Chicago Seminars Friendships and an OC Meetup on Saturday October 25 at 12pm
Good afternoon everyone, I had a great time at the Chicago Seminars (and not just because I won a prize in the raffle). My favorite part of attending various travel conferences is meeting people. I love when blog readers come up to me and tell me how much they love my blog (thank you!) and how some of my articles have helped them plan and book their upcoming vacation. I also saw some familiar friends, like Ray, the grandfather of churning, who always has fascinating stories (and outfits) to share. If you go to travel conferences often, you will start to see many familiar faces and start to form very good friendships. I have even gone on a few trips with people I have met at travel conferences. Traveling with someone who plays the miles and points game with you is great. If you are skeptical of attending travel conferences, read Why you Should go to Travel Conferences by Yourself #Rant
When people ask me what I learn from going to various travel conferences, I never have a good answer. It is like when I was younger and my mom would ask me what I learned in school that day. I never had a good answer for that either. At travel conferences, I pick up little tips and tricks, but I mostly go to talk with people (other bloggers, blog readers, and future blog readers). Everyone you meet has an amazing travel story to share. If you are into the manufactured spend game, forming relationship is extremely helpful. You can bounce ideas off each other, share secrets that you don’t want many other people to know about, and if you live in other states, they can even pick up a Redbird for you. Connecting with others is important, but can be difficult if you are shy, but you have to break out of your shell. There is no better place to meet people who act or think like you than at travel conferences, so take advantage of your time there.
I have been to many travel conferences over the years, but this was the first time I ever saw Marathon Man (the MS Legend!). He shared all his MS secrets some of his success stories, how he approaches the MS game, and how he handles confrontation at grocery stores, pharmacies, and at Walmart. He is a very smart guy and had some very interesting suggestions. I think we both have the same approach to MS: Show a man how to MS and he will MS for a week/month. Teach a man how to MS and will MS for years…
On a sadder note, he also shared a list of probably 25-30 MS techniques/services that have died over the last few months (RIP Amazon Payments and Evolve Money) and stressed how important it was for the blogging community to not “over share.” This is a very gray area for bloggers regarding how we can talk about MS techniques without killing MS techniques.
And for the record Mom, the one thing I did learn this past weekend was that no office supply store is safe when a travel conference is in town… (all $200 Visa gift cards and Sears gift cards are gone)
I know this is very short notice, but I was hoping some of you might be able to make it to my OC Meetup this Saturday afternoon. I know this weekend is probably busy for many of you (the weekend before Halloween) so I hope you can make it to lunch at In-N-Out. I’m thinking 12pm to 2pm would work, otherwise, I will be eating my Double Double alone :(
I will post a reminder on Friday, but just let me know if you can join me for a burger, fries, and MS secrets.
The following weekend is Halloween and the weekend after that is #westcoastdo, which I will be attending in Phoenix. The next possible meet up would be the following weekend on Saturday November 15, probably in the evening (6-9pm). After that, the following 2 weekends I will be up in Carmel / Monterey Bay for Thanksgiving, so my schedule is not very conducive to meetups.
However, there is a San Diego FlyerTalk meetup on Saturday November 1 (link). I will not be in town that weekend, but I went to a previous San Diego FlyerTalk meetup and it was great. I got to meet Mr. Pickles and learned a lot of new MS tricks from others. Hopefully I can make the next one Chris!
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
Hi Grant, It was nice mtg you this weekend. I plan to attend on Saturday. Thanks for hosting! Poptarts
Nice to meet you this past weekend Poptarts, cya this weekend :)
Good to see you again and thanks for the kind remarks,my wife liked the photo.
Thanks Ray, say hi to your wife for me. You should bring her to a travel conference :)
Hi Grant, I would like to join the noon meet-up this Saturday. Car free in Los Angeles the evening meet-ups are too challenging.
Thank you Ingrid, looking forward to seeing you this weekend.
please stop writing Churns and MS and other things on caps, clothes, etc. don’t ruin it for the rest of us and don’t let the card companies see these. it is no fun and it is no good
The credit card companies and retailers already know about us and our hobby. I think Ray only wears stuff like that at conferences, not to Walmart :)
Thanks for the mention, Grant! I do hope you can make a future DO in San Diego. I’m attending a flyertalk DO in Monterey this weekend, but I’ll see you at the #westcoastdo in a few weeks.
Yes, it will be good to catch up in Phoenix. I’m staying at the Double Tree down from the Kimpton.
I’m staying at two different inexpensive IHG properties to get stay credits for the IHG into the nights promo.
Good thinking. I will check my into the nights requirements and see what’s possible.
Hi Grant.
I’ve been enjoying your blog since I met you at a San Diego meet up. Love it!
Sorry you can’t make the Nov 1 meet up, and I’ll be in New Orleans this weekend or I’d drive up to In n Out to enjoy some miles and points talk. Have fun!
I will have another OC Meetup in a few weeks, maybe that weekend will work better for you. I will also try to make the next San Diego FlyerTalk Meetup (if only they stopped holding them on days when I was out of town…)
If only you weren’t always out of town… :)
so some of you bloggers readers and your friends join and talk about how to kill a deal? how to do MS, how to be greedy and sign up for multiple cards ( but not telling them the big risk). I have never wanted to go to these useless meetings and never will. What you guys do at these events is killing the only few tricks left there.
I feel bad for these people wasting their money for NOTHING!
Good morning, we don’t try to kill deals, it is actually quite the opposite. We all want the deals to last as long as possible. Travel conferences in general are great for meeting like minded people and sharing travel stories. MS makes up only a small part of what goes on at these conferences. I hope you reconsider and go to at least one travel conference so you can see what they are like. Have a great day Dean.
Hi Grant,
I would like to be there for the meet-up. I never got a chance to attend any of the big seminars. The San Diego FTU got sold out before I could book it. Thanks for arranging these meetings.
Good morning Suresh, it will be great to meet you at the meetup this weekend. The FTU and other travel conferences sell out fast, which is unfortunate for people on the west coast or away from the computer for a few hours.
I love seeing Ray with his CC belt. His hat is hilarious too :) Glad you had a great time!
Ray is definitely one of a kind!
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