fingers as well as Ricky’s recap here on Tasty Chomps. Cancel […]

    Reply
  4. Blogger Statistics | Peanut Butter Fingers says:
    March 16, 2012 at 1:43 pm

    […] I totally meant to share these fun facts with you guys a couple of weeks ago after I attended the Southeast Produce Council Southern Exposure Conference. […]

    Reply
  5. Dinner at the Coughlin’s | Peanut Butter Fingers says:
    October 11, 2012 at 3:35 am

    […] to spend some time with Aggie who I met earlier this year when we were both on a panel for the Southeast Produce Council Conference in […]

    Reply
  6. COMM Day 2013 | Peanut Butter Fingers says:
    April 6, 2013 at 10:25 am

    […] out session about blogging and social media. I was apprehensive at first, but since I’ve done some public speaking about blogging and social media before, I said […]

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Hi! I’m Julie and I am a mom to three energetic boys and a personal trainer and blogger living in Charlotte, North Carolina. Welcome to my blog! Peanut Butter Fingers follows my life and my interests in food, fitness, family, travel and (mostly) healthy living.
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