Does a one-legged duck swim in circles? Is the Pope catholic? Does a bear s#*t in the woods? Is TravelCon worth it? OK! Really bad rhetorical questions but you see where I’m going, right? Here is my advice as a first-timer.
In my opinion. YES! Absolutely! 100% worth it! For all those above-mentioned reasons and more.
Ask yourself, what’s your definition of worth? What specifically do you want for your money and from the conference? (arghhh so many questions!)
Are you thinking of monetary worth, the value of content and speeches, networking opportunities, future business opportunities?
You’ve heard that saying “knowledge is power”, right?
Initial Outlay
Let’s break down the monetary outlay first. This will depend on when you bought your ticket and if you were able to get an early bird ticket. For a standard ticket, you’re looking at an initial outlay of $399 US dollars.
Then you need to include the cost to get there, airfares, petrol if you’re road-tripping it and the cost of accommodation. Depending on the type of conference, it may be fully catered or you may need to purchase your lunch, dinner and drinks for example.
TravelCon was not fully catered, so there were additional food and drinks charges to take into account.
Let’s round it out and say your outlay will be roughly $1000-$2000 USD, depending on some variables. (I came from Australia, so my outlay was substantial)
That’s a lot of money to come up with and to spend. You are well within your rights to question whether such an outlay of your hard-earned dollars is going to be worth it and what are you going to get in return.
What Do You Get For The Cost of Your TravelCon Ticket?
You get a three-day event, packed with keynote speakers. This included Mark Manson, Tahir Shah, Tony Wheeler, Cheryl Strayed and Kiersten Rich, at the 2019 event.
Matt Kepnes and Cheryl Strayed Tony Wheeler and Matt Kepnes
Break-out sessions are run by some of the most successful bloggers in Travel. Some of these sessions included selling tours, YouTube monetisation, SEO for bloggers, affiliate marketing, how to grow your email lists, Adobe Premiere Video Editing and so many more.
Industry panels of writers, videographers, tourism boards, pod-casters, Instagrammers and Netflix producers.
Diversity Panel DMO Panel
Workshops run by successful writers and photographers ready to give you one on one lessons and critiques.
Three event parties, one happy hour and 16 niche meetups.
A media marketplace with access to all the companies and brands sponsoring the event AND the opportunity to have appointments with them for future collaborations.
PLUS countless opportunities to network with fellow attendees as well as ALL of the speakers. Phewwww (read: no time for sleep, I ain’t got time for that!)
Tabithabear, Beyondutah and Aliceinwandererland Opening Night Party Me with Kierstin Rich founder of the Blonde Abroad and Jeff Jenkins founder of Chubby Diaries
But Wait There’s More…
Don’t even get me started on the digital Swag Bag full of freebies and discounts for every attendee. There are goodies from companies such as MediaVine, Medjet, Adobe Premiere Rush and Intrepid Travel and then some.
Added to this, there is a TravelCon App that is live during the event. It contains in the moment communications, the schedule, changes to the event, as they happen and a live activity stream similar to Facebook.
It also contains individual Bio’s, whereby you can read about the speakers and other attendees and their blogs.
There is also a Facebook group running prior to and during the event. It’s great for attendees to start networking, supporting each other’s work and social media accounts.
To round it out, you get full access to the Virtual Pass.
What the heck is a TravelCon Virtual Pass, you ask?
Every speech, keynote and break out session is recorded. It is accessible to all attendees as an inclusion in the cost of the physical ticket.
For lifetime viewing!! Read that again. Lifetime viewing!!
With an event this size and with that many speakers, breakout sessions and keynote speeches there are going to be clashes. Read this post about how to make the most of your time at a travel conference.
You are one person you cannot be in two sessions at once. That’s the beauty of the Virtual Pass.
You attend the most important and beneficial talks on the day. The ones you want to be able to ask questions in, and then you have the ability to watch the rest via the virtual pass. Win-Win!
The kicker though is that the virtual pass is accessible to everyone!
Anyone can buy it, which is awesome for those that simply cannot afford, or are unable to attend the live Conference.
It’s also completely affordable. Head to www.travelcon.org to purchase yours and start reaping the benefits.
Getting Your Worth from TravelCon. My Advice!
With anything though there is a caveat. You get out what you put in.
If it’s your first TravelCon conference or you’re a newbie blogger, you’re inevitably going to feel nervous and awkward at the event. But you’ve got to step out of that comfort zone you’ve been living in and make the most of every opportunity that presents itself.
Walk up boldly to your favourite blogger and introduce yourself. Get that photo and have a chat.
Glo from The Blog Abroad Kiersten from The Blonde Abroad Matt from Nomadic Matt Kristin from Be My Travel Muse Lisa from Fjords and Beaches
Introduce yourself and network like a busy little blogging bee, with as many speakers and attendees as you can.
Get to niche meetups. Attend the parties and happy hours. Get to all of the talks that you can and make as many notes as you can.
Sign up to every speaker’s blog, for access to their newsletters, or speech notes. Show your support for the hardworking individuals in this industry.
Send out invitations for brand appointments and get your face in front of as many companies and sponsors as possible.
Sleep! What’s That?
You are going to be tired. There is going to be limited time for breaks, rest and sleep. It is for three days. You have spent a lot of money to be there. Get amongst it. Hustle! Work the room!
Get your face and your name in front of people and get your ass too as many sessions and meetups as is humanly possible.
Now what?
After TravelCon is done, it is now up to you! What are you going to do with everything you learnt, all the people you have met, all the networking you’ve undertaken and brand appointments you’ve had?
Now the real work begins. This is where you’ll notice the real worth and value of the money you have spent.
You can sit on your hands and be happy that you attended or you can strap yourself in and get to work.
If you had any brand or sponsorship meetings, now it’s time to send follow up emails. The best advice I received, is to not wait longer than 3-4 days to reintroduce yourself and the conversation you had, via a follow-up email. You want to show you’re excited and want to work with them.
It’s also nice to follow up with anyone that you exchanged business cards with whilst at TravelCon or had a really fabulous conversation with. Fellow bloggers are going to be your biggest and best referrers for future business. You want your network to be large and in your corner.
Decide what videos you want to watch from the Virtual Pass, or maybe re-watch some talks that you attended, to see if you missed anything on the day.
Implementation
Most importantly, start putting all the things you learned into practice. Don’t be idle. Use the momentum you’ve got from attending and start implementing all the actionable tips you received.
What do you think now? Is it worth it? Will I see you in New Orleans in 2020?
Read the other posts in my Travel Conference series to prepare for New Orleans.
How to make the most of your first travel conference and What items to take to a travel conference
Disclaimer: Photos used are stock photos from Canva, except those that are captioned. They are mine.
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