Despite the flight disruptions caused by Hurricane Sandy, 75 travel professionals will convene at the second Family Travel Conference (FTCDallas) to be held at the Omni Dallas Hotel at the Convention Center Nov. 9-11, 2012. You may recall my New Media Travel post about FTC1, in which I raved, "This group of bright, engaged mothers (and some dads) who travel with their kids and run homes and blogs, now run the family travel market and drive some of the most exciting conversations on line."
The two-day conference, again organized by Kim Orlando of TravelingMom.com; Eileen Ogintz of Taking The Kids; Kyle McCarthy of Family Travel Forum; and JoAnne Vero of Travel Media Showcase; features a dynamic program of workshops aimed at improving the quality of writing and video production among family travel bloggers and reviewers.
The once toddling vacation niche has grown up; family travel now accounts for 100+ million trips a year and booming grandparents are making it one of the most lucrative leisure travel segments.
The conference producers aim to up the ante by empowering journalists to record their impressions on video: putting hotels, cruise lines, and destinations in the media spotlight so that vacationers will know in advance what they'll get for their hard-earned travel dollars.
FTCDallas Workshops will focus on a variety of subjects, including video editing, use of social media and monetizing brands. FTC Speakers include Genevieve Shaw Brown of ABCnews.com; Wendy Perrin, director of Conde Nast’s Consumer News and Digital Community, and many other industry leaders. Kudos to the sponsors: Disney Parks, The Dallas Zoo, Omni Hotels and Resorts, Southwest Airlines, CityPass and Park City Mountain Resort among many others, who aren't afraid to "smile" for the camera.
I'll be there to report on the outcome.
Kyle McCarthy of Family Travel Forum was a major contributor to this post.
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