On the 22nd April I will be hosting the second Travel Learning Camp here in Leeds at the Chambers, a fantastic meeting venue and luxury serviced apartments based in central Leeds. On this camp I will be hosting it jointly with Karen Bryan who is the editor of Europe a la Carte and between us we have 10 years experience in blogging within travel.

So why would you want to attend the Travel Learning Camp?

Network with people within the travel industry

There are very little opportunities other than during events like the World Travel Market, for people who work within the travel industry to network. The group is small, no more than ten attendee’s, so you have will have plenty of time to introduce yourself and share experiences.

Comfortable learning environment

The venue is very comfortable with great facilities and only a short walk from the train station. Parking is also available nearby. You can view the photos of the room I hire and the refreshment area. It is big enough for the camp, has comfortable seating and a relaxed atmosphere.

Learning Camp session starts at 11 am and finishes at 3 pm so those attending from London or further North can travel to and from Leeds in the same day. At the first camp there were two people who travelled from London. On the East coast line if you book two single tickets (there and back) in advance you can find some good deals.

Learn from other attendee’s experiences

The camp isn’t just about Karen or myself talking about our experiences; we want group participation and those attending to share their experiences, or, ask questions. I took a number of ideas away from the first camp, and also learnt more about website analytics, social media tools and campaigns.

Travel Learning Camp format

A few weeks prior to the camp I send out an email requesting the types of topics/issues/questions that attendee’s have with blogging and social media. These topics then form the format of the session. This time I will be making more use of the WiFi and large screen so that attendee’s can, if they wish, show off their blogs, community etc.

A buffet lunch is brought to us around 1 pm and we have refreshments through-out the session. It is informal and relaxed. The attendee’s from the first camp were willing to share their experiences and we had a good mixture of Travel PR / Law, Adventure/TEFL and flight specialist companies who attended.

Who should attend?

The Travel Learning Camp is perfect for anyone who works across the travel industry and is interested in learning more about blogging and social media. You have to want to participate, share your experiences and join in the discussions for you to get the best out of the session.

Maybe your company has a travel blogger who wants to learn from our experiences, or you have clients who are starting to think about creating a blog or interact with people using social media.

Please complete the form to receive more information and the attendee rate.

Post from: Travel BlogCamp 2009

Following on from the great feedback on the first Travel Learning Camp I am organising another one on the 22 April at the Chambers in Leeds. This time, I’ll be hosting the camp with my good friend and fellow Travel Blogger, Karen Bryan from Europe a la Carte.

Between us we have 10 years of experience in blogging plus a few years using social media to promote our brands.

There are 10 places available, first come, first served.

The Learning Camp starts at 11 am and finishes at 3 pm. Giving you plenty to get to and from Leeds. The first Travel Learning camp had attendee’s from as far as London; so, don’t let it put you off that we are ooop north! It’s only a 2.5 hour train journey here, and if you get two single tickets, and book in advance, you can find some bargain deals.

Contact us here for more information

Post from: Travel BlogCamp 2009

Last week I launched the first Travel Learning Camp, it was an interesting experience and the feedback has been fantastic. What I liked about the session was that everyone participated and shared their experiences with social media. As with every travel event that I have been to in the last 12 months, Twitter was discussed at length.

Other topics discussed included:

» Consumer interaction
» How to create an authority blog
» Social media strategies and ideas
» Boosting engagement among followers
» Social media measurement tools

Rather than just sharing my own experiences it was a great opportunity for travel companies to network and interact with each other and learn about their experiences with social media. Everyone who attended was happy to share and I cannot remember any time where we stopped talking, other than to eat.

Lessons learnt

As with all of new events they were lessons learnt. Next time I would like to make use of the large screen/Wi-Fi facilitates so that attendee’s can talk about their blogs and communities and allow others to critique. Most of the attendee’s thought it would be good to extend it to five hours.

Good mixture of people

The session had a good mixture of people, from Travel PR and law, adventure travel/TEFL and flight specialist. I shared my experiences but I learnt a lot more from everyone else. The four hours went very quickly and The Chambers, our venue for the day was excellent. Thanks to all of the staff who helped on the day.

Thanks to the attendee’s for their support.

Stuart – Around the World Flights
Susie – BGB
Honor – i-to-i
Clare – Pannone
Adrian – Umpf

Future Learning Camp’s

If you would like to know about other travel events that I am planning in the future please sign up to the Travel BlogCamp newsletter and you’ll be the first to know about them. If you would like to know more about the Learning Camp then please feel free to contact me.

Post from: Travel BlogCamp 2009

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.

Post from: Travel BlogCamp 2009