I can’t believe how far ECmeetup has come. Seriously it was just the other day that I had a full on freak out about the first meetup

I was so nervous to meet all these amazing people I had been following online – never meet your heroes they say – and now, three years later, I count a lot of them among my closest friends.

So what do Luchae and I have up our sleeves for our friends this year? Well…

We are going big on the diversity of our here province. We are so blessed that we can see dolphins and lions less than 20min apart, seriously! We have such a diverse landscape! bush, beach, buildings, anyone, but it is no match to the diversity of the people and of the talents of the people. So we decided to play that up this year. Especially since we have Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism and the oldest newspaper in SA, The Herald on board.

So how are we showcasing this diversity, well apart from Shay and I doing the entire production of The Lion King on Broadway as a two man show (you wish). We will cover you in local loveliness from the get go. We start you off with expertly roasted coffee supplied by Mastertons (one of our favourite bragworthy exports) you will also be treated to the ultimate South African treat, rusks. But because we are super fancy, these rusks – small batch produced right here in Port Elizabeth by Hello Craft Range – is made with spelt flour and comes in flavours like Baobab and Buttermilk, Coffee and Macadamia, Pumpkin Seed and Almond. I know right! So up my ally

Our beautiful host venue The Boma in Kragga Kamma has so many awesome South African themed treats on offer that I can not wait for you guys to snap, I mean taste. Sarah had promised us a truly South African experience with Boma gourmet flair, so expect mini or deconstructed versions of the taste of home. I’m actually feeling very nostalgic about the Boma as FB reminded me that we had our first event there three years ago this week – ALL THE FEELS.

The amazing Boma menu will be paired with another local favourite. Juice from Soga Organic, this will be the third time we link up them and this proudly South African company located in the heart of the fertile Sundays River Valley, never disappoints.

So the #Sharethebay awesomeness does not stop there. The goodie bags will be featuring some hand crafted items from artists around the Eastern Cape – apart from the swoon worthy national brands. We teamed up with the power house behind Locally Yours (the monthly craft market at the Tramways) Annelize Botha and she will be sharing a little something with bloggers (if you have seen the digital campaign around that market, you will not want to miss out). Bloggers will also get to ask all those burning blogging questions and get answers from people who are walking the same walk and succeeding. Being an East Cape based blogger has unique challenges, and I sometimes feel like nationally ranked people might not get it, they will tell us to attend more brand events when we know brand events in PE are few and far between or tell us to reach out to our readers when our readership is not the same. They have different resources and different experiences , but when you get to chat to people who GET YOUR STORY, understand your struggles, that’s when the magic happens…. I told you, I’m in my feels today… you can head over to My Spreadsheet brain to hear more about the digital hot shots on our panel.

Bloggers will also get to ask all those burning blogging questions and get answers from people who are walking the same walk and succeeding. Being an East Cape based blogger has unique challenges, and I sometimes feel like nationally ranked people might not get it, they will tell us to attend more brand events when we know brand events in PE are few and far between or tell us to reach out to our readers when our readership is not the same. They have different resources and different experiences , but when you get to chat to people who GET YOUR STORY, understand your struggles, that’s when the magic happens…. I told you, I’m in my feels today… you can head over to My Spreadsheet brain to hear more about the digital hot shots on our panel.

I’m going to stop talking now, before I divulge too much and Luchae shouts at me for spoiling the surprise. (quick spoiler a brand might be flying in for the event)

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