Fun, Eats and Friends in Minneapolis, TBEX

One word describes our time in Minneapolis for the annual North American TBEX conference – WOW!

This was our first time to TBEX (Travel Blog Exchange). How great to enter an arena of people like us, who love to travel and write.  Everyone we meet had something to do with the travel industry and it was thrilling.  We have dabbled in TV and radio for several years and now are trying podcasting.  We thought about trying this travel blogging thing to give our listeners even more.  In our research, we found out about TBEX. Jeff and I thought – what a great place to get up to speed on travel blogging – and we can have an excuse to take another trip!

We’ve actually blogged before. Jeff blogged an entire book called My Wife’s Damn Inheritance, about our five month family adventure in Europe.  I was around for editing and encouragement.  We both have written food and local travel articles for local magazines.  How much harder could blogging be?

So we packed our bags for the third time this year and looked forward to hearing what experts in this area would have to share.

We flew into Minneapolis, but first endured a very bumpy landing into Phoenix (I’m not a good flyer). The conference was taking place in Bloomington, just south of Minneapolis and the home of the super-sized Mall of America. Our venue was the Radisson Blu Hotel at the mall (what a great match – learning and shopping).

Let me take you through this extraordinary experience that literally blew us away.  The whole TBEX event took place over 4 days. We spent the first two days enjoying extracurricular events the tourism board of Minneapolis planned for us. The challenge was choosing which one. We started things off with a bus trip to the Midtown Global Market – relatively new effort  located inside a renovated, mammoth, Art Deco-era  Sears catalog building. Our tour guide Becky George, showed us around the market and explained how the market was created to revitalize a challenged urban corridor. To create a dynamic, safe, community gathering place that offers produce and grocery items to the community.  The plan creates what they call “business incubators” to support new small businesses.  The international themed  market hosts over 27 vendors selling a variety of goods from their home countries, including produce, prepared food, baked goods, coffee, and more (for details, check out our blog post – yeah we are doing this). After stretching our stomachs with tasty samples, we rolled back to our hotel for a break before heading out to Saint Paul.

Via UBER (first time used in the states)  we headed  to St. Paul. The drive was beautiful – early evening sun setting on lush green trees and foliage as we meandered through hilly old neighborhoods. We ended up at a Victorian home that now houses the Barbary Fig restaurant.  We were invited to a special dinner hosted by Paul and Lani, owners of Context Travel. We had a delicious Mediterranean meal prepared by Chef Hadj Brahim Moussa.   We ate well and Uber-ed back to our hotel to rest up for day two.

Ever been on a Segway? Jeff and I have not. I was a little nervous about this one.  I’m not a thrill seeker (for me it’s a freaking trill – along with riding a taxi in Peru).  The Minneapolis Magical History Tour by Mobile Entertainment put on this upright riding tour.  After instruction, practice and signing a waiver (yeah, it’s a thrill ride), four guides took our group of 50 (yes, 50!) on a three hour tour covering five miles of riverfront.  We went over bridges, city streets and green paths and had a wonderful time.  After a wonderful and surprisingly exhausting tour, 48 people headed for the bus back. Jeff and I were not ready to leave this cool part of the city, so hung out on the riverfront and found a charming tree-shaded patio restaurant along the river called the Aster Cafe.  Jeff enjoyed some local beer, I sipped Rose and we took in the view of the city skyline.

That night the Minneapolis Tourist Board sponsored a kick-off event at Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America. We are from the land of modern-day amusement parks here in Southern California and like to think we’ve seen it all, but an  indoor  amusement park? In the middle of a shopping mall no less? It was spectacular to see full-sized, white-knuckle rides soaring toward the sky – but stopping short of a ceiling. Somehow they managed to pack  27 rides into a seven acre space  including  kiddy rides and a sky-high obstacle course with zip line. We passed on the thrill rides and opted for the newest attraction – FlyOver America. Disneyland fans might have experienced the similar Soaring Over California ride at California Adventure. This flight simulation ride provides a 4D experience flying over the fruited plain.  We loved every minute of it.   Hard Rock Cafe provided our eats for the night and my seafood loving Jeff was thrilled with the sliders made from the local favorite – Walleye fish.  I enjoyed a good ol’ Midwestern-styled tater tot, macaroni and cheese casserole. Local brewery Finnegans offered up some of their craft brews.  We roasted gourmet marshmallows at personal flame stations then slapped together s’mores. Thanks North Mallow and Company for the delightfully messy treat. Eye candy was also provided by an ice carver and acrobatic aerial acts. All while getting to know our fellow TBEX attendees.

Whew, what a day.

Our “Day Three” was “Day One” for TBEX. It formally began with a  keynote speaker, Lou Mongello, a Disney enthusiast,  author, and host of the very popular WDW Radio Podcast which covers  everything Walt Disney World. Lou has many talents and we found he’s a great motivational speaker.  He impressed upon the audience that every single person in our social media world is important and not just a number. He encouraged us to be passionate about what we do.

We broke off to catch our choices from a series of classes. One taught how to “Clean Out Your Blogging Closet.” Others showed us how to enhance our blogging effort by taking advantage of Snapchat, Periscope  and Facebook Live. We learned about “Content Marketing” and how to – take a deep breath here – actually make  money through affiliate programs. We discovered new terms like “Don’t-Follow Links” and “Call to Action.”   So much to learn, so little time!

In the late afternoon we headed into to the world of Speed Networking –something new to us. Clearly it would require our full attention   Using a cool app known as Blogger Bridge, we were able to set up appointments for the ten-minute meetings  before the conference.  We met with reps from tourism boards, hotels, airlines, and cruise lines. They even had a health  food snack company.  We had a flash of time with each vendor to hear and make respective pitches before the one-minute warning announcement directed us wrap things up and  head off to another table.  We were excited, nervous and exhilarated. After eight straight appointments we found the nearest bar and ordered two martinis.   We sat there staring at each other trying to process what just happened.

That night we caught the light rail into downtown – specifically the Warehouse District, home of The First Avenue – the music club where Prince started then made it famous in the movie Purple Rain. Jeff, my rock and roll fan, was particularly excited about experiencing this place which has a rich pop and rock history. We drank purple Martinis and paid our respects to the late artist by dancing with our fellow bloggers, seminar teachers, and speakers. Yes, it felt like 1999.

The last day of the conference was structured as the first. Our keynote speakers were the husband and wife blogging team of Johnny Jet and his lovely wife Natalie Discala. Their words of encouragement were particularly valuable to us. Later we took classes on podcasting and learned how to bring our emotions into our work.  The conference ended with a speech from TV personality Andrew Zimmern – the guy who eats everything, He lives in the Minneapolis area.

 

Again – WOW! Those four days flew by.  We met some great new friends and had access to many successful,  inspirational, and best of all – happy people.  Thanks to the staff at TBEX.  We can’t wait for the next North American conference in Huntsville, Alabama in May 2017.