As you may have read the other night, I tried my hand at live blogging at the recent Red Willow beer and food pairing event on Wednesday. In a word, CHALLENGING!
It was the first time I’d used WordPress for iPhone which didn’t help as I was trying to get to grips with that too, the trouble was I hadn’t a clue what was going to happen when I pressed this and that button, more a leap of faith and hoping for the best really.
The Great North Pie Co – http://greatnorthpie.co/
I was planning to edit it the following day but decided against it after a couple of lines, just adding the odd web link out of courtesy to the organising bar The Young Pretender and the various food purveyors (Pure Origin and The Great North Pie Co) who designed the menus and samples. I left it alone so that if you’d care to you can see it warts and all here, to try and get a feel of the sort of output you can expect to achieve (from me at least) using this method.
Having had a quick scan there are a few grammatical blunders, the odd repeated word in sentences and no doubt some spelling errors. Let me know what you think though if you will?
Looking back at the night there are a few obvious negatives. It’s quite difficult to write and review what you are writing off the cuff in the bustling atmosphere of a busy bar. There’s also the element of being alienated from what is going on, missing conversations and announcements as your nose is stuck into what your fingers are tap-tap tapping away at on-screen. Trying to keep up is tricky too at times as you smell, taste, listen and discuss and of course keeping updates live on Twitter is a slight problem.
Pure Origin Chocolate – http://www.pure-origin.co.uk/
On the plus side though you are there in the moment and writing as it happens, first off the mark at it were, should it be a popular event for bloggers etc.
There’s no need to take notes or worry about forgetting “what the hell did I mean by that” when you review them a few days later. Photographs are easy to edit and upload so it negates the need to upload to computers, edit, upload to the blog etc.
Finally though for me it was time that I felt was the biggest win. How often I’ve had a topic or been to an event then struggled for days to get it written and posted. So often if busy I’ve felt like I’d missed the boat and my efforts have been published long after several others have beaten me to it so to speak. With this method of blogging it was done and in future I hope will only need minor tweakages after the event.
A massive thanks to everyone who was involved in organising the event, the sponsors, suppliers and most of all the good folks I met and spent a fantastic evening with. Check out the links to the producers and definitely get along to the Young Pretender if ever you are in the Congleton area, great venue, friendly knowledgeable staff and a superb beer menu too.
Cheers, thanks for reading.
Beersay 
I thought you did a good job, especially considering you did it on an iPhone. Something about the contemporaneous nature of it is appealing to the reader (at least this reader). I have tried writing on iPhone WordPress, but after much cursing, I gave up. I just got an iPad for Father’s Day, and that makes it much easier when away from home (although perhaps douchier-looking than an iPhone).
Cheers fella and what an awesome word (contemporaneous), a new one on me but after checking it out, fits the bill perfectly.
Much as it was a bit of a pain in the behind I actually am quite pleased with the results and will definitely use this method again, I’m thinking impromptu off the cuff beer reviews as well as longer event coverage. I have the first iPad but don’t tend to take it out and about, if the newer one is lighter and as easy to use I may go that way too.
Cheers for the comment.