I’ve just returned from TBEX (also known as the Travel Blog Exchange), which is a conference for travel bloggers, writers and new media content creators. This year, the conference was held not too far from home in Toronto, Ontario and, having read lots of good feedback on last year’s event, I decided to check it out.
So, I packed up a bag and headed to Hostelling International where I stayed in a six-bed, mixed dorm. It was the first time I’ve stay in a hostel and admittedly, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Fortunately, I found myself sharing a room with four other bloggers from the conference; their skills and experience with blogging ranged from the casual “tweeter” to the lifestyle blogger earning a regular wage (that was comparable to that of any professional career) from travelling the world and blogging about his experiences. Admittedly, it may have been a more sheltered experience of hostelling, but I certainly felt at ease in the same living space as my interesting co-habitants.
Here I am with my new friend Sylvia of cocopia.net. Sylvia travelled from Spain (although she’s quick to point out that she’s actually Norwegian) to be at the conference
The conference itself provided a lot of opportunities to listen to expert speakers on topics ranging from creative travel writing to measuring return on investment and working with travel destinations. Admittedly, I found some of the sessions more helpful than others, however, it was hard to determine whether that was in part due to choosing topics that I didn’t credit myself with knowing more about. Overall, I was impressed with the range of speakers and content covered over the two-day program.
Question and answer time at a TBEX writing seminar
It was pretty evident at the conference that everyone had their own way of approaching travel blogging. While some bloggers preached about research and analytics, others pushed the merits of authentic voice and the creative process. Rather than finding this confusing, however, I found it exciting to gain a better understanding of the full spectrum of travel blogging content already being successfully produced.
TBEX wasn’t just about professional development, however. There were also some great city tours and fantastic parties! As part of my trip, I took part in a tour of Toronto’s Distillery District by segway, thanks to Segway of Ontario, and ventured out to the Toronto Islands via a 20 man canoe on tour with the Harbourfront Canoe & Kayak Centre. Both of these tours were a ton of fun and you can check out my highlights video of my experiences outside of the “classroom”.
Me during the canoe tour around the Toronto Islands
The launch party and Expedia night party also deserve a mention here. It was clear that a lot of effort went into the launch party and it was certainly a fantastic night. At least a dozen local wineries and breweries showed up, alongside numerous restaurants who had prepared special tapas-style dishes for attendees. A special appearance by Juno-Award winning singer, Serena Ryder, was a great surprise which really put a special touch on the evening.
Serena Ryder performing at TBEX 2013
Here I am posing as Serena Ryder gave a special performance for TBEX
I was impressed with the level of organization that went into the conference. Some of the seminars were fantastic with lots of actionable tips to implement into my own blog and I have come away with a few ideas of how to move forward. I’m also pleased to say I met some fantastic people who I hope to see again very soon on one adventure or another. Overall, a great event!
I LOVE the video Rebecca!! And what a surprise to see me suddenly pop up there for a second! Haha! I had no idea you were filming! 😛
Thanks Sylvia! I didn’t actually know I was filming us either until I got back and checked out the footage. It seems I discovered some sort of video and stills multi-shoot function on the camera. I decided to throw it into the video anyways though as I had a lot of fun hanging out with you and thought it appropriate to include it as a highlight!
Wow, I enjoyed seeing your take on tbex with your video, great job, did you do this just with your I-phone? would love to try this some day, what do you do with music?
Hi Noel, thanks for your feedback!
I shot this particular video using a point in shoot camera, although some of my other videos are shot on DSLR. An I-Phone would also work great for creating short videos of your trips.
You can purchase royalty free music online to underlay your productions. These songs can be purchased for a reasonable price online and only requires you to pay for the purchase once. Using a non-royalty free track (such as your favourite song from the radio) would require you to pay a higher fee, generally on an annual basis, for the right to use the music. You would need to contact your country’s music licencing authority for further details on price and use rights. There is some fantastic royalty free music out there though, which just requires you to spend a little time digging for it, so generally I recommend you stick with that.
Coming soon, I will be posting blogs on video production. I’d love to know which topics you would find useful to read about as someone new to video production and vlogging. Do you have any topic requests?
I love that you documented the gummy bear carving station. I kind of felt sorry for those bears – though obviously not sorry enough to skip eating them.
Thanks Jess! I thought the gummy bear carving station was to good not to capture on video. I loved how he was carving it up in a menacing way as well. What was your favourite part of TBEX?