Travel BlogCamp

Update: The Learning Camp will take place on the 25 February 2010, at a fantastic venue called the Chambers in Leeds city centre. Email invites have been sent to those who contacted me. I only have six places but if you would like to be added to the waiting list and receive more information on the event, please contact me.

After this year’s Travel BlogCamp a few people emailed me to ask if I would think about organising a workshop where I could share my knowledge about social media, but specifically blogs. Over the last few weeks I have mulled over the idea about organising a Learning Camp for anyone in travel, here in Leeds.

My new challenge

Those who know me through Travel Rants will know that I like to experiment with new ideas, so this initially will be a one off workshop, but, if people learn and the feedback is good then future learning camps will be organised. The format of the camp is not confirmed but here are some initial thoughts

• 50/50 learning. Part of the workshop will be structured but the other half will be an opportunity to ask questions to myself and other people in the group. You will be able to share your experiences with the group and learn together.

• The venue will be in a city centre location. While the venue will be informal, it will be a comfortable learning environment. The camp will have a maximum of six people and last for four hours, but with regular breaks, it’ll not be intense and you will not feel like you are back at school.

• I am not an expert on social media; I certainly don’t want to tell you how to create your own strategy for social media, that, I will leave to the experts. What I will do is share my own experiences with Travel Rants, so that you don’t have to spend five years learning what I have.

When you write and manage a blog that you want to become popular you have to learn many new skills, from search engine optimisation to building a brand and community. I didn’t realise I had created a brand until someone told me one day.

So why am I organising a Learning camp?

It is fantastic how things have developed for me; I started writing Travel Rants in April 2005, I never imagined that I would receive media attention from the national newspapers, to then be interviewed live on BBC radio and now on television. It was never planned but thinking back actions I went through and decisions I took, helped me along the way.

The same applies with the Travel BlogCamp, I organised the first event, not knowing if anyone would turn up, never mind if the night would be a success. The second event went down well and now I am thinking about the learning camps which might help me finally jump the ship and become full-time self employed.

Will it cost me to attend?

Whoa. Hold your horses. At the moment I am at the planning stage. I am writing this blog post to see if people would be interested in learning more about the camp. There will be an attendee fee which will cover my time and the costs for venue etc.

If you are interested in learning more then please contact me and I will send you a quick survey, it’ll take less than five minutes to complete and it will help me find out what you would like to get from the learning camp. Then, if I receive enough interest I’ll send you more information about costs, venue etc.