Travel Counsellors Conference 2023

At the end of November my home city of Manchester was host to the Travel Counsellors Conference 2023. Entitled One Team, Travel Counsellors from around the country (and the globe – we operate in six countries), Head Office support staff, suppliers and guests all gathered together at Manchester Central from 24 - 26 November.

It was a fantastic opportunity to meet with my fellow Travel Counsellors and to catch up with Head Office colleagues. On Friday and Saturday there was time to meet with a massive range of suppliers at TCTM (Travel Counsellors Travel Market). I was able to ask specific questions on behalf of some of my customers which was really helpful, and it was great to meet people in person to continue to build relationships with our supplier partners.

I attended several drop-in sessions on the Friday afternoon, learning more about the opportunity that AI can offer us in the travel sector and the importance of using Phenix (our search and booking platform) to provide personalised travel itineraries for our customers.

Throughout the weekend we heard from external guest speakers and from the TC senior leadership team with updates about specific areas of the business looking forward into 2024 and our plans and priorities. We heard from Fearne Cotton, Sara Davies MBE, Chris Brindley MBE, Jake Humphrey & Damian Hughes from the High-Performance podcast, Maggie Alphonsi MBE, Ellie Simmonds OBE, Louis Theroux and Mike Finnigan. They all had different backgrounds, varied industries / sectors, a different perspective and offered inspiration and advice based on their own experiences.

And it wouldn’t be a TC Conference without some entertainment and fun. On the Friday night Manchester Central was turned into a festival themed space, complete with fairground rides, food stalls, bars, a silent disco, a chill out area etc. The Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony on the Saturday night was an opportunity to talk to other TC’s and supplier partners (Cunard was kindly hosting my table) as well as enjoying dinner and drinks. The venue was transformed into a woodland wonderland with fabulous flowers and trees as table centrepieces. Vernon Kay hosted the evening and the whole community recognised and celebrated the amazing achievements by the top global Travel Counsellors.

I learnt a lot and I took away something from all of the speakers. Key learnings / take aways from the weekend for me were: Be kind to yourself, the importance of social media & asking customers for referrals, making a 1% change, the importance of mindset, set goals, build relationships and (perhaps most importantly of all) value yourself.

Next year Travel Counsellors will celebrate 30 years. I’m looking forward to playing my (small) part in everything we will collectively achieve in this milestone year. ONE Team!