Becoming a successful blogger is not just about putting great content out to the world online, its also about making connections and networking offline. Attending meet-ups and events that relate to you industry are perhaps one of the most important things that you can do to make your blog a success.
As a founder of We Are Travel Girls, a popular female travel community I have personally seen the power of these connections at events and meet-ups that we have organised around the world. Many women who have attended our events have gone on to work together, collaborate and even travel together.
You never know where a few hours shaking hands and chatting over cocktails may lead…. We met our first We Are Travel Girls interns at one of our meet-ups in Bali; at the same event we met a woman who helped us secure an amazing villa for our Bali Blogger Retreats; women who have attended our events have gone on to host meet-ups in their own city; and we even may receive a feature soon in a very well recognised publication through a connection we made at our first ever London meet-up.
Networking matters. So in the travel industry where should you start? To help you, I have collated a list of events, travel exhibitions and places to network with people in the travel community.
1) We Are Travel Girls Events
As I have mentioned We Are Travel Girls events are a great place to connect with like minded women and learn from one another. Head to our site WeAreTravelGirls.com to find out about upcoming events in your area. Or to host your own!
2) TBEX
Tbex describes itself as the worlds largest gathering of travel bloggers, writers, new media content creators and social media savvy travel industry professionals. Every year they partner with destinations in North America and Europe to bring the travel industry’s most creative minds together to learn, network and do business.
3) Blog Her
BlogHer was founded in 2005 by Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort Page, and Jory Des Jardins to answer the question, “Where are the women bloggers?”. Today, the BlogHer conference is the largest annual celebration of women online content creators, social media influencers, entrepreneurs, media makers and brand marketers. So if you are a female blogger, you should be attending!
4) Professional Travel Bloggers Association
The Professional Travel Bloggers Association’s mission is to promote the interests of travel bloggers within the industry by supporting and fostering the needs, careers and relationships of travel bloggers. It aims to legitimize travel blogging as a real business and facilitate relationships for people in the industry.
To become a member you need to be taking your blog seriously, and you need to prove that to them with screen shots of your Google Analytics, demonstrate your publishing frequency and by getting published on other sites.
5) ITB
ITB Berlin, short for Internationale Tourismusbörse Berlin is the world’s largest travel trade fair. Every year in March more than 10,000 exhibitors present dream destinations all over the world – from Albania to Zimbabwe.
Around 180,000 visitors can find travel inspiration and information every year through this event.
6) World Travel Market
The World Travel Market is a 3 day event in London bringing together over 5,000 exhibiting destinations and 51,000 travel professionals, key industry buyers, journalists, digital influencers, students and tourism Ministers.
7) Women In Travel Summit
The Women In Travel Summit by She’s Wanderful is open to women travel influencers, brands and creators. Over three days you will take part in workshops, fireside chats, speaker events and have the opportunity to network with women from all parts of the travel industry.
8) Women In Travel (WINiT)
Not to be confused with the above, Women In Travel or WINiT describes their organisation as a catalyst to drive change, provide support and educate the public about the benefits of career development, visibility & mobility of women in the travel. You can also head to WomenInTravel.org for their calendar of networking events and also to learn about their annual summit.
10) Travel Massive
Travel Massive Travel Massive connects thousands of travel insiders to meet, learn and collaborate at free events all around the world. There are different ways to get involved, attend an event in your area, sponsor an event or share your story. This is a great place to find out about all sorts of travel events happening in your area.
11) Young Travel Professionals
The Young Travel Professionals offers events in a number of locations around the world, mostly in the United States, but also in London and Cape Town.
12) Womens Travel Fest
An annual 3 day event bringing together women around the world who are in the travel industry. Head to the Women’s Travel Fest to learn from professional journalists and bloggers speaking at the event and to network throughout with other like minded travellers.
13) Meetup.Com
MeetUp.com is a great place to search for and find all sorts of meet-ups happening close to you, and travel or blogging is no exception. Start by searching for a specific meet-ups and the site will then generate other related topics, before your know it your calendar will be packed with new events to attend!
14) Facebook Groups
There are lots of Facebook groups to connect with female travellers and bloggers around the world, this is a great place to find out about local networking events and to arrange informal get togethers. We have an active Facebook Group for women travellers that you are welcome to join.
Are You An Aspiring Blogger?
Are you just getting started in the world of blogging, or have a blog but you are not seeing the traffic you want from it? Are you looking to make an income from your website, but not sure where to start? Are you frustrated with not growing on social media?
If any of these resonated with you then check out The Blog Elevation Program. In this in depth blogger course I share everything that I learnt over the last few years, from branding, to building an email list, growing a social media presence to generating a steady income from your website. This course covers it all and more!
Do you know of any other networking events in the travel industry? Please share them with our readers in the comments below.
Read More About Blogging
- 15 Tips To Boost Your Productivity Today
- How to Find and Buy a Great Domain
- 11 Ways To Become A More Responsible Blogger
Pin For Later
Amanda says
August 8, 2017 at 8:03 pmHey Becky! Its so good to see a list of all these events in one place. Saves a newbie like me from having to do a ton of research. I’m attending another event (not on the list) in Sydney this weekend – Travel Bootcamp. I find there is generally a lack of events held in Australia, probably because its so far away from everything. Hopefully this weekend should be a valuable session.
Zhanna says
August 24, 2017 at 11:38 pmGreat post! Thanks to it, I found your group on Facebook. I have been reading your website for a while and really like it.
http://www.morethandestination.com
Jasmine says
December 6, 2022 at 6:45 amThank you for this wonderful blog, it is really informative.