Bakla Goes to iBlog4!

(delayed post!)

I arrived 30 minutes late at UP Diliman’s Malcolm Hall for my very first iBlog summit. I was supposed to attend iBlog3 last year but I ended up touring another country. The venue for iBlog4 was quite familiar to and a little memorable for me since that was where I took the UPCAT some 11 years ago. Talk about old eh?

I missed the welcome remarks by JJ Disini and the first half of Charo Nuguid’s talk on Blogging 101 from a non-blogger point of view.

I managed to find a seat beside fellow gay blogger and fantabulous podcast producer, Joel Mcvie who was seated right by the hall’s stage left entrance. When the host, Rommel Casis, announced that the free wifi provided for by the sponsors (thank you to all sponsors, btw: Yehey, Morph Labs, WikiPilipinas, Alfox Computer Center, and Buddy Gancenia) was all set for everyone’s use, I took out my laptop and started my attempt to live blog the event. But no! Twenty minutes later, my battery died (may it rest in peace) and all the electrical outlets in my general area were already taken! So I decided to just put the computer away and enjoy the experience (or catch some shut eye since I had been awake for almost two days already). When I finally found an electrical outlet, I took out my chaka Logitech webcam and held it up high to produce a live stream of the event. Effortness!

Brian Gorrell was up next with a video blog of himself talking about the lessons he has learned from blogging. He shared a few of the things that he has learned from blogging as well as tips to newbies and other bloggers on what I call as surviving the blog world. (I don’t know if it was intentional or not but Brian could definitely use a little headroom since half of his face was out of frame.)

Juan Karlo Licudine talked about ProBlogging and how he plans on pursuing a career in ProBlogging after he completes his degree in Computer Engineering from Mapua. The prospect of doing so does not really sound too practical, but Karlo amazed and amused everyone in the hall when he declared his monthly earnings from blogging. And that everyone included his Mom, who asked later on if they (his parents) could now discontinue sending him his allowance.

One of the most interesting talks during the summit was Juned Sonido’s Photoblogging. Juned just wowed everyone as he took out camera after camera from his bag. More snickers and laughter echoed throughout the hall as Juned started getting cameras out of his cargo shorts’ pockets. (Insider info: In regular events for bloggers and media launches, Juned brings at least 4 different cameras with him!). But what made his talk more interesting was that he did not preach about how dSLRs or other high-end cameras are a must. For poor people like me, hearing someone talk about a dSLR being a must-have is a definite turn-off. Besides, I’m happy with my Verzio point-and-shoot digital camera. As Juned quoted in his presentation: “It is the Indian, and NOT the bow.”

Another talk that I enjoyed was the Vlog and Podcasting Prospects in the Philippines by Aileen Apolo and Coy Caballes (who, by the way just completed his degree in Computer Science from UP Diliman, Congrats Coy!). Instead of using the traditional slideshow, both used the video medium for their presentations. Of course I’d be proud to say that I had cameo appearances in their presentations — my voice as “Boy” in the Ang Buhay ni Boy Philippine Radio Drama podcast was in Aileen’s presentation, and footage of me onboard a kalesa in my Good Friday Video Blog. Yey for me!

Manuel L. Quezon III’s talk was very entertaining — even if it was about the serious business of politics, blogging for the 2010 elections and well, political blogging. Manolo never fails to make political discussions very light and easy to grasp. And that’s what made his talk very interestaining (interesting and entertaining) for me.

Atty. JJ Disini’s talk on the legal issues of blogging was very informative and entartaining as well.

The most interesting talk of the summit, I must say, is from my kababayan from Davao, Ria Jose. Her antics and asides were very enjoyable. Ria has broken a lot of misconceptions about Davao and the rest of Mindanao — something which I had to deal with on an everyday basis when I moved to Metro Manila some five years ago. Ria, I think, gave the most entertaining and informative talk among all the presenters. Go Ria! Go Davao!

The rest of the talks were about the Philippine Elections in 2010 and how bloggers and the blogging community can help and can participate. Hats off to Janette Toral and the organizers of the event for making that the focus of this year’s iBlog. This year’s summit has shown that blogging is really not all about the money, as some bloggers out there would like to preach. There’s more, much more, to blogging than just earning money. And I’m glad that “Make Money Online” and SEO chuvanessenses were not the focus of this blog summit, because honestly, I’m sick of hearing those terms in blog events. There’s nothing wrong with those, except that many non-online people think of blogs as just another way to earn money. This summit has brought blogging back to its more important sense: self-expression and community.

The day-long summit, my very first one, was very memorable. I met faces I’ve only seen online before, and I’ve finally put faces into the URLs of people I only see online. I won’t mention all their names here for the fear that I may forget some people. So to all those I have met for the first time, and those I’ve met for the umpteenth time, at the iBlog4 Blogging Summit, it was great meeting all of you!

Click here to view the blow-by-blow account of the event (with the videos, presentations and slideshows, and Q&A sessions)

See you all in iBlog5!

See who blogged about iBlog4!