Vrazon Press

Friday, 17th July 2015

The founders of the annual Digital Wine Communications Conference have announced that the 8th edition will be held in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv on October 23 – 25, 2015.

The only international conference dedicated to the convergence of wine and the web, the three-day DWCC is to be organised at the Plovdiv International Fair.

Conference sponsors

The 2015 DWCC is sponsored by a multitude of names from Bulgaria’s wine industry, as well as the City of Plovdiv. It is organised by Ryan and Gabriella Opaz and Robert McIntosh of social media company Vrazon.

Location and theme

2015 sees the DWCC celebrating its 8th anniversary (previous events have been run in Spain, Portugal, Austria, Italy, Turkey and Switzerland). The conference will take place in and around the city of Plovdiv (southern Bulgaria) with trips planned around the country.

Plovdiv is Bulgaria’s second-largest city (population 341,000) and is considered to be one of the oldest, continuously inhabited cities in Europe. Comments DWCC co-founder Ryan Opaz:

“During its long history, Plovdiv has been occupied by numerous peoples who have contributed to the city’s multi-faceted cultural heritage: as such, it’s an ideal destination for this year’s conference, the theme of which is ‘BLEND’. The fact that Bulgaria is bordered by five countries; Romania, Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece and Turkey, means that we look forward to welcoming conference participants and sponsors from a multitude of eastern European destinations who will bring a new set of cultural influences to what is already a truly international event. DWCC 2015 will be a melting pot, uniting wine communicators from around the world in the spirit of collaboration and teamwork.”

Content and speakers

As in previous years, DWCC 2015 will feature a range of communications and technical workshops on the skills and information needed by wine communicators in the 21st century. These sessions are led by international experts in the field who come from around the world to share their knowledge with delegates; thus, the conference is an excellent opportunity for anyone in the wine trade to network and learn alongside peers and leading figures.

Keynote speakers at the 2015 event include Ted Popov (Accolade Wines, General Manager – Europe, Middle East, Africa, South America) and UK wine writer and contributor to JancisRobinson.com Richard Hemming.

Returning by popular demand this year are the Disrupt Wine Talks, introduced at the 2014 conference and sponsored in 2015 by Nomacorc. A series of short, punchy presentations by experts and personalities, based around one word of the speaker’s choice, the Disrupt Wine Talks aim to stimulate alternative thinking about the future of digital communications.

Conference delegates will attend a wide range of educational wine tastings as well as experience Bulgarian wine and food culture and hospitality in events, tastings, winery visits and tourism opportunities within Bulgaria’s wine-producing regions, with an emphasis on native grape varieties.

In addition to this, they will have the opportunity to taste a wide range of wines from other countries via sponsored tastings held during the event.

Participants are also eligible for inclusion in discovery press trips to Bulgarian wine regions following the conference.
More details regarding the conference programme, keynote speakers and activities will be released shortly.

Sign up

Registration for the 2015 DWCC is open on the DWCC website (dwcc.co). Discounted ‘Advance Registration’ tickets (€300) are available until October 1, 2015, when they will revert to full price (€450).

Delegates will also be able to benefit from special rates with conference partner hotels that are listed on the DWCC website (dwcc.co) and the Municipality of Plovdiv will provide free transfers from Sofia and Plovdiv airports to the center of Plovdiv.

ENDS

PRESS CONTACT

Louise Hurren
[email protected]
+33 (0)6 17 66 02 53 (mobile)

NOTES FOR EDITORS

About the Digital Wine Communications Conference

The 7th annual DWCC was held in Montreux (Switzerland) in 2014 and was attended by 315 wine communicators and wine industry professionals from 37 countries.

EWBC 2008: Rioja (Spain), 40 delegates
EWBC 2009: Lisbon (Portugal), 120 delegates
EWBC 2010: Vienna (Austria), 200 delegates
EWBC 2011: Brescia (Italy), 216 delegates
EWBC 2012: Izmir (Turkey), 280 delegates
DWCC 2013: Logroño (Spain), 300 delegates
DWCC 2014: Montreux (Switzerland) 315 delegates