Vida Vegan Headquarters

Here’s the handy-dandy one-step guide to answer your questions about the 3-day Vida Vegan Con!  Got a question that’s not answered here? Ask away! We’re sure you’re not the only one thinkin’ it.

Q. What is Vida Vegan Con, anyway?
Vida Vegan Con is a professionally run, annual conference designed to celebrate, explore, and fine-tune the practice—and ever-growing community—of vegan bloggers, readers and users. With an action-packed weekend of workshops, discussion panels, speakers, special events, vegan food, and more, this conference will be the best vegan weekend of your life. Or at least that’s our goal! As vegan bloggers ourselves, we are producing the conference we’d want to attend.

Q. What is the date and location of the conference this year?
Vida Vegan Con 2013 will be held May 24–26 at The Portland Art Museum, in the beautiful city of Portland, Oregon.

Q. I don’t write a blog. Can I still attend?
Yes! Of course! This conference is about uniting blog/online writers and readers. If you are interested in the concept, then it’s for you. Come if you’re thinking about starting a blog, if you want to come meet your favorite vegan bloggers, if you just want to meet more vegans, or if you really want to try out Homegrown Smoker’s famous vegan-style BBQ.

Q. What if I don’t know anyone?
Don’t worry! Portland is a friendly city, and bloggers are super friendly people, we promise! And if you don’t know anyone, come up and say hi to one of the organizers. We won’t bite, and we’d love to meet you. We always hold at least one Meet & Greet beforehand, too.

Q. What’s the agenda for the weekend?
The 2013 action-packed agenda, including three days of classes, workshops, discussions, and more, is posted here.

Q. How do I register for Vida Vegan Con?
Pre-Registration opened July 1, 2012. The first 100 tickets were offered at the Early Bird rate of $200, and the remainder at the full rate of $280. Registration includes a weekend of panels, workshops, talks, discussions, and roundtables of all your favorite vegan bloggers. It also includes all official conference meals, a packed swag bag, a program/notebook, and admission to the Gala. It does NOT include outside meals, transportation, or accommodation.

Q. What does my registration fee go toward?
Good question! The organizers use your registration fee to primarily pay for event space for the entire weekend, food for all attendees and speakers, equipment, taxes, printing and design costs, extra hands, and then some. We are also donating a portion of registration fees to animal sanctuaries. We have priced registration as low as we possibly can to make this as inclusive as possible, and everyone will walk out of here with full bellies, inspired and educated hearts and minds, and an armful of the most useful swag to ever fit (maybe) in one bag.

We realize it may seem like a lot of money, but we want to throw the most comprehensive and helpful vegan conference EVER for you. We can assure you that it will be worth it!

Q. Sounds so cool, but I don’t know if I can afford it.  Are there any other options for me?
Certainly! We’d love to have you! Like 2011, we will have a few scholarship opportunities available (sorry, the deadline has passed for these), and the organizers may or may not be hosting a giveaway again on their respective blogs.

Q. Can I volunteer?
Thank you for your interest! Vegans are the nicest! Unfortunately, due to some companies’ exploitation of interns, we are not able to legally accept volunteers. If you still wish to lend a hand in some way, we would love your assistance; reach out to us and we’ll see what we can do.

That said, we are definitely seeking volunteers for our Saturday night Galarama & Silent Auction for Chimp Sanctuary Northwest—see here to sign up!

Q. Do I have to stay at the hotels or in the room block you recommend? Or can I stay with my best friend Harmony’s brother Jeff who I think just moved to Portland to join a band?
We have a range of room blocks set up at affordable prices, and we’ve got a thread on our Facebook group (please don’t join until you register!) to help you find roommates. You are responsible for contacting the hotel directly for your own lodging. You may either utilize the room block or take advantage of other options, such as hostels or couch-surfing.

We’ve got some travel info on our Travel & Lodging page, including suggestions for hotels, hostels, and other alternative lodging ideas.

Q. How can my company sponsor  the conference?
Thank you for your interest, but our sponsorship window has closed for this event. Please contact us if you’d like to be notified for our next event.

Q. Who is going to be speaking at the conference?
We have an exciting roster lined up. Our full line-up is posted here, and includes:

• Isa Chandra Moskowitz of The Post Punk Kitchen
• Laura Beck of Vegansaurus
• Susan Voisin of Fat Free Vegan
• Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan  of Our Hen House
• Jason Das of Super Vegan

Q. Will I have time to go out and explore Portland on my own? Do you have any recommendations?
Absolutely! Portland is a very vegan-friendly city and easy to get around in. We definitely encourage people to get out and about, and we’ll have a few events planned around town if you want to take advantage of locals’ advice. We have a handy dandy Vida Vegan Con Google Map (bookmark it!) in progress and will be sharing more suggestions for dining and sight-seeing this Spring.

Q. What is the cancellation and refund policy?
If you have paid for registration and are later confirmed as a scholarship recipient, your registration can be refunded.

Otherwise, all registrations are non-refundable.

If you want to sell your ticket to someone else, we will absolutely honor that ticket. Please, do not charge more than you paid.

Q. My question wasn’t answered! What should I do?
Email us!  vidaveganconference@gmail.com

Please know that the Vida Vegan Con organizers are dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity, gender presentation, sexual orientation, ability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion or asylum status.