Way back in 2019 I received an email asking me to be a speaker at the Outdoor Media Summit in Estes Park, Colorado. They were going to fly me in from Los Angeles to speak about “How To Get Paid On Press Trips.” And then, ya know, Covid happened…

After two years of reschedules and session edits, we FINALLY made it happen in September! The best part is, living in Denver now, this was a chance to head to my favorite town of Estes Park and explore even more! We changed the session to “Press Trips - Where Do We Go From Here” and I was paired up with Deborah Park from Turner PR to talk from both the side of the content creator as well as the DMO perspective on the future of press trips.

We stayed at the stunning Ridgeline Hotel and the conference kicked off the Robin Thurston, the CEO of Outside Inc. to talk about the future of the outdoor industry. Each hour, we had the option of three different sessions to attend ranging from social media and content creation, to funding journalism, and legal contracts. I learned so much attending each session and even (finally) built out some legal pages for my websites.

After speaking at our session the first day, we were paired up with a team and sent out on a scavenger hunt around Estes Park. This was such an incredible way for us to test out the different brand sponsors by putting them to use! Fly fishing, ice spikes, and even rock climbing shoes by yes, redeeming myself and making it to the summit of a rock climb! Afterward, we celebrated with pizza and beer at The Barrel.

The second day was full of more fun sessions and a closing party with the Outdoor Media Summit Awards. To my surprise and honor, I won “Best Vlog of 2020”! After the official closing of Outdoor Media Summit, we headed out with KEP Expeditions to check out a local hiking gem in Estes Park. While the hike started in the clouds, as we came down from the summit, we were greeted with a gorgeous sunset of the Rocky Mountains peeking through the clouds!

This incredible weekend was worth the wait! I can’t wait until next years summit in North Lake Tahoe! In the meantime, check out my behind the scenes video below and learn more here.