We are currently not accepting any new locations for our inaugural event on September 14, 2010. However, please contact us about hosting future events, especially if you are in a location currently not participating.

Are you interested in having and hosting a Meet, Plan, Go! discussion in your own town?

• Are you a past career breaker who traveled?
• Have you done extended travel?
• Do you feel that you can serve as a ‘travel expert’ to others?
• Are you passionate about extended travel and bringing the concept to America?
• Are you comfortable leading discussions in front of strangers?

Then read on…

Think back to the first time that the dream of extended travel entered your head. You probably still get butterflies remembering the anticipation and excitement of leaving life as you knew it behind to explore far-flung parts of the world.

But preparing for a career break or extended travel adventure has its own unique obstacles. And if you are reading this now, you are someone who tackled those obstacles and doubts; forging ahead to make your travels a reality. Now we want YOU to join us in a movement to inspire other would-be wanderers to fulfill their long-term travel dreams!

WHY PARTICIPATE AS A HOST?
In addition to spreading the travel bug, you will also gain:

• Large-scale exposure for your blog, product, or service
• Exposure on the Meet, Plan, Go! site, where you will be profiled as an Event Host
• Exposure on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter
• Potential press opportunities on a local & nationwide level through our PR efforts

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
By agreeing to become a Meet, Plan, Go! Host for your city, we ask that you:

Secure a venue for your local Meet, Plan, Go! discussion
This is your event, so it can be as big or little as you like – as formal or as informal as you like. A venue can be a bar, restaurant, retail store, coffee house, bookstore, classroom, or wherever you feel that you can lead a conversation for people. We certainly encourage hosts to try to secure a venue without any costs, so be creative and make sure you let the venue know that you will bring in business to their establishment!

Promote the event locally and personally
We will be putting together a National PR campaign where we’ll be contacting national magazines, newspapers, and websites to promote the events, however we ask that you promote the event at a local level in your local magazines, event calendars, newspapers, radio shows, and websites. We’ll provide you with a press release, but you will own the contact with the local media outlets. We encourage people to put the event on Meetup.com and any other event calendars for your city.

We also ask that you promote Meet, Plan, Go! In your own social networks, blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook, and LinkedIn communities.

Lead the Discussion or Organize Your Own Expert Panel
You are expected to lead the discussion, or put together your own panel of travel experts to help lead the discussion. This is not a formal presentation! Instead, it should be an introduction about who you are and what makes you a travel expert; basically you can share your ‘travel story’.  After this introduction we will provide you with some discussion points and open-ended questions to ask the audience to help facilitate the discussion. However, feel free to keep this free form and see where the discussion takes you!  If you do put together a panel of experts, then tell us and we’ll highlight them on our Meet, Plan, Go! website too.

Local Discounts and Giveaways
As a city host, you may be able to make the event even better by obtaining or organizing some travel products or services to be given away or promoted at the event (including your own if you have any). If you attain any local sponsorship (ie, venue, giveaways, etc….) we will also acknowledge them on the Meet, Plan, Go! site. Please note – obtaining sponsorship is NOT required of you.

On a National level, we will be trying to obtain some giveaways and discounts on travel products and services that we will offer to ALL of our hosts.

Record the Event
Oh yeah – we’d love for you to also capture the event if possible…get feedback, take pictures or video, and gather emails from the attendees. If this all goes well, we’ll do it again next year!

OUR RESPONSIBILITIES
We are here to help you!  So don’t feel like you are a one man/woman show! In addition, we will connect our hosts with one another and you can also learn from each other.

We will support you with:

• Event ideas and sample topics for discussion
• Our national press release that can be utilized at a local level
• Enlisting fellow travelers in your area to serve as expert voices
• Private Facebook Group for our Hosts to share news & event ideas
• Potential giveaways and promotional items on a national level
• Meet, Plan, Go! badges to be utilized on your website or Facebook page.
• Promotion, Promotion, Promotion! We will of course provide you a lot of hype and publicity as we promote this ‘conversation about travel’ nationally!

We are very excited about the national launch of Meet, Plan, Go! and empowering many more Americans to achieve their travel dreams.

TO APPLY
Send us an email at contact@briefcasetobackpack.com – include:

• Name
• Email
• City (event location)
• Website/Blog
• Your travel bio
• Ideas you have for the event (guest speakers, locations, potential sponsors, etc…)

If we already have a city host, let us know if you’d like to participate in that event!