Abigail King
(Dr, Inside the Travel Lab)
A journalist and photographer who swapped a career as a doctor for a life on the road. Abigail King is an award-winning British journalist and photographer who writes about travel for print and online publications and biomedical science for academic journals. She is also one of the leading figures in the UK for new travel media. She has circled the globe twice, trekked through the snows of Kilimanjaro and Patagonia and tracked down tigers, turtles and panda bears. She’s then had a hot shower and embraced the city life of New York, Rio, Paris and Tokyo.
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Amy Moore
(Blog Manager, Everything Everywhere)
Amy Moore works with two of the most popular travel blogs, Everything-Everywhere.com and InsideTheTravelLab.com. While her job description tends to be “whatever needs to be done”, a significant portion is working with sponsors of the site using a philosophy that long term sponsorship trumps traditional advertising models.
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Amy Porterfield
(Facebook Marketing Author, Amy Porterfield, Inc.)
Amy is the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies and a Social Media Strategist for entrepreneurs and small businesses. With 12+ years marketing experience, Amy has worked with mega brands like Harley-Davidson Motorcycles, along with Peak Performance Coach, Tony Robbins, where she oversaw his content marketing team and collaborated on multiple online marketing campaigns. She currently creates online programs to teach entrepreneurs and small businesses how to leverage social media to gain greater exposure, attract quality leads and turn their fans and followers into loyal customers.
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Beth Whitman
(CEO/Founder, Wanderlust and Lipstick)
Beth Whitman is the founder of Wanderlust and Lipstick and WanderTours, both specializing in the women’s travel market. Wanderlust and Lipstick is one of the most popular women’s travel companies with 3 guidebooks, a website that includes a network of nearly 25 women travel bloggers and tours to exotic destinations from Bhutan to Papua New Guinea. Beth has more than 25 years of travel experience as a backpacker, businesswoman, volunteer and tour operator. She regularly speaks at events to not only inspire others to see the world but to also create a business doing what they love most: travel.
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C.C. Chapman
(Author, Amazing Things Will Happen)
C.C. Chapman is a leader in the online and social media marketing space. He is an avid photographer, author and keynote speaker. His most recent book (with Ann Handley) Content Rules, is a best seller that explains how companies can create remarkable content. C.C. is an advocate who speaks about building passionate consumer communities, and the strategic values of content-based marketing. He is the host of Passion Hit TV and the founder of Digital Dads. C.C. is a graduate of Bentley University and happily lives in the woods outside of Boston with his loving family.
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Chris Christensen
(Founder, Amateur Traveler)
Chris is the host of the Amateur Traveler. The Amateur Traveler is a popular online travel show that focuses primarily on travel destinations. It includes a weekly audio podcast, a video podcast, and a blog. By day Chris makes software. He has been a Director of Engineering at TripAdvisor and has been a EVP of Engineering for a company that ran large online communities and events for companies including eBay, HBO, American Express, Marriot, NBA, ABC, Disney, and NBC.
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Chris Gray Faust
(Editor, Chris Around The World Travel Content)
Chris Gray Faust is a veteran travel writer and journalist, with reporting and editing stints at USA TODAY, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the (New Orleans) Times-Picayune. She’s now a freelance writer and blogger on her own site, Chris Around The World. The blog, which covers Value Luxury Travel, has won a Lowell Thomas travel writing award. Chris is a founding member of the Value Luxury Network, a consortium of online publishers offering digital media and marketing consultancy services. When not on the road, she lives in Seattle with her husband and two cats.
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Dave & Deb
(Co-Founders, The Planet D)
Dave and Deb of popular adventure travel blog ThePlanetD.com are well known travel personalities in both online and mainstream media. A writer/photographer team, they talked travel every week on Canada’s National News Station and continue to appear regularly in TV, radio and print inspiring people to live their dreams and travel the world. They live by their motto “Adventure is For Everyone.” If they can do it, anyone can. With current partnerships including American Express Canada, Intrepid Travel and Expedia.com plus ongoing sponsorship campaigns with various companies they have proven that a travel blog can be a successful business model.
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Gary Arndt
(Blogger, Everything Everywhere)
Gary has been traveling the world since March 2007. In that time he has visited over 110 countries and territories and all 7 continents. His blog, Everything Everywhere, is one of the most popular travel blogs on the internet. It was named by Time Magazine as one of the 25 Best Blogs of 2010 and he has also been honored by the Society of American Travel Writers and the North American Travel Journalists Association.
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Janice Waugh
(Publisher, Solo Traveler)
Janice has spoken on travel and travel blogging at many events including The Smithsonian, the World Travel Market, Blog World and Visit Russia Forum. She has been the go-to person on solo travel for CNN, Oprah’s blog, the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and LA Times. She is the author of The Solo Traveler’s Handbook, publisher of Solo Traveler and moderator of the Solo Travel Society on Facebook with over 7,000 fans. Janice is co-founder of the Global Bloggers Network. Prior to her career as a writer, Janice had a conference company which she started, grew and sold.
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Jaume Marin
(Marketing Director, Costa Brava Girona Tourist Board)
Jaume Marin is the Marketing Director at the Costa Brava Girona Tourist Board. Prior to his time in Costa Brava, Jaume participated in the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games as IT Coordinator, then went on to live in Holland and Scotland for over 5 years. While in Scotland, he helped in developing Sports and Excellence in the Sports Scotland marketing department. Coming back to Spain, he was involved with two golf resorts, and fell in love with Costa Brava and the Pyrenees. Now working in Costa Brava, he has found great success in combining 1.0 and 2.0 strategies – implementing Storytelling wherever possible. He finds himself very lucky to be a part of one of the best marketing teams in tourism – whose successful blogtrips #incostabrava and #inpyrenees have received worldwide recognition.
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JD Andrews
(Owner, earthXplorer media inc.)
20 years traveling around the globe (83 countries across all 7 continents), creating, shooting, & editing travel/tourism videos for various cruise lines, airlines, tourist boards & television networks.
Capturing the beauty of the world through video & photographs. In 2010, I created, produced, shot, & edited a TV show about Social Media & Travel called GoingSocialTV. Featuring destinations around the world & interviews with unique people & companies in the travel industry that are using social media in innovative ways for marketing, new business development, & social interaction. Aired on DirecTV, can be viewed at http://vimeo.com/channels/goingsocialtv.
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Jennifer Miner
(Travel Blogger, The Vacation Gals)
Jennifer Miner is a travel writer based in Los Angeles and the co-creator/editor of The Vacation Gals, a popular, multiple award-winning travel blog featuring family friendly destinations, tips for traveling with kids, romantic getaways, and more. It has won the Best Independent Travel Blog award from the North American Travel Journalists Association, and is rated one of the Top 20 Independent Travel Blogs. Most recently, she has created and is co-chair of the Los Angeles Consortium of Online Travel. MSNBC.com’s Chris Elliott named LACOT’s blog, Los Angeles Online Travel, as one of the “11 Best New Blogs of 2011.”
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Jessica Parker
(Account Supervisor, Weber Shandwick)
Jessica is an Account Supervisor in the Travel & Lifestyle practice at Weber Shandwick – the world’s largest public relations firm.
She works for some of the most recognized travel brands and destinations, including Singapore Airlines and The Islands Of The Bahamas – responsible for media relations, press trips, promotions, digital and marketing.
This will be her fourth time attending TBEX and second time speaking. She is passionate about connecting brands with the appropriate bloggers and vice versa.
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Jill Lloyd
(Senior PR Manager Manager EMEA, Expedia)
Jill has worked in online travel media for almost 10 years. As Senior PR Manager, EMEA she is responsible for communicating the brand’s “People Shaped Travel” proposition in Europe.
After leaving Yahoo! in 2007, to travel and study in South America, Jill joined LBi to set up its digital PR practice. During her time there she worked with both travel bloggers across a range of clients from The British Red Cross to Starwood hotels with the team’s online PR campaigns winning a silver London International Award and being shortlisted for the IMA Awards, BIMAs and Campaign awards.
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Joantxo Llantada
(Promotion Executive, DMO Land of Valencia)
Born in Bilbao, working in Valencia and resting in the Canary Islands. Marketer, digital storyteller, social media strategist, tourist trends @ DMO Land of Valencia, Spain. Coacher and freelancer for marketing and new communication strategies. Trend hunter and innovation for leisure and tourism industries
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Jodi Ettenberg
(Founder, Legal Nomads)
Jodi Ettenberg has been eating her way around the world since April 1, 2008. In addition to publishing Legal Nomads, which chronicles her ongoing travels, meals and transportation misadventures, Jodi works as a contributing editor for Longreads and as a freelance writer and photographer for The Hipmunk, CnnGo and G Adventures. Prior to founding Legal Nomads, Jodi worked as a corporate lawyer in New York City. She frequently speaks about social media strategy, food and travel, and curation, and will be publishing a food handbook in late 2012.
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Keith Jenkins
(Founder & Publisher, Velvet Escape)
Keith Jenkins is the Founder and Publisher of the Velvet Escape luxury travel blog. Based in Amsterdam, Keith left his ten-year investment banking career to travel the world and carve out a new career as a travel blogger and social media advocate. He has visited more than 70 countries across six continents and writes about his travels on his Velvet Escape blog. Keith often speaks at travel and social media conferences, and offers social media consultancy and marketing services. He is also the co-founder of the Global Bloggers Network, a community of more than 1,000 individual and corporate travel bloggers.
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Kirsten Alana
(Travel Journalist, Freelance)
Kirsten is a professional photographer, writer, teacher and social media consultant based in NYC. She has worked with brands like AOL, Expedia and Beck’s Beer; co-hosted #ExpChat, #TNI and #FriFotos on twitter; as well as been on-air talent for commercials and travel shows on networks like CNN and AMC. She enjoys teaching others the basics of good photography, both in the digital and mobile sphere, and her goal is to see the bar raised for travel photography across the blogosphere.
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Matt Long
(Founder and Publisher, LandLopers.com)
A luxury adventure traveler at heart, Matt Long shares his adventures with more than 16,000 Twitter followers and runs one of the world’s top travel blogs, LandLopers.com. As someone who has a bad case of the travel bug, Matt travels the world in order to share tips on where to go, what to see and how to experience the best the world has to offer. Matt is a Lonely Planet Featured Blogger and has been featured on many other web sites and publications including BBC Travel, CNN GO, Huffington Post and National Geographic Intelligent Travel.
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Matthew Kepnes
(Founder, Nomadic Matt’s Travel Site)
Matthew Kepnes runs the award winning budget travel site, Nomadic Matt’s Travel Site and has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, The Guardian UK, Lifehacker, and Yahoo! Finance. He is a native of Boston, Mass but he calls the world his home. After a trip to Thailand in 2005, Matt decided to quit his job, finished his MBA, and head off into the world. His original trip was supposed to last a year. Once back, he couldn’t stay and was again 2 months later to explore the world and start his website to inspire others to travel.
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Melvin Böcher
(Founder, Traveldudes)
Traveldudes love to travel, to discover the world, to travel free & untroubled & still like to be informed like an insider! These were the reasons why Melvin started Traveldudes.org. A homepage where travelers can exchange their passion and experiences. For Travelers, By Travelers! Follow them on Twitter @Traveldudes
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Michael Hodson
(Founder, Go, See, Write)
Former attorney turned overland traveler, writer and photographer. I closed down my law practice in late 2008 to embark on a quest to circle the world without ever getting on an airplane. After succeeding in that effort, I just kept going. I am now a permanent traveler, writer and photographer and seeking out overland adventures around the world.
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Michael Turtle
(Editor, Time Travel Turtle)
During ten years as a journalist and producer in the Australian media industry, Michael has interviewed everyone from the Prime Minister, to pop stars to homeless youth. As a senior reporter at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he presented daily news stories on television and radio. Most recently he was in charge of entertainment content at Australia’s number one television breakfast show. He has travelled extensively for pleasure and for work – covering natural disasters and inspirational stories around the globe.
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Nellie Huang
(Editor, Publisher, WildJunket)
Nellie Huang is a professional travel writer and blogger specializing in adventure travel and unusual experiences. In her quest for adventure, she has climbed an active volcano in Guatemala, skydived in Spain, spotted wildlife in Madagascar and swam with sharks in South Africa. In 2008, she started WildJunket.com to chronicle her experiences and inspire others to get off the conventional trail and seek out extraordinary experiences. With the success of her blog, she launched a digital flipbook magazine with her photographer/designer husband in 2012. WildJunket Magazine has since garnered a following with active travelers.
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Nicholas Montemaggi
(Digital Press Officer, Apt Servizi Emilia Romagna)
Nicholas is the Digital Press Officer at the Emilia Romagna Region Tourist Board and staff member of the company’s Social Media Team. Co-founder and in charge for the Tourist Board of the #blogville Emilia Romagna project, an innovative project launched in early 2012 that provided bloggers a home/base in Italy for discovering in total freedom the Emilia Romagna Region.
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Pam Mandel
(Freelance Writer and Photographer, Nerd’s Eye View)
Blogging since 1997, Pam Mandel is a regular contributor to Conde Nast Traveler Online and Gadling. She’s written travel stories for Afar, World Hum, WGBH (Boston’s Public Radio Station), Lonely Planet, written guidebooks for Thomas Cook, traveled to Antarctica and the Serengeti for blogging partnerships, and loves the craft of writing. She’s a cofounder of Passports with Purpose, the travelblogger’s fundraiser now in its fifth year. Her personal blog where she documents her travels and her obsession with the ukulele is at www.nerdseyeview.com.
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Peter Shankman
(Marketing and Customer Service Strategist, Shankman.com)
Peter blames ADHD for most of his success. A serial entrepreneur, Peter is best known for founding Help A Reporter Out (HARO), which was acquired by Vocus in 2010. Peter sits on the advisory board of NASA, is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Dell, and is a successful angel investor with multiple start-up companies in his portfolio. 2011 marked his entry into Hollywood, when he became Executive Producer on Right Next Door, a new film premiering soon. When he’s not spending 90% of his time running through airports to catch a connecting flight, Peter is based in Times Square, New York.
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Reine Gammoh
(Social Media & Communications Editor, Jordan Tourism Board)
Since early 2011, I have worked for the Jordan Tourism Board as the Social Media and Communications Editor. I both initiated and implemented the JTB’s social media strategy, which included the successful blogger outreach campaign, inviting over 16 bloggers to Jordan to write about the destination. The number has now gone up to over 35, and also includes mommy bloggers, YouTube stars, timelapse photographers, and adventure and lifestyle bloggers.
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Sara Rosso
(VIP Global Services Manager, Automattic)
Sara is a writer, photographer, technology lover, and business & digital strategist living in Milan, Italy. She’s worked in technology since 1996 for companies such as HP and Ogilvy, and she currently works for Automattic (WordPress.com & more). She’s been using and loving WordPress since 2006.
She writes about food and travel at Ms. Adventures in Italy, about technology and building a business at When I Have Time, and about healthy living at Food Blogger on a Diet.
Her sites, photos, and profile have appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications.
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Shannon ODonnell
(Writer and SEO Consultant, A Little Adrift)
Since 2006, I have worked as a consultant for small travel businesses on their SEO and online marketing. In 2008, I took my job on the road and am a long-term traveler working and chronicling those experiences on my travel blog. In addition to traveling, I spend time volunteering and supporting sustainable tourism.
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Will Peach
(Writer, Satirist, Vagabundo, TravelSexLife)
Will Peach doesn’t run anything award winning, have a previous background in law or sit on the advisory board of NASA. He just writes snarky travel-related blog posts and urges others to do the same in his capacity as editor at Vagabundo Magazine, TravelSexLife and Gap Daemon. Having previously worked as a multimedia producer in the trade press, Will’s been blogging and using WordPress since he was a wee nipper. Famously said he would never attend TBEX unless invited and given special compensation. Considering this to be it.
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William Bakker
(Chief Strategist, Think! Social Media)
William Bakker is chief strategist at Think! Social Media, a global marketing agency focussing exclusively on the tourism industry. He is considered a leader in the world of digital destination marketing and speaks at conferences around the world. Before joining Think! Social Media in 2010, William was the eMarketing director at Tourism British Columbia for over 10 years. You can read his thoughts about tourism marketing on his blog wilhelmus.ca
