There are a variety of different miles and points related conferences out there – FTU, Chicago Seminars, ResellingDO, etc. I don’t know that I would recommend a travel conference for everyone, since in a lot of cases the information there is available online for free, but to me there are 2 reasons to pay to attend a conference like this
- To meet other like-minded folks, including talking about deals, tricks and other things that are not published online
- Sometimes paying a little money for something mentally makes you “commit” to it – so it might be able to give you that final nudge if you’re having trouble getting off the fence and getting started!
Family Travel for Real Life
One of my favorite travel conferences is Family Travel for Real Life. At a reasonable cost ($69 for early bird tickets and $79 for general admission), it’s a fraction of the cost of some of the other conferences, and the community that has attended past FT4RL conferences is great and very open to new folks.
I have live blogged the previous 3 conferences, and here are links to some of my recaps from past FT4RL conferences, to give you an idea of the types of presentations you might find there.
- #FT4RL – What you’ll see here on this blog this weekend from the Family Travel for Real Life conference
- #FT4RL: All-inclusive Africa trip for 7 nights for 135,090 points including flights from the USA
- How to complain without any status or a brand to Tweet to
- Earning and burning miles with a growing family
- Disney World: Travel Hacker Style
Family Travel for Real Life Conference #1 (Washington DC, August 2014):
- Family Travel for Real Life (FT4RL) conference – Miles to Memories
- #FT4RL Live-blog – next up: Jason Steele on multiple award tickets for families
- #FT4RL Live blog – Speaker #3: Phil from MilesAbound
- FT4RL Live-Blog – Susan from Carolina Travel Girl
- #FT4RL live blog – Debra from Traveling Well For Less on Tricks to save money on vacation
Family Travel for Real Life Conference #2 (Charlotte, March 2015)
- Family Travel for Real Life (#FT4RL) 2015 – Bonnie the Frugal Travel Lawyer on “the new Frontier”
- Family Travel for Real Life (#FT4RL) 2015 #2 – Leslie from Trips with Tykes on mastering the International House of Mickey
- Family Travel for Real Life (#FT4RL) 2015 #3 – Jason Steele on the current state and sweet spots in the miles and points world
- Family Travel for Real Life (#FT4RL) 2015 #4 – Kenny from Miles4More on National Parks and off the beaten path family destinations
- Family Travel for Real Life (#FT4RL) 2015 #5 – Shawn from Miles to Memories on immersive travel: family adventures, educational experiences, and ways to give back
Family Travel for Real Life Conference #3 (Washington DC, October 2015)
- Dan from Points With a Crew: Panning for Gold in Category 1: Hotel Tips, Tricks, and Steals
- Trevor from Tagging Miles and Kenny from Miles4More on Creative Ways to Earn Miles and Points
- Jeff the Wanderer on getting the most out of your miles
- Haley Bach on Disney Debunked: Making Friends with the Mouse
- Rich Kerr on Asian Destinations with Families
Family Travel for Real Life #4 (Orlando, April 2016)
I will once again be live blogging the conference, starting this Saturday morning. Follow this space as well as hashtag #FT4RL. Here is the schedule
- Travel Hacking 101 Community leader Rich Kerr on Hacking Trips on the Ground: Cruises, Trains, Cars, Camels…
- Coming out of retirement! Milenomics author Sam Simon on Be Your Own Elite : Go where you want, when you want spending as little as possible to do so.
- Miles to Memories author Shawn Coomer on Beyond New York, London and Hawaii: Distinctive Family Destinations
- Saverocity Observation Deck Podcast host, As the Joe Flies author and Dad of 2 Joe Cheung on Miles and Points Earning and Burning Strategies for Growing Families
- Disney Expert Haley Bach returns! By popular demand- Disney World: Travel Hacker Style
I’ve heard a couple of these folks at past conferences and I for one am super excited!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
I’m a newbie to the conference so super excited!
Can’t wait to see you there!
Cool! I’ll see you there!