We’re giving you a full overview of TBEX conferences. The travel blogger exchange is a conference for travel creators that combines local tourism, culinary experiences, nightlife, travel business education and tourism networking opportunities. It takes places in different cities in North America and around the world every year.

We went to our first TBEX in Quebec City in 2025 and had the best time meeting people and learning, and wanted to share to inspire more people to join this amazing event!

If you want to hear more about Quebec City and all the fun things we did and ate while there, listen to our full length episode on Quebec too!

What is TBEX – Episode Transcript

0:35

And get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.

Hey, Squatty’s Travel Squad podcast is back with Just the Tip, our Friday mini episode series where we give you quick travel stories, hacks and recommendations to set you off into the week and right.

0:51

Today we are sharing with you our experience at Teebec’s, the largest conference and community of travel creators and influencers in the world.

Teebec’s has sessions and workshops about storytelling, writing, photography, video creation, podcasting, SEO, brand collabs, advancing your travel creator business, business technical skills like flying drones, and so much more.

1:12

They have a few different types of Teebex events.

They have the Summit, which are smaller, more focused, and often more intensive events compared to their flagship Teebex conferences.

So these are designed around a specific theme, topic or niche within the travel industry, allowing for a deeper learning and targeted networking connection.

1:31

Chris Mitchell, one of the lead conference directors here, had told us that summits can also be in smaller destinations that can’t handle an influx of thousands or hundreds of people.

One of them coming up is going to be TBEX, Wichita, KS.

And so that tells you a little bit, still a fantastic destination, maybe just a slightly little bit lesser known or at least went top of the tourism list, but still a fantastic destination.

1:56

And it’s going to bring together several 100 people.

And we visited our first TBEX.

We had heard about this before from people who we’ve interviewed and had on the podcast before and other travel creators and influencers who we’ve talked to and have been in our circle, but we’ve never attended.

2:13

So we’re like this year, you know what, let’s attend.

It was in Quebec City, so maybe last week you listened to our episode on Quebec City, but I really loved it.

And you know, Kim, you mentioned something about little less known places and you’re talking about Wichita, KS.

2:28

But rest assured, when they have Teabex events, they always work with locals and the tourism board to give you unique things that you can do in these cities and areas.

And honestly, let’s not kid ourselves, no one thinks top of mind.

I’m going to Wichita, KS, but I can assure you that T BEX is going to have some really good fun things to do that will show you what there is to do out there.

2:51

And even for us, when we went to Quebec City here, I mean, we knew there was stuff to do, but we really didn’t know.

But then they have the tours, they work with the tourism board and you really get to know a city on a different level while you’re here.

And I really appreciated that about it.

So Quebec City was T bex North America for 2025, but they also have have T bex International.

3:10

So they have T bex conferences in Asia, Europe.

Later this year it’s going to be in Donegal, Ireland.

They have it in the Caribbean, Africa and even Latin America.

There’s been, I think over 30 different T Bex conferences around the world.

And it’s not like they have one every year in every region that we just mentioned, but they kind of rotate around.

3:30

In fact, while we were at T Bex, they announced that in 2026 they’re going to where they going.

Kazakhstan and I’ll tell you what, but I never thought to myself, I’m ready and excited to go to Kazakhstan.

But now having done Teebex North America and seen what it’s all about and we’re going to share with you everything that Teebex was all about, I am ready to go to Kazakhstan.

3:52

I feel like this is the great excuse to be like, all right, we’re going to do the conference, but on top of that, we’re really going to get to know a place and Kazakhstan, I mean, who would have thought, you know, such a unique place, and I am so excited.

They also announced the location for next year’s North America site, which is going to be in Richmond, VA, which is like just two hours outside of DC.

4:13

So you can pair it with a whole bunch of other cool places and it’s going to be so much fun on the East Coast.

This was our first Teebex, and of course it was in Quebec City, and so we didn’t really know what to expect.

Information kind of trickles out and that’s part of why we want to do this podcast.

4:31

We want to share the full details on what Teebex is like and how it’s organized now.

Remember, we’ve only been to this one, so there could be differences for others.

We’ll find out as we go to others.

But for this one, before we even got there, we received an e-mail from Tourism Quebec for a privilege card.

4:51

Privilege card was essentially a media pass for Quebec City to visit some of the main attractions.

There was a few restaurants in there with comped experiences or a certain like gift card amount to take off of your tab at restaurants, breweries, bars, things like that.

5:06

This is the type of pass that’s typically reserved for media or maybe even travel agents who are coming to find out information for the people they’ll be looking for.

But for Tubex, it was included for us.

It had so many good deals, like last week we talked about Noctum Brewery where we got flights.

5:24

That was included on that.

Bellow and La Boucher were also included and a ton more places.

I wish we had enough time to use them all.

So much good stuff.

So let’s talk about the conference itself.

It takes place from Monday through Thursday, but Monday and Tuesdays are really the prebex days.

5:44

And the prebex days also go back again to our previous episode.

If you listen to it when we were talking about the tours that we did, this is where TBEX works with local authorities, tourism board, vendors, and they really show off and highlight the attractions of the city and surrounding area.

6:02

So these again, are also free experiences that we got to sign up for of what we wanted to do and see around the city.

So you’ll sign up for the Teabex conference, pay the fee.

I recommend booking as soon as possible because the price does go up as the date gets closer and then as the date gets closer, it’s probably like 3 or 4 months out.

6:23

On this one, we started to see notifications of prebex days and you can choose.

In this case, we got to choose one tour for a prebex day and they had many different you can choose from.

I didn’t feel like it was like you might not get it.

I feel like whatever you signed up for, you typically got.

6:38

So you guys did the waterfall 1.

I had originally signed up for a different prebex tour, but then as the time went on, more information came out about this really cool unique foodie experience.

So I had let go of my prebex tour, got onto this foodie experience, and then I added a different prebex day which was kayaking and that included a museum tour and a restaurant for dinner.

7:01

So there’s a lot actually for you’ll want to come into the conference early specifically for this reason.

The conference is not just their typical sessions in a ballroom.

And it gives you the opportunity to get to know sponsors and other creators and meet them just in a more relaxed, casual setting and so that when you get to the opening night and when you get to the conference, you already have like a few friendly faces that you know.

7:30

And so Wednesdays and Thursdays were the conference day sessions.

And it is what you typically think about when you think of a conference.

There is a big stage, keynote speakers, but there’s also smaller rooms where you get to choose what topic you wanted to learn about, Like some of the people attending and creators are also the ones giving some of the presentations, whether it be how to optimize your SEO or what certain things make a video go viral, right?

8:00

So it really is a learning lesson when you do some of these sessions.

But then afterwards we also got to meet with tourism boards.

We’re also here where you to some degree get to pitch yourself on what value you could potentially bring to them and how they may want to host you in their city, National Park or wherever it is to bring attention to them.

8:24

So it’s really big networking event, but beyond the networking, there’s so much fun that goes on with it.

Yeah, at least for our conference, there was a welcome party, a closing party, there is even opportunities to apply for post event press trips.

None of us took these, but there were several different types of experiences.

8:43

So this one was in Quebec City, there were some that went over to Montreal, There were some that went out into the nature areas in the surrounding Quebec City areas.

And those press trips went on for three, 4-5 days after the event.

So don’t think you’re just coming for two days in a ballroom.

8:59

It is so much more than that.

So we’re going to give you a few tips for attending your first TBEX if you’ve never been before.

So bring a few business cards and some media kits because you’re going to want those ready to meet with different sponsors.

When you do meet with sponsors, just research who the sponsors are.

9:15

Get to know them a little bit.

They’ll be different tourism organizations, Dmos, brands that help creators maximize their businesses.

So do a little research and then kind of plot out who you want to meet with and.

When you say do the research, Kim, I just want to highlight about a week before the actual conference, you will start getting e-mail notifications saying, hey, be sure to register, set up appointments.

9:38

So this is where we’re talking about.

You get to see what sponsors are actually here.

Try to set up meeting times with them.

They’ll either accept or reject.

You can throw out as many as you would like and see where the chips fall, so to speak.

And then of course, if you don’t get anything, if there’s open free time, you can go up to them personally at the event.

9:57

But when you are seeing who the sponsors are going to be, that’s what you’re talking about.

Kim do the research on who you’re meeting with that advance because you don’t want to meet with somebody and know nothing about their area or tourism board or whatever it is that they have to offer.

Another tip we have for you is to stay the near the Convention Center.

10:12

You know, there are some late nights and some early mornings, and so staying near the Convention Center is very, very handy.

We stayed right across the street from ours, which made it very convenient.

And if you’re going on these Prebex tours or even some of the other events and parties that they have going on, they likely have buses and shuttles picking you up from the Convention Center.

10:32

So it just makes it really easy transportation wise as well.

The hotel that we stayed at was the Hilton Quebec City and it’s a really nice hotel too.

So on top of it being close to the Convention Center, it’s going to be a high quality property that you can trust.

The hotels that they recommend you staying out or that are closest to the spot where the conference takes place will be listed on the conference website for T back, so check that out and start there.

10:57

Also, when you’re here, just be sure to meet people, make connections, add them to IG, get to know their story and what type of travel creator or travel brand they are with.

I mean, this is exactly what you’re here to do.

So don’t be afraid to mingle and make it happen.

11:14

And I just want to say real quick too, obviously everyone who’s listening to this episode may not be a travel creator of some sort, but if you’re listening to us, you have a sense of wanderlust in you.

If you’ve ever posted a couple travel blogs or written anything or you have your own personal IG that’s not really a business but it’s travel oriented.

11:32

This is still something that you can sign up for and get value, a way to travel, see places.

So don’t underestimate who this is for when talk about creators or anything like that.

You can just be starting off and this is something that would bring value and that you should attend.

I had gone to a conference a couple weeks after this one and it’s a stark difference.

11:53

Like there’s always going to be networking and people within the same industry as you, but the people at Teepex are so friendly.

Everyone wants to get to know.

I know you, everyone wants to add you on Instagram.

It was the most talkative place.

Like we made so many good connections here.

12:08

So yes, we’re including this as a tip, but this is almost a given.

Expect this to happen at Teabags.

You’re going to want to go to all of the events that they have, not only because this is where you meet the people and make the connections, but because they’re actually really, really fun.

Like this is not a boring buttoned up conference.

12:23

This is a party, this is a trip, this is a learning experience.

This is a networking experience.

It’s like all of that and you’re going to want to take part in whatever you can.

A few weeks before we went, we also got an e-mail on how to communicate with other guests and sponsors, and they actually have a private Facebook group that you could join.

12:41

I ended up joining that, and then they also have a WhatsApp chat before, during, and after the conference.

At the time of this recording, it’s been at least two weeks since the conference and that chat is still popping off.

So lots of people contributing in and it’s just a great way to communicate, ask questions and keep in touch.

13:01

What’s up?

Chad’s also good because they’re sharing information that you need for the conference, like shuttles, leave at this time or party.

The after party, yes.

After party, yes, we’re going to get into that because Tubex likes to party.

So we mentioned a little bit about the conference, how it’s Monday through Thursday.

13:19

The 1st 2 days are Prebex, then the last two Wednesday, Thursdays are the actual conference.

But let’s talk a little bit about what Prebex actually is.

We kind of alluded to it, but these are comped guided activities slash tours in the local area that you are visiting.

13:36

So we did a couple of those activities.

So let’s talk a little bit about that.

Well depending on the destination they’ll be customized to that region.

So they could be like nature and museums, history, culture, food and beverage.

I did a sea kayaking tour and A food and beverage tour.

13:53

And Jamal and I did a waterfall tour in the Cote de Bupri region.

All of them were amazing.

There were lots of other different types of tours you could choose from, and you choose them on the tea box conference page on their website.

You just supply, you get picked for one and boom you show up baby.

14:10

Another thing that was amazing was the night before the sessions begin there is a welcome parties.

If you got in early and you got to do a pre box, you got to meet people all day, you get to little break coming back and then you have a welcome party which is a big social gathering for all a conference attendees and sponsors.

14:28

Not sure if it’s like this for every event but that’s what it was like for ours.

And they go hard on the welcome party.

You can expect drinks, bites, desserts, entertainment, dancing.

It was so much fun.

Ours had an amazing food spread with a charcuterie board, some carved corned beef, some lobster rolls, shrimp, open bar.

14:50

And by the way, it was on an AML boat cruise so we’re partying on a massive boat with DJs and dancing and food and drinks like we went hard at the welcome party and tea.

Bex like to dance.

Let me tell you something, when we got on the boat and they started handing out wine, as soon as you got on board, I was like, oh, maybe we just got a couple welcome drinks and then they’re going to start charging for it.

15:13

No, no, no open bar.

The entire time I drank too much, much more than I should have because we continued with the after party.

You know, we keep talking about T backs after parties.

There was an after party.

We ended up going to that a bar afterwards, but I knew the night was going to get away from me.

15:29

When I saw the whiskey ice luge shop, that’s when it really kicked into high gear for Jamal and I knew that it was going to be a wild night.

Yeah.

That was cool.

It was like an ice sculpture that they poured the shot down and luge down to cold it up.

But then the shot glass itself was ice, too.

15:45

Yeah, that was a fun experience, no doubt, but they party hard.

I’ve been to many conferences, they all have some form of social gathering with drinks and food.

After some of the sessions, Teabex takes it to a whole nother level.

Now, the actual sessions themselves, they are catered to creators, so they’re on various different topics.

16:06

I mentioned some of them at the beginning.

You’re going to get so much value out of these sessions because it’s fellow creators teaching you things like how to make your media kit more personalized, how to fly a drone, how do you create more beautiful and storytelling videos.

16:23

Like there were so many good sessions before you even get into those sessions.

When you check in, you get a welcome bag.

I always love a the welcome bag, it’s so exciting.

Yeah, the welcome bag is filled with pamphlets and swag from the sponsors and other brands.

Ours had a restaurant voucher book to get money off at some of the amazing local restaurants in the area, and they even have a notepad so that you can write notes from the sessions in.

16:45

So lots of good things in the welcome bag.

I do recommend you take notes on your phone or a computer.

I don’t like writing handwrite notes because then you have to transcribe those into electronic form.

I guess you don’t have to.

You can reference your notebook, but I like to have them in electronic form so that I can reference back.

17:03

Because you’re going to learn so much in these sessions and you’re going to have a lot of takeaways and to do’s after the conference, so you want to have that information easily accessible.

Yeah.

So in the morning, they would always have an opening speaker in the morning, but then the actual sessions were 350 minute blocks, 2 in the morning, then you had a lunch break, then another 50 minute one afterwards.

17:24

And then afterwards would be the speed networking with the sponsors.

That’s where we were talking about earlier.

Get to know them, sign up for them.

And of course, if you didn’t actually have set appointments to meet with them in that speed networking, if they had any availability, of course, you could just show up to their booth and you can make of the day exactly what you want.

17:44

If none of those sessions in the morning or even the afternoon one seemed of interest to you, then maybe skip it.

Enjoy the city a little bit more, Do something on your own or as a good example.

The irony of it was, Kim, all of your networking sessions were on one day and you didn’t have anything scheduled for the second day and just happened to line up that way.

18:04

And me and Brittany had the opposite.

The day that you were free, all of our sessions were in place and the day your sessions, we were free.

So it can pan out that way and give you more opportunities to explore the area in which you’re in.

But make of the day what you want.

18:19

And squaties, if you are a creator and you’re interested in going to teabags, don’t feel nervous or hesitant or feel like you’re not a big enough creator.

I met people here who were traveling for a living.

They were going on press trips all the time.

18:35

They were making great money off of it.

And I met others like us who have full time jobs.

Some of them were balancing working while they were at this conference too.

I met some people who were just starting out or trying to get their stuff off the ground.

So there really is the whole scale of travel creators here.

18:52

All right, let’s talk about the food, because a lot of people don’t realize that conferences there’s typically food provided, coffee in the morning, lunch, maybe the drinks and snacks after the sessions.

But T vex, like the parties, takes the food to another level.

Yeah.

So in the area where we had all of the sponsor booths, they actually had a coffee bar.

19:13

And the coffee bar was so good.

So coffee, tea and snacks were provided in the morning and then they also provided lunch both days of the conference.

There was also a cocktail bar in that sponsor room.

And when we’re talking about the coffee bar, the actual coffee as well, just regular black coffee and the alcohol, all that was included for free.

19:34

They didn’t charge you for it.

So you could just get plain black coffee out of one of those big keep warm thermoses.

Or the coffee bar that Brittany was mentioning was specifically craft coffee.

It was from a local coffee house in Quebec City and they would grind the coffee, make you your latte, cappuccino or whatever it is that you actually wanted.

19:54

So it was legit coffee.

I drank too much on, not necessarily opening night, but the pre party opening on the boat.

And so the welcome party, thank you, couldn’t find the words and I did not have the courage or the stomach to go get myself the free cocktails that they were handing out.

20:14

You did not drink as much, Brittany, because you didn’t go out later.

And I don’t say that in a negative way, but I took a baby sip.

I pulled up the courage to do it.

Even though the thought of alcohol disgusted me, your spicy jalapeno Margarita or whatever they made for you at that was absolutely delicious.

20:30

So yeah, I mean, they’re just giving free cocktails and coffee out at session 2.

This is great.

So the sessions are two days.

They provided lunch both of those days.

The first day the lunch was like a three course meal.

They had a little charcuterie they had like chicken and vegetables along with it and potatoes and then dessert and coffee.

20:49

The second day it was buffet style and they had a bunch of different entree.

One of them was duck, they had fish, they had salads again, desserts and coffee.

The food was gourmet.

That it was.

My only disappointment is that breakfast was not included.

You’re on your own for breakfast, but that’s a OK.

21:06

In between the keynote speaker that opened and the session starting, they did have some like that first day.

It was like a yogurt with the preserves.

Yeah, like a little parfait or pastry snacks, but not like a full blown breakfast how lunch was.

21:21

So you are correct on that and I’m not complaining about dinner not being provided because closing night, which we’ll get to, and of course the welcome party there were the hors d’oeuvres which were so good and so many different varieties that it really was like eating a meal.

But on the days that you didn’t have that and the welcome bags and everything else, they did give you those either discounted or free meals at restaurants within the city to try.

21:45

So it’s almost like it was included, yes.

No shortage of complimentary food at the T Vex event here.

So after a few days of getting to know people, conferencing the last night, which was Thursday night, there was a closing party.

And it just feels like you’re saying goodbye to your new friends, like you’re having such a good time.

22:04

No one wants to say goodbye, but you know, you’re going to talk and see each other again.

And you might be making plans to travel with them later on.

Kim is actually traveling with someone here later in the year that she met at this conference, actually.

And my one big tip is do not schedule a morning flight after the closing party because that closing party could go well into when you need to start boarding that plane.

22:28

Yeah, so the closing party, at least for us, was in a historical building within Quebec City.

Here they did only include two drinks free for you that they gave you coupons for and then it was not an open bar you had to buy.

But I can’t really complain considering the open bar at the welcome party.

22:45

But they were already letting us know day of that.

Hey, there’s going to be an unofficial official after party.

And so even when we were walking in for that, we got our tickets for our free drinks here at the farewell.

And then they also gave us a free drink coupon and a half off coupon for the unofficial official after party.

23:07

So it just kept going after that.

And unfortunately, Brittany, we did have the early flight.

That’s why you said don’t schedule 1.

So we missed out on more fun and even potential for networking at that point because everybody who’s been there before was also saying like, yeah, people are networking during conference, but most of the serious networking actually happens when you’re in these casual settings at the after parties.

23:30

Yeah.

Absolutely.

I mean, you’re with fellow travelers.

They’re just as cool as you are.

They like to travel, drink, have fun, explore a destination.

And the after party’s cool because they have the hors d’oeuvres.

And actually what what’s really, really cool is that some of the sponsoring partners will be the entertainment, at least for ours, right.

23:49

So we had a fashion show, we had the throat singing.

We had few other displays of different native organizations and local tourism organizations.

So that was really cool.

La Boucher, our snow taffy, Maple taffy was there making their Maple taffy.

24:08

That was really cool.

Yeah, just All in all, a really fun event.

And I say this to anybody, if you do not even have a travel creator or influence business and you’re thinking about getting started.

Kim, you alluded to it earlier, really, you see everybody from really well established in the middle just getting started or thinking about getting started and unsure.

24:30

But this is the place.

They’re not going to look into your credentials and be like, oh, who are you until you know, you just really have to purchase a conference.

Come check it out.

See, that’s half the reason why we’re telling you guys about this, because it may very well inspire you and we are inspired to go to many more Teabexes in the future.

24:46

Yes, and shout out Sunshine Travellers.

They’re the ones that originally told us about Teabex and really hyped it up.

And how much value do it added for them?

And so we went.

And now we’re hoping, squadies, that we pass this along to you.

Thank you so much for tuning into this week’s Just the Tip.