BlogWorld & New Media Expo Buys Travel Blogging Conference TBEX

March 7, 2012

The BlogWorld & New Media Expo, billed as the ‘world’s largest new media conference and trade show’, expanded its reach with the purchase of Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX), a travel blogging conference.

This year’s TBEX is set to take place June 15-17 at the Keystone Resort & Convention Center in Keystone in Colorado.

TBEX is a gathering of travel bloggers that allows them to meet each other and learn more about the art of travel writing, as well as blogging as a business, cross connecting on other platforms and locating new audiences and vendors for their blogs.

"BlogWorld's mission has always been to help all bloggers, podcasters and WebTV producers succeed and grow their businesses,” said Rick Calvert, CEO and co-founder of BlogWorld.

He added, “We approached Kim about making TBEX a part of the BlogWorld family because it's the largest and best travel blogging event in the world. We think it is a perfect fit, and we think we can help TBEX continue on its amazing growth path here in the United States and around the world."

The educational and networking programs will remain the same at TBEX, but BlogWorld will take over production and operations, and with BlogWorld’s experience running large, biannual trade shows, it will help TBEX manage the growth it has experienced during the past few years.

Kim Mance, founder of TBEX and editor of GoGalavanting.com, will maintain her role as an advisor for the show.

"It was my passion for travel in the new media space that brought an ever-growing grassroots group together, but as a writer and Web TV person, event planning has never been a strong point," Mance said.

She added, "Being acquired by a fantastic organization like BlogWorld allows the TBEX events to be taken to the next level, and to something the attendees and I always envisioned the event could be. I could not be more pleased."

There already has been a lot of crossover between BlogWorld and TBEX.  BlogWorld, which regularly features a Travel Blogging Track, has hosted several travel bloggers that also have attended or presented at TBEX.

Jennifer Miner, one of the industry's most followed travel bloggers and a past speaker at both BlogWorld and TBEX, said, "It's wonderful news that BlogWorld has bought TBEX and will now run the annual travel bloggers' conference. It's not often that two companies I enjoy so greatly come together like this.”

BlogWorld & New Media Expo's next East Coast event will take place June 5-7 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Last year’s West Coast version of BlogWorld was held Nov. 3-5 at the Los Angeles Convention Center and attracted 3,250 attendees, a slight increase from the 2010 event held in Las Vegas.

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