Self promotion of your blog? What is this space coming to?

Well, I am not sure what post is going to be deleted by the dear moderator or not...so I just gave a teaser. I think it is relevant to the discussion.

I am waiting for FTG to tell us how the Charleston event differs with FTU. Mixing it up with industry execs better not be one of the reasons, verdad?

I'm a guest of the first2board gang and as such have no control over the speakers. I probably won't even meet the LH exec as he contributes another day

But you can bet MrP and I will be talking: Gold ,Platinum, 501c3, affiliate links, angries and even Tabloid Blogger Buzz

Sounds like more fun and less meetings to me

I have no doubt that if I type what's on my mind our dear moderator will pounce on it again...so I pass.

My point was made. These meetings (FTU, Chicago Seminar, F2B Charleston) are just not all that different.

The end

I was at FTU DC and that was my first type of event. While I did not learn a lot, I still had a lot of fun. It was nice being with all the other crazy people.

I didn't think it was "corporate" at all. The one person from SPG didn't even show. What other executives were there? I'm blanking...Certainly I didn't hear them talk. Maybe people didn't like that it was attached to the Freddies?

The presenters I saw were good. I didn't hang out in the halls and pick up stuff there and don't know how many secrets people are going to tell me if I don't know them. Do the people with the secrets really want me hanging over their shoulder when I have little to provide (except for being a groupie)?

I only went to FTU DC because I could drive and the hotel wasn't too expensive.

The differences, in my opinion, are being blown out of proportion. Different people will get different things out of each one. Some newbies really want to learn, some bloggers are there to promote, some experts want to socialize, etc.

In my opinion, pick the one that is most convenient. The differences are probably similar to the differences between linguine and butter and spaghetti and butter...

This.

Cheers.

Not really. Unless something's changed I don't recall FTU doing sightseeing in the city & off-site dinners. If you're going to do comparisons on your blog*, they should be accurate ones

* I don't read your blog, so have no idea if what you usually post is accurate or not.

Cheers.

Now now George. F2B Charleston is different from FTU and Chicago Seminars because of out let's say 20 hours of programmed time 2.5 hours are presentations. The rest of the time on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday are dedicated to seeing the city, having good food and networking/mixing and mingling.

We're not billing this as a "mix it up with industry execs" event.

And you know what the most beautiful thing is? It's a free world and everyone can choose what they want to go to and how many events they want to attend in a year.

http://first2board.com/charleston-ci...s-information/



^^^

The whole session with the industry experts is 1 hour out of the entire weekend. 1 hour. That's hardly mix it up with execs. It's 1 presentation. And 1 presentation of about the same time on Sunday from Pickles and FTG.

Presumably you're trying to contrast yourself from FTU with the claim it isn't "mix it up with industry execs" but as far as I can tell the FTUs have had 75 minutes apiece at most with representatives from the travel industry.

So I guess those 15 minutes really matter. @:-)

But the FTUs don't involve sightseeing & off-site dinners, so to me this is certainly different than FTU (or Chicago Seminar Event for that matter) & more like a regular Do, with a bit of formal (if one can call pickles/rick that ) stuff tossed in.

Cheers.

It's kind of a shame this thread got hijacked.

Having attended both, I certainly saw very little difference. So I will agree with the attend whichever is more convenient to you if you are so inclined.

But I will also agree that they aren't for everyone. It depends on your personality and how much you follow the blogs and message boards like this one. Most of the bloggers don't offer much beyond what you can already read on their blogs.

If you are outgoing and like meeting new people I think you would enjoy it. For an introvert like me it was much less useful.

I didn't notice many industry people at FTU other than the Friday event which seemed to have been a bit oversold in what it would be. I think it also matters whether you enjoy Randy Peterson or not. Personally I find his style/presentation a bit grating. But that's just my personal opinion.

I was making a point that trying to differentiate between FTU and Chicago based on the "industry execs" aspect was NOT a valid differentiator.

Skiadcock: You are not reading my blog?? I am so crushed:-)

farbster's comment was also 100% right on!

We will see how Charleston goes, it does appear a lot more excursion oriented which I think it's great.

So...how much are the tickets? What's the VIP list?

VGP: I had a long response to you in my blog's comments.

Peace and have a great weekend. At the end of the day, this stuff here is just not that important

It's MrPickles, even for you.