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Diana and I were invited to speak at the Women In Travel Summit presented by Wanderful and held in Milwaukee April 21-23rd. We were thrilled to be asked. We absolutely love meeting other women travel writers and know most of them are food lovers too.
Our presentation was during the Blogger 101 sessions on the first day. Our topic was āHow To Make Your Audience Fall In Love (With You!), Developing a Memorable Digital Brandā. Ā This is an area that is near and dear to our hearts. We were excited to share our thoughts and experiences with our audience.
One way that weĀ connect with our audience here at Food Travelist is with our own personal experiences and relationships. We thought that bringing an experience to the presentation would help illustrate our point.
Meet Our FriendsĀ
We called our friends at Fannie May and asked if theyād want to help us make our session a little sweeter. As you may know, Iām a huge fan of Fannie May and have been enjoying their handmade candies since I was a kid. We often write about the latest Fannie May and share their latest creations and promotions on Food Travelist.
As we began our session we talked about how important it is to develop relationships with brands that connect with you and your audience. As we did this we handed out the Mint Meltaways (one of Fannie Mayās most iconic candies) to our attendees. They oohed and ahhed as they unwrapped their little treats. Letās just say that they got the message loud and clear!
Thanks @FoodTravelist for the Mint Meltaway from @fmchocolate. Heavenly! #WITS17 #VisitMKE
ā Michele DeBella (@MicheleDeBella) April 21, 2017
@FoodTravelist awesome information and the @fmchocolate were amazing
ā Andrea Smoak (@andreavsmoak) April 21, 2017
Fannie May has been bringing their fine chocolate to fans for over 95 years. Weād be remiss if we didnāt remind you that Motherās Day is right around the corner on May 14th. You can order something very sweet easily & quickly at fanniemay.com.
We had fun sharing our thoughts on brand building and meeting all the travel bloggers, brands, and destinations that attended the event. As we often say, we believe that a rising tide lifts all boats so weāre happy to share our expertise to help other women build successful businesses too.
We Learned A Lot Too!
We also had the opportunity to attend many of the other sessions that were very informative and gave us lots ofĀ ideas aboutĀ how to further build our brand and connect with more brands and destinations. Panels that included destination and brand managers provided insidersā knowledge on how to pitch stories and secure press trips were also valuable. Another panel of seasoned entrepreneurs provided real-life stories on successes, challenges and setbacks that also inspired attendees.
We met with destinations and brands in Power Networking sessions. There were one-on-one sessions and nine-on-one sessions available for seasoned travel writers and beginners alike.
One of the best parts of the experience was meeting so many talented women writers weāve known online for years but never met in person. We loved meeting new friends too.
AnotherĀ star of the conference was Millie, the pet concierge at the four-diamond Hilton Milwaukee Downtown where WITS17 took place. She took the stage and wowed the crowd. If you needed any downtime Millie was there for free pets and snuggles.
Milwaukee Rocks
WITS17 was hosted by Visit Milwaukee. If youāve read any of our previous articles on Milwaukee you know that weāre big fans. Of course, we would expect them to roll out the red carpet and welcome over 400 women to their city. Milwaukee did a wonderful job holding the opening night ceremony at the Harley-Davidson Museum. It was an evening filled with great stories, great food, and great music played by the awesome cover band Random Maxx. Our only questionĀ is why the heck werenāt more of you gals dancing?
No trip to Milwaukee is complete without exploring some new food. We dined at Kilawat,Ā which we really enjoyed. Our server Jo was a rock star and our new friends from Visit KenoshaĀ kept us totally entertained. WeĀ had a ball learning about all the great food and fun Kenosha has to offer and met some new blogger friends too!
Milwaukee planned lots of tours around town for attendees to really get a feel for what this city on Lake Michigan is all about. Tours and activities included the beautiful Milwaukee Art Museum, beer tours, walking tours, food tours, a baseball game, and even a Bloody Mary Tour!
Next Stop Quebec City!
We had such a great experience at WITS17 that we waited with anticipation during the Sunday Brunch to hear where the next summit will be held. We were so excited to hear that forĀ WITS18 weāll be at one of our favoriteĀ international destinations ā Quebec City. Of course we were going to go!Ā
Located close to the United States, Quebec City offers flavors of Europe in this stunning city on the St. Lawerence River. We already purchased our tickets to WITS18 and are excited to be staying at the host hotel the Fairmont ChĆ¢teau Frontenac. We toured the hotel on a visit to Quebec City years ago and its wonderfulĀ history and architectural beauty is incomparable.
The hotel also has an environmental initiativeĀ that we canāt wait to be a part of, Ā Chateau BorĆ©al. For every guest that forgoes the daily cleaning of their room, the Fairmont Le ChĆ¢teau Frontenac will plant a tree. The trees are then planted in the Montmorency Forest.Ā It is the largest teaching and research forest in the world.
For more information about the next WITS conference and to order tickets check out their website at sheswanderful.com/witsumit/.
36 Comments
Hi Lauren, thanks for stopping by. Take a look at WITS18 and come meet us in QC.
Hi Christine! You should really consider WITS18. I know youāll learn a lot at the conference and Quebec City is a wonderful destination.
This sounds like a wonderful and rewarding experience! Iāve been wanting to go to something like this in the future. Iām going to look into the 2018 summit. I have never been to Canada and would love to attend!
I really wanted to go to this but it didnāt work out. Next year, hopefully! Thanks for the great recap š
Hi, Elaine! Hopefully, weāll connect in QC. I agree we didnāt get a chance to do any tours but they all looked like a lot of fun.
It was a great conference. Sorry I missed your presentation but as you said, so much to learn. Milwaukee knocked me out. Wish I couldāve done all of the tours!
Hi Tam! Then you must come to QC you will just love it.
Thatās great news Evelyne! See you in QC!
So cool to read this post. not only i it awesome you got to present but had a great expereince. I just heard about WOTS and I have my ticket for Quebec City alreadyā¦so we shall meet there š
Woohoo! It certainly was a fun WITS. I am already booked for Quebec..canāt wait! You gals are awesome!!
Iād like to make it to women to travel in Quebec make it sound awesome.
I had a wonderful time and am so excited about Quebec City! Iāve visited 7 continents but never been to Canada!
Hi Sandy! Hope you can make it to WITS18 in Quebec City.
These travel meets are really great opportunity to meet and interact with like minded travelers. Travel and food do go hand in hand, the cuisine of a place is a window to its culture. And would have loved to have one of those Mint Meltaways š
Congratulations it looks you had an amazing weekend. Your idea of offering this amazing chocolate to the audience was great. I really hope to join a travel summit in the future.
What an amazing experience for you :-)! I was in the US when this was on but somehow missed the memo, which can happen when we travel ha ha. It would have been amazing to be at your presentation. Maybe we can catch up in Quebec City next year :-)!
Never been to milwaukee but always wanted to go. Thanks for adding to my intrigue.
Hi, Sherianne! WITS is perfect for beginner bloggers and those more advanced. Hope to see you in Quebec City.
I almost went to this but thought I should wait until I was a little more stable with my blogging. Putting Quebec on the calendar right now!
Sounds like you gave a great presentation and go to meet some wonderful women. Itās so nice to connect with others who share your for travel (and now Fannie Mays Chocolate too!)
This is a fun way to meet other women especially those who enjoy the same things you do. I hope we had a similar one back here.
Iāve wanted to go to WITS but havenāt been able to because of other travel plans. Iād love to go in 2018 and Quebec City is a fantastic location. It would be really great to connect with so many other women bloggers and learn together, too!
This conference sounds amazing. I had never heard of it and really love the idea. I love the destination for 2018 and will have to look into attending.
Hi Kristen, definitely check it out. We found it very educational and worthwhile.
The conference sounds awesome. I signed up for email updates so maybe Iāll go next year!
We hope you consider it. We think itās a must for any woman travel writer. Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a great conference. Hope I can attend next year. Havenāt been to Canada in a long time.
What a fun way to meet other women in travel as well as learn about the industryā¦I would love to attend!!
Thatās great Jan. Iām guessing we will find a fantastic French restaurant to share a meal at again. I know what you mean we never plan this far in advance either but we simply didnāt want to miss out. And we took advantage of the low early-bird rate too!
Canāt wait to meet you in Quebec City Patti! Youāll love WITS.
I would have loved to hear you speak! What a great idea to hand out the āgoodies!ā Iāve marked my calendar for the 2018 WIT summit in Quebec ā that will be amazing!
You gave away chocolate!!! Wish I had been there to hear you speak. Am sure you two were a hit. I have signed up for Quebec City as well and canāt wait! (Canāt believe Iāve booked a trip over one year in advance). Your rave reviews reinforced the idea that this is a great conference.
Thanks, Sara! It was nice to meet you too. See you in Quebec City!
It was nice to meet you in person and Quebec City, here we come! Great round up of a fun weekend.
Thank you so much, Erin! We canāt wait for Quebec City.
Awesome round up of a fabulous weekend!! Thank you so much for coming ā you were both fantastic speakers!
(Andā¦ for the recordā¦ I was dancing!! š )