10 Reasons why every travel blogger should attend Traverse
Recently, I attended my very first Traverse conference, which is the UK’s biggest travel blogging weekend conference (and quite frankly should be the annual pilgrimage for every travel blogger based in the UK!).
There are so many reasons why you should attend this conference but I’ve managed to narrow it down to 10 reasons why every travel blogger should attend Traverse, let’s go!…
1) The inspirational talks
There is no end of inspirational talks to attend at Traverse. One talk that really stuck with me this year was the introductory speech by Tori James, the youngest British woman and first Welsh woman to summit Mount Everest. And I don’t mean, ‘oh we trekked for days and got to base camp one’, I’m talking, getting to the top of Everest, flying her welsh flag with pride.
Listening to her talk about her dreams and the obstacles she has overcome to achieve them really made me think about what I wanted to achieve in my own life. There was one thing she said that really stuck with me: “When fear and excitement come together, you’re onto a good thing.” – I left the room thinking, “Ok, I’m not going to summit Everest but I’m going to try hard no matter what the obstacles to achieve my goals.” She was a real inspiration and got Traverse off to a cracking start.
Check out her TED talk and you’ll understand what I mean!
2) The creative workshops
It’s not all about listening at Traverse, there are many interactive workshops you can attend to help get your creative juices flowing. This year I attended Jen Lowthrop‘s, ‘How to think creatively about your blog content’. She was wonderfully engaging and gave us all real techniques we could use to help us in the content writing process.
One of my favourite things that Jen recommended was to make our own, ‘ultimate scrapbook’, where you can write, draw or stick anything you like. She said to fill out a few pages out a day and put down the first thing that comes to our mind; after a couple of weeks, look back on what you have created and see if there is anything in those pages that inspires you for your next post.
3) Linking with brands
In addition to the talks and workshops, Traverse is an excellent place to hook up with brands you may never have thought to connect with. You have the opportunity to leave your business card and have a chat with them face to face. They also run cool competitions for you to win top travel prizes; this year, prizes included, flights to Asia and a trip to New York.
Which leads me to my next point….
4) Freebies!
Who loves a freebie? Well, you’re in luck because if you attend Traverse, you get some pretty sweet freebies, courtesy of the very kind brands that attend. This year I came home with a Cathay Pacific monkey, a travel guide to Wales, fortune cookies with special blogger fortunes inside and a flex-stand for my iPhone. Thanks to all the lovely brands that supported Traverse and spoiled us bloggers ;)
5) Opportunity to share your blog and discover awesome new ones
What better place then a travel blogging conference to spread the word about your blog and find awesome new ones to follow and be inspired by?
6) Catch up with old friends…
Undoubtedly my favourite part of Traverse is catching up with old friends. The thing with travel blogger friends is that they travel so much, coordinating diaries can be a nightmare! Traverse gives you all an excuse to meet up, catch up and have a great time geeking out over travel and blogging.
7)…and make some new ones
I have met some incredible people through Traverse. I met Lisa from Lisa Loves Sunlife and Rachel from Vagabond Baker when I did my Sunday experience and had loads of fun spending an afternoon creating graffiti art with them. I also met the fabulous Hayley from A Life of More and Kara from Heels in my Backpack whilst we were all staying at the YHA Hostel together with my friend Sophie from Sophie’s Suitcase, who kindly put me up for the night (love you Sophs!) ;)
For more on our graffiti art experience, you can check out my workshop video right here…
8) The parties!
There’s the welcome party on the Friday night, the main party on Saturday night and a list of free Sunday experiences to choose from…in other words, there is a lot of partying going on at Traverse! Traverse is unlike any other conference, not only because it’s especially for travel bloggers but because they put such an emphasis on fun as well as the learning aspects. The main party on Saturday night was held at Revolution in Cardiff city centre, where we had our own bar and it was buzzing! It’s also a great opportunity to catch up with friends you didn’t get chance to speak to in the day and meet new people.
9) It’s another travel opportunity
Traverse is held in a different city in the UK every year. So far they have hosted it in Brighton, London, Newcastle and now Cardiff. As travel bloggers we usually want to go to a million different places but there are always places that escape your attention that you never thought about going to. Cardiff was almost like that for me and would have been had I not visited over Christmas to go to the Doctor Who experience as part of the boyf’s Christmas present. So many bloggers mentioned it was their first time in Cardiff and I thought it was so cool that it was infiltrated by a gang of travellers for the weekend to shine some much deserved spotlight on it. I can’t wait to see where they hold it next year!
10) You’ll just have a BLAST!
I can’t recommend Traverse enough to my fellow travel bloggers. We all had such a good time! It represents everything that I love about blogging and I loved the buzz of being surrounded by so many creative and like-minded people. I know I’ll be heading back next year, are with me? ;)
Have you ever attended Traverse? What is your experience of attending travel/blogging conferences? I’d love to hear about it! :)
