How to Prepare for a TBEX Travel Blogger Conference

You’ve got your ticket, signed up for a blog tour, and ready for the opening night party but how prepared are you to rub shoulders with some of the most influential brands, and travel pros in the industry? The Travel Blogger Exchange (TBEX) is the world’s largest gathering of travel bloggers, writers, new media content creators, and social media savvy brands so attending this conference requires some pre-event preparation. With over a thousand bloggers and content producers on hand, you want to make sure you stand out from the rest and have a successful experience.

Here are 6 need-to-know tips before you attend TBEX (with  some extra bonus tips) plus keep reading to find out how you can win your ticket for free.

1. Bring Business Cards

Print your business cards and print lots of them! Travel brands, editors, and PR people will be on hand to network with over a thousand blogger-delegates over the 3-day conference. Have at least 200 cards handy and make sure your name, website, contact e-mail and social channels are clearly displayed on them.

Bonus Tip #1: Vistaprint and Moo Cards can print business cards at a reasonable price and they ship within a few days.

2. Set Your Goals

Why are you attending? Who do you want to meet? Make a list of 5-10 people you want to meet and pick their brain such as speakers, bloggers you follow, companies, brands or tourism boards you would like to work with. Are there any specific skills you want to learn? Attend workshops that will help you achieve your particular goals and bring a list of questions you would like answers to.

3. Create a Media Kit

If you’re serious about creating a business from your blog, the speed dating sessions and networking opportunities at TBEX may be the most important part of the conference. You will want to have a media kit that highlights your brand and what you can offer. Include details about who you are, who is your audience, what is your niche, links to previous blog posts about press trips, or ways you’ve worked with other brands in the past, your social media reach, links to your social networks, blog stats or screenshots of your Google Analytics, and your contact info.  The Planet D and Positive World Travel are great examples of media kits.

Bonus Tip #2: Convert your media kit to a PDF document so you can access it easily with or without Wifi. Bring along an iPad or tablet to the conference so you can share it with PR reps during your speed dating appointments and even email it to them on the spot.  Talk about seizing the moment!

Bonus Tip #3: I use Canva to create my own media kit. It’s a brilliant (and free) graphic design tool that comes with all sorts of drag-and-drop images, texts, layouts and backgrounds.

3. Learn to Speed Date. Make Yourself Memorable.

The speed dating event at TBEX is the opportunity to meet with brands one-on-one. It can be the beginning of new potential business relationships and hopefully business deals afterward.

You only have about 10 minutes to make a good impression during your appointment so do your research in advance. Before meeting company representatives, Google their previous and current marketing campaigns, read their goals and mission statement on their website, browse their archive of press releases, and find out how they worked with other bloggers in the past. Bloggers should always know the brand before they approach or pitch them. Brainstorm ideas of how your own brand can fit into their upcoming campaign and how you can help achieve their goals.

Bonus Tip #4: After the conference, send a follow up email to the company reps you met with and are interested in working with. Remember, they meet hundreds of bloggers over a short and chaotic weekend so a short email thanking them for their time and reminding them of your talking points will leave them with a memorable impression of you.

4. Have an Elevator Pitch

Anything can happen at TBEX and you never know who you might bump into when you least expect it – at the opening or closing night parties, at the lunch table, or grabbing a drink at the bar. Craft an elevator pitch that tells others, in 20-30 seconds, what your blog or business is about, what problem does it solve and who does it help, and what makes you or your blog unique. I even practice pitching in the mirror.

5. Have a Plan

This year there are over 20 guest speakers giving insightful workshops crammed in just a couple of days and, chances are, there will be multiple panel discussions happening at the same time, but how can you be at more than once place at one time?

First, make a list of all the sessions you want to attend. Second – and this is my best advice – team up with another blogger to divide and conquer the workshops. Make lots of detailed notes for each other (I use good ol’ fashion paper and pen because I write faster than I type) and then swap the goods!

Bonus Tip #5: I like to sit up front so I can snap a quick photo of important presentation slides with my camera phone. The workshops are loaded with information and it can be hard to write down every point.

6. Attend a Blog Trip. Be Original.

Sponsored blog trips at TBEX are a lot of fun but they can be overwhelming. The tours can see as many as 15 people on the same trip, with content producers taking photos of the same food and scenery, or taking notes on the same information. Be original. Ask questions tailored to your niche, take photos of the things other bloggers are not taking photos of, interview the locals, or consider a unique angle your readers are most interested in. This is how you can stand out from the rest and get noticed by sponsors and brands who will read your content after the event.

Finally, have fun! The TBEX experience is what you make of it and you will walk away with lifelong friends and feel more inspired than ever before. The weekend of TBEX is jam-packed with things to do that can seem stressful but with a little pre-event prep you can ensure you have the most successful experience.

Don’t have your ticket yet? Travel Massive has you covered! Sign up for TBEX Cancun or TBEX Athens and enter code Massive20 to receive 20% off your blogger ticket.

Cristina is a TV journo turned blogger at ChasingTravel.com and a PR and social media freelancer. She has been a member of Travel Massive since 2012, is currently the co-organizer of the Toronto chapter and Content Editor for Travel Massive Global. You can connect with her on Twitter @travelingjourno or on Facebook.