Speed Networking at World Travel Market 2015

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What is speed networking?

Speed networking is the opportunity, when at an event such as the World Travel Market, for industry bods such as Tourism Boards, Hoteliers, etc to meet with people and / or brands they’re interested in working with and discuss ways of linking up.

In my case, I was invited to a Bloggers Speed Networking event;

100 bloggers [were] given the opportunity to take part in mini-meetings with exhibitors to explore ways to work together in the future.

Source: World Travel Market for Bloggers

World Travel Market Speed Networking

The World Travel Market ran from 02-05NOV15 at the massive ExCel exhibition centre in Docklands of London.  On 5th November 2015, our Speed Networking event took place.  I was one of 100 bloggers chosen to meet exhibitors and discuss future co-operations.

What should you bring?

• Media Kit (with stats about your blog)
• Business Cards
• Anything else you think is relevant to your brand (but beware not to overdo it, don’t clutter your table with too much info)

Because I had also recently released my travel fiction book Girl Gone Greek, I had some Author business cards made too, feeling I’d also exhibit these as my book is travel related.  Wondering if I had provided too much info, I was lucky that visitors to my stand also took an interest in this side of my work.

How does it work?

Similar to the Speed Dating concept, the blogger stays at their table and the relevant exhibitor who wants to meet you comes to visit you at your table. You have 5 minutes to chat and discuss what business you can before a bell goes, and it’s time to move on.

At first, I feared I’d be the only one standing there with no-one visiting me as, unlike Speed Dating where everyone moves around EVERY table, exhibitors don’t have to come and visit you.  Tables near me joked about this a little amongst each other – and as we set up it was good to meet other bloggers from different sectors;

• Luxury and Cruise
• Hotels and Airlines
• Food
• Budget & Youth
• Adventure
• Miscellaneous (ie: photography, video, art, history, culture and LGBT)
• Responsible Travel
• Independent Travel (the bracket I came under)
• Family

I’d say Independent and Family Travel Bloggers were the biggest sector represented there.

When the event was officially opened at 10:00hrs, we needn’t have feared; Tourism Boards, hoteliers and the like came and ensured they chatted to find out about our blogs.  Admittedly, 5 mins is a short time to sell yourself, but with business cards swapped and short bullet points made on each card (to jog my memory after the event), I endured within a week of the Trade Show I followed up interested parties with emails.

Is it worth it?

Although I’ve been blogging for some time, this was my first venture at aiming to reach out to Industry in one go, and I was glad I had the opportunity to do so.  It was very interesting to find ways to further expand my blog and meet people, all under one roof.  And yes, whilst it was a very hectic session, it was still worth making the contacts.  So long as you follow through.

So if you’re a blogger – travel or other industry, keep an eye out in your sector for exhibitions such as the World Travel Market and do attend.  The World Travel Market costs nothing to register as a blogger.  The Blogger’s Speed Networking cost £40 to register, you had to provide a credit card when registering…but they only debited this money if you failed to show up for the event (without cancelling beforehand). There were other bloggers who would have loved to have the opportunity, so anyone who’s a no-show leaves the opportunity open to a blogger on a waiting list.