by Gareth Groves
I am on record as not being the biggest fan of live twitter tastings. I have been involved in a few and too often social media has turned into anti-social media as participants ignore the people around them and stare exclusively at their smart phones. Meanwhile the virtual chat doesn’t really catch fire and the whole thing falls a bit flat.
With something as social as wine, it has always seemed a shame to me that in trying to spread the good word further it is possible to take all the joy out of tasting and talking about the world’s most exciting liquid.
However, last week at Australia Centre on The Strand, I went to a twitter tasting that really worked. In fact, for a short while the hash tag we were using was trending for London. The fact it was 10am on a Tuesday morning and everyone else was at work has nothing to do with it.
Anyway, the event was a ‘Rare and Regional’ Aussie wine tasting organised by the Wine Communicators Association of Australia.
Here’s what I think they got right:
1. Critical Mass
The event took place in three cities: Melbourne, Sydney and London. This allowed lots of people to get involved and got the chat going quickly. Twitter events seem to operate like snowballs; once you have got them up and running, they quickly gather a pace and momentum all of their own.
2. Don’t get hung up on having exactly the same wines at every location
Now, don’t get me wrong having exactly the same wines at every location is a great idea. It is almost like you are all in the same room. But it is an expensive, logistical nightmare to sort out. Relax – as long as people are tasting and interacting, things are going ok.
3. Go with the flow
These events don’t work as a sit-down affair when you tell sssshhh! everyone and tell them all to taste ‘Wine 1′ at the same time. Such an approach kills any conversation and atmosphere in the room stone dead. Let people taste at their own pace and encourage them to enthuse about their favourites.
4. Bring the tasting to life offline as well as online
Good chat, good company, a bit of cheese, a decent room – it’s not rocket science.
5. Keep ‘em wanting more
An one hour slot may not seem very long – especially if there are 25+ wines in the room to taste – but 60 minutes is a long time to keep a Twitter chat vibrant. Any more and you risk a) people drifting away and b) boring your followers. And that would be a very bad thing.
Full marks to all at the organisers of this top tasting – especially Jo Jericho from Katnook Estate who did an awesome job setting up the London venue. See you at the next one!
(photo at the top courtesy of the WCA. Someone in London must have taken it. Let me know and I’ll give due credit.)
Tags: Australia, Twitter Tastings, wine tasting
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