If you’re not involved in the travel, blogging, or travel blogging industries, you’ve probably never heard of TBEX. This conference, whose tagline reads “The Future of Travel Media,” brings travel bloggers and travel industry representatives together for several days of educational workshops, seminars and networking events in order to help all involved gain a better understanding of how we can all work together to serve our clients and audiences.
It’s no secret that the way people consume travel media is shifting in a major way. Travel blogs are becoming an increasingly popular medium for people to get up-to-date information on their desired destinations, accommodation options, restaurants, tours, and more, with the added benefit of being written (hopefully) in an entertaining and relatable way.
Because travel blogging is still a relatively new and rapidly evolving industry, we as travel bloggers are compelled to constantly grow and learn as much as we can in order to stay ahead of the curve. Equally important is for travel-related businesses and brands to understand how working with bloggers can be beneficial to them and their clients when done properly.
I recently attended my first TBEX Conference (TBEX stands for Travel Bloggers Exchange) in Lloret de Mar on Spain’s Costa Brava. It was an amazing opportunity to learn not only about the trends and changes we can expect to see in travel media in coming years, but also about how I myself can best utilize the knowledge and skills I have in order to grow my blog and ensure its success in the future as these changes take place.
The following are the most important lessons I learned about attending TBEX and a few of the things I would do differently next time (and I am certain there will be a next time). I hope my insights will prove useful to any of you who might be thinking of attending your first TBEX and maybe even give you the push you need to buy that ticket. Stockholm 2016, anyone?
It’s never too early to attend.
Going into this experience, I was admittedly quite apprehensive and unsure of what to expect. Having only been blogging in any sort of serious way for just about one year, I wondered if I would be in way over my head, swimming amongst the big fishes and meeting with travel professionals who were only interested in big numbers (in terms of things like readership and social media followers).
Much to my pleasant surprise, this was not at all the case. In fact, plenty of bloggers in attendance were even newer on the scene thanmyself. I met bloggers who’d been blogging the same amount of time as me, others who were only a few months in, and others still who hadn’t even launched their blogs yet but who were going into it with the strong intention of blogging as a business.
Plenty of well-known bloggers (the veterans of travel blogging, if you will) were in the mix as well, but this shouldn’t intimidate you–in fact, these are exactly the people you want to know. More often than not, they are excellent sources of information and encouragement and far more down-to-earth than you might expect. The conference wasn’t without big egos, of course, but those were few and far between.
Furthermore, I heard the same refrain over and over again that eased my fear of being looked at as a blogger who couldn’t provide much value: Numbers are not the most important thing. Just about everyone I spoke to agreed on this small but powerful point. Oftentimes companies and brands look for other factors such as a blog’s specific niche and reader demographics, engagement, or skills like quality writing and photography as indicators of the value a blog can provide in a partnership.
Everyone is worth meeting.
The best advice I received before TBEX was to go into it with an open mind. This little reminder helped me to be receptive to conversations with anyone and everyone I met, whether they were a fellow newbie blogger, a conference sponsor, a big name blogger or conference speaker, a stranger on the street, or otherwise.
Though it’s true that relationships and partnerships won’t necessarily form from all of them, there is always that chance. Perhaps you have a great conversation with someone that has nothing to do with blogging; perhaps you click with someone and become great friends down the road; perhaps you find someone willing to give you a referral; perhaps you get a great photography, writing, or SEO tip; perhaps you get some solid business advice. Whatever comes out of each interaction (even if it’s nothing—and that’s okay too) it will always be worth a minute or two of your time.
But you can’t possibly meet everyone…
Talking for several days in a row from nine in the morning until late in the night will wreak havoc on your vocal chords. I learned the hard way that it’s just not possible to meet everyone at the conference and that once in awhile it’s absolutely necessary to take a break. Before the conference was even over, my voice was completely gone.
Even with the best of intentions, opportunities to meet everyone you want to meet just might not present themselves. In my case, I made quick friends with a number of bloggers whom I crossed paths with over and over again. We often stuck together and chatted amongst ourselves rather than seeking out people we hadn’t yet met, in part because we got along well and, frankly, because it was easier–introducing yourself and wading through small talk hundreds of times over is thoroughly exhausting. In hindsight, I actually think it was more valuable to form strong bonds with a few people than tenuous bonds with many.
…Or do everything.
Days before the conference even begins, intensive workshops take place on a range of topics. Pre-conference FAM trips are being offered right up until the day prior the conference, and post-conference FAM trips begin immediately after. Parties put on by conference sponsors are nightly events, starting two nights before the conference. If you were to try to do everything, not only would your mind explode from information overload, but you’d run yourself absolutely ragged and leave the conference feeling burnt out.
How do I know this? Again, I learned the hard way. And in reality, I didn’t even take advantage of half of the things I could have.
It’s easy to suffer from FOMO when there is literally something to do from sunup until sundown and when skipping an event could possibly mean a missed opportunity, but if I could do it all over again, I would take more time for myself and try harder to pace myself with the socializing.
In fact, even when it comes to more formal events like speed networking, I’ll know not to stress so much in the future. I was only able to secure three speed networking appointments prior to the conference (which was 100% my fault for waiting until the last minute to do so). I ended up NOT speaking to a few of the ones I’d made appointments with due to other people swooping on my appointment times and speaking with plenty of sponsors with whom I didn’t have formal appointments. My advice here? Skip a lecture or two and spend that time networking with sponsors instead. You won’t have to compete with people for face time and you’ll feel less pressured when your meeting has no time limit.
Staying in the loop is crucial.
As mentioned above, there are a multitude of activities, workshops, FAM trips and discounts made available to bloggers before, during and after the conference. You won’t be able to take advantage of all of these incredible opportunities though if you don’t stay in the loop beforehand.
How exactly can you stay in the loop, you ask?
As soon as you register for the conference, sign up for the TBEX blog newsletter. Make sure it’s coming to your primary inbox, and read every new post. These are filled with all of the info you need to register for pre-BEX and post-conference FAM trips, how to get discounts on everything from activities to transportation to hotel stays, and where you’ll find speaker and sponsor info, conference schedules, speed networking opportunities and more. I made the mistake of letting these emails sit stagnant and, as a result, missed out on tons of opportunities.
Another important way to stay in the loop is to like the TBEX Facebook page and, even more importantly, join Facebook groups for bloggers attending the conference. This way you’ll know which bloggers are arriving when, where everyone plans to stay, and when people are meeting up for drinks, photo walks, or other blogger merriment. Use these forums to get to know other attendees beforehand, find people to room with, or just generally stay involved with TBEX-related discussions. You’ll be glad you did.
One final takeaway?
Be as prepared as possible, but don’t overthink it.
The TBEX conference is as much about being a professional and putting your best foot forward as it is about having fun. I mean, they wouldn’t provide all that free alcohol if they didn’t want us to let loose a little bit, so throw a little caution to the wind and see what happens.
Even if you’re not sure what you want out of blogging yet, maybe TBEX can help you figure it out. No matter what, the experience will be worth your while.
If you’ve attended TBEX before, what were some of the things you learned? If you haven’t been yet, what’s stopping you?
