There are several great travel blogging conferences and events annually, and even though most of Skimbaco Lifestyle’s readers are not travel bloggers, I wanted to invite those who are to apply to two great events happening later this year. These two conference are different from many others: they are invitation only. I am going to be honest here and say it: being an online magazine/blog owner can be very lonely at times. Most days I work alone at my home office, and all of my interaction with other people (besides my family) is virtual kind. While I get to go on amazing trips, experience things most people rarely experience, if ever, and invitations to press events flow to my inbox on a daily basis, a lot of the work is still done alone, typing on my laptop, editing photos with Photoshop and the only facetime with co-workers and peers is via Skype or Google Hangouts. Some of our team’s highlights the past year have been when we have actually met in person! We talk on daily/weekly basis with each others, and yet we don’t get many chances to see each others since our team members live around the USA and Europe. The picture is from TBEX conference in Canada last year, when Leigh and I met the first time. Professional conferences is one of my favorite ways to connect with other people in my industry. And learning from the speakers is only half of the benefit, the best of the conferences really is when 3-10 bloggers get together, and talk their hearts out about our industry, that’s really when the ideas exchange, and our industry is being taken forward with a joint mission to change the world – even if it is one blog post at the time. I love my industry for the peers; the co-workers, the other bloggers, the people who believe that by spreading a message important to us we can change the world – someone’s world for the better. I have always been an open book when it comes to teaching others what I know about social media, and I was honored to be voted as the board member of the Professional Travel Blogger Association earlier this year. Being a member of the PTBA has never been as exciting as this year, when we are starting to organize our own conferences. The first ever PTBA conference, TBC Asia, in partnership with Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts and SriLankan Airlines, will be held from the 14-18th of November, 2014, in Sri Lanka and include a four day trip around Sri Lanka, and you will travel AND learn about travel blogging during the trip. This is the first travel blogger focused conference to be held in Asia, and the first travel blogging conference of its kind in the world, and we are very excited about the concept. Members can apply for the Professional Travel Blogger Association conference in Sri Lanka, apply TODAY, as today is the last day to be considered. Membership is only $75 per year, and it will give you several benefits including being listed in our data base. Apply now. There are several other lesser known travel conferences, especially in Europe. One of my favorites last year was the Travel Blogger Destination Italy, a conference held at the TTG Incontri/TTI, the leading business to business travel trade exhibition in Italy. I had an honor to be among the speakers, and will be returning this year. I am excited because this year also Reeta Laaksonen and Leigh Hines of our team are coming to Italy with me, so our Skimbaco team will be very well represented in one of my favorite conferences in one of my favorite countries. TBD-Italy will be held in Rimini from 9 to 11 October 2014. If you are a travel blogger, email to tbd-italy@ttgitalia.com if you are interested in this conference, the conference is invitation only. My mission is to inspire you to live life to the fullest and find your own “skimbaco,” how you enjoy life where ever you are in the moment. For ideas for travel, home, food and fashion, subscribe to weekly Skimbaco Lifestyle feed on Mondays and I hope you get my newsletter that I send out sometimes on Fridays. conferences, pro travel bloggers, professional blogging, SOCIAL MEDIA, travel blogging