Blogging For Bloggers

More than 200 bloggers from all over the country converged last Saturday, May 09, 2009 at the Malcolm Theater, U.P. College of Law in Diliman, Quezon City for the 5th Philippine Blogging Summit organized by the Philippine Internet and Society Program. I was curious what the summit was about as i frequently saw the banner ads displayed prominently at different display boards inside the U.P. campus during my daily runs. While registration was already closed on-line, i was told just to come early as a late registrant before the program starts but they would not guarantee free food and freebies. Good thing i saw one of the organizers of the event, IT guru and co-Runnex member Atty. J.J. Disini who was only too glad to accept my late registration that assured me of food stubs and freebies. Thanks J.J.!

The program started rather late. When i entered the auditorium at about past 9am, bloggers were asked to come to the front and give a short introduction of themselves and their blogs. It was my first time to attend a bloggers meet so i really didn’t know what to expect. It was of interest meeting bloggers coming from a wide spectrum of interests such as in business, commentary, culture and arts, entertainment/show business, food, travel, fashion & lifestyle, sports and many others.

There was a wide array of very intersting topics including legal implications of blogging such as libel and copyright infringement, Blog Marketing and Advertising, and the No-nos of Blogging. Newbies like me were also given the heads-up on mobile blogging. Did you know that you can actually blog in real time or send a video stream into your blog that can be watched “live” by users by just using your cellphone? Cool, huh?

The best blogs of 2008 were shown very briefly from different categories including that of Jaymie’s (http://thebullrunner.com/ ).  I didn’t get to meet any of my co-bloggers from the running community so it might interest you guys to check-out their program of events:

Morning session:

• 9:00 – 9:15 Invocation, National Anthem, Welcoming Remarks
• 9:20 – 9:40 Blogging 101 (Micaela Rodriguez & AJ Matela)
• 9:45 – 10:05 Photo Blogging 101 (Faith Salazar and Fritz Tentativa)
• 10:10 – 10:25 Break
• 10:30 to 10:50 Video Blogging 101 (Azrael Coladilla and Kring Elenzano)
• 10:55 – 11:15 Mobile Blogging 101 (Edwin “Ka Edong” Soriano)
• 11:20 – 11:40 Do’s and Don’ts of Blogging 101 (Benj Espina and Juned Sonido)
• 11:45 – 12:05 Blog Promotion & Traffic Generation Strategies 101 (Winston Almendras and Coy Caballes)
• 12:10 – 1:00 Lunch break

Afternoon session:

• 1:00 – 1:20 Legal issues in Blogging (Atty. JJ Disini)
• 1:30 – 2:15 Preparing Bloggers for the 2010 Elections
  – COMELEC on Blogging & Bloggers (Dir. James Jimenez, COMELEC-EID Director)
  – Citizen Journalism for the 2010 Elections (Oliver Robillo, NAMFREL Chairman – Davao City)
  – The Bloggers Election Handbook project release (Janette Toral)
• 2:30 – 3:30 Blog Advertising Situation in the Philippines (Mannix Pabalan – AyosDito, Kristine Mandigma – Philippine Online Chronicles, Laszlo Lim, Business Development Head – Yehey, Jayvee Fernandez and Eric Ramirez)
• 4:00 – 4:15 Break
• 4:15 – 4:45 Blogging to the Next Level (Fitz Villafuerte
  and Anton Diaz)
• 4:55 Raffle & Group picture taking
• 7:00PM onwards, after-event party at Katips

Didn’t get to go to their party at Katips in Katipunan Avenue but overall, it was a truly an enlightening and educational experience. I only wish that the program should have started earlier as the time given each speaker was limited, leaving very little opportunity for questions to be asked and clarified.

Nevertheless, congratulations to the organizers of iblog5!

Audience in attendance

Photo from the sexynomad. Thanks!