#WBIS aims to encourage new and innovative approaches to growth and communication in the wine industry. The first edition of #WBIS will be held on Saturday 19th January 2013 in Brussels (Les Ateliers des Tanneurs, rue des tanneurs 60).

By creating a forum for wine professionals, bloggers, social media whizzes and business experts, WBIS will encourage innovation, disruptive thinking and new technologies in the wine world. Special attention will be paid to examining who the consumer is, how they act and what should be done to meet their needs.

The format whereby experts in a particular field are invited to share their experience followed by open and in-depth discussion on how such subjects can be taken forward, has been inspired by other events in the wine and business world such as Vinocamp, European Wine Bloggers Conference, Founders Institute chapters, Betagroup sessions, and Levin 2.0. We’ll give each of the speakers 15 minutes to present before the discussion is opened up to all participants for discussion, Q&A and general brainstorming. To keep the order (!!?) we’ll make sure a time-keeper and reporter are on hand to keep record of what’s going on and make sure everyone who wants to contribute gets a chance to share their thoughts.

Besides the 9 seminars which will be run throughout the day, the programme will also include networking sessions (accompanied by lots of wine!) so that WBIS creates an environment to foster knowledge exchange, build relationships and create the right conditions to launch new projects.

We’re also hosting a special forum for creators of new business ideas. The winner (considered the most viable, innovative and interesting idea by our panel of judges), will be presented with the WBIS Business Award.

Who should attend?
Well, everyone who has a professional interest – or just a serious passion – for wine. We want to talk business and we want to really look into how the wine business can grow. The solution is easy, more people need to drink more wine – so the question is, how can we make it happen? How can we make consumers feel at ease with wine? Are we giving them the right information? do we understand their needs? how can we work together to offer wine-drinkers what they want? These are just some of the topics we’ll be touching on… So if you’re a wine producer, merchant, sommelier, journalist, blogger, entrepreneur, web developer, communication specialist, representative of a wine region or anything else wine-related, WBIS is the place you need to be.

What we’ll be discussing
The topics of the 9 sessions have been defined by the participants prior to #WBIS and are now presented in the programme.

Registration
To make sure you’re part of the only event combining wine and business, register today. Registration is free for the first 100 participants. We ask that you come with a lot of enthusiasm, an open-mind, willingness to share your thoughts and up to one case of your favourite wine. (wines will be open for tasting during our networking moments).

Friday 18th january :
- register for the #winelover hangout

Saturday 19th january :
- register for the #WBIS conference and/or the #WBIS Belgian Dinner

Sunday 20th january :
- register for the #winelover hangout

Monday 21st january :
- register for the France-Vins #winelover Area