I packed a ton of meetings and events into just a two day period during a whirlwind trip to New York City! I originally didn’t realize I’d have so much I wanted to get done and so many networking opportunities while in New York City, so by the time it was all said and done I had A LOT to squeeze in to my 48 hours. I had many hurdles along the way as per usual, including flight delays, bad weather and somehow ending up in Toronto with the possibility of getting to New York a day late and missing half of my events? Yeah, that was stressful…
To say the least it was an action packed two days. Maybe this is foreshadowing for just how crazy-busy my year as Mr Gay Canada will be. Either way, I’m excited for whats to come.
Another interesting part of the trip was randomly running into Marques Brownlee at the Toronto Airport. If you haven’t heard of Marques, he is a tech YouTuber boasting nearly 8 million subscribers and had a major role in YouTubes latest year recap ‘rewind’ video. Its always fun bumping into other content creators and viewers, so if you ever see me out and about make sure to say hi!
The events I attended included the TravMedia International Media Marketplace, a mingler put on by the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association, the New York Times Travel Show, and a little after-party too for the LGBTQ attendees which was put on by Man About World!
Here’s a bit more information on the organizations that were involved in this whirlwind visit:
TravMedia IMM is an event for the media to meet travel and tourism brands. Exhibitors each get a dedicated branded table where they can meet travel journalists, editors and broadcasters to discuss their news, events and developments.
IGLTA is the world’s leading network of LGBTQ-welcoming tourism businesses. They provide free travel resources and information while continuously working to promote equality and safety within LGBTQ+ tourism worldwide. They hosted a mingler after the IMM.
NYT Travel Show had over 8,000 travel professionals including 900 media professionals in attendance at this years event. At the event there are over 40 destination specific seminars and focused niche topics from Cruising to Family Travel, exclusive trade only exhibition hours and an industry reception.
ManAboutWorld hosted a party after the industry day at the travel show. They describe themselves as a fully immersive digital canvas that captivates and inspires gay travelers — and presents unique opportunities to reach and engage them. It’s essentially a magazine about travel written by gay men.
I attended most of these events (and stayed with) my good friend Ravi Round The World who lives in New York City and is also a gay travel vlogger! You can see him on YouTube and Instagram.
Did you know that a 3 minute version of this video (and every episode of my MGC adventures) also airs on TV in Canada? OUTtv is our national LGBT station and they’ll be showing my experiences as Mr. Gay Canada in between their regular programming. If you missed my announcement video about being awarded this title, check it out here.
A new Mr Gay Canada episode will be uploaded every week or two, but I’ll have plenty of other videos in between those so be sure to head over to my YouTube channel and subscribe with post notifications (just click on the bell icon after clicking on the Subscribe button) to be alerted as soon as my new videos go live! Next weeks video will be coming to you from my Winter adventure in Penticton, British Columbia so make sure you stay tuned to see what I get up to!