Kick@ss Cebu Blog Camp Lessons


This was my 2nd time joining Cebu Blog Camp, but under different circumstances; Last year, I was a mere attendee and now I was part of the CBC 2011 organizing team! YEAH! See my Last Year Experience Here! There are tons of reasons for a Kick@ss Cebu Blog Camp Lessons Learned which you will read below.

early morning set-up
Personal Reflections/Lessons Learned:
  1. I got to organize events again! weeee, it practically reinvigorated me
  2. Practice Networking then Stalking...
  3. An update in general for Cebu's Blogging Culture!
  4. Met new Manila Bloggers, iligan bloggers and New Cebu Based Bloggers as well!
  5. An awesome venture in the opportunity to shape the Visayan Offline blogging Culture
  6. I did not learn my lesson still, Don't carry to much freebies, especially if you commute for 16 kilometers from the city~but who cares ahahahah
  7. There are bloggers who admire other bloggers and there are also FAN bloggers~same as last year, didn't expect it to happen again though
  8. Mixed feelings in NOT bringing a Gadget (DSLR, FLip video Cam, netbook)
  9. Speakers = _l¯¯lO. . .(Worship)
  10. I still have a lot of things to learn about blogging and social media, despite blogging for more than 3 years now, interacted with professional journalists and despite being a former Blogging Community head
Hibi Crowd
All Hail the Speakers! Though the topics this year are niched compared to the super basics last year, this was still awesome!

Photography 101 by Paul Gothiong
  • Lighting Lighting Lighting
  • Reformat your Memory Card every after shooting to conserve memory space thus enhancing its life as well
P - practice, perspective, perfection
A - aperture, anticipate
U - understand, underrate yourself
L - earn from your mistakes, look for opportunities, live with it


Eric Su of PicLyf.com

Was one of the supporters of the Cebu Blog Camp 2011, and He talked about PicLyf.com (See my Piclyf Here). I was already able to meet him before and listened to his pitch and background from a previous meet-up a month before. Here's a blogpost of mine from another blog of mine about Him Click HERE.


Travel 101 by Estan Cabigas - "Travel is a journey to oneself."
  • When you plan to travel you must:
  • Have a sense of curiosity for the world
  • Research and plan
  • Keep an open mind
  • Bring what is essential (underwear, etc.)
  • Experience the place
  • Respect local customs and more. DON'T IMPOSE YOURSELF.
  • Learn about the local culture and language


Blogger's Etiquette by Ms. Janette Toral

I joined lots of events since last year, like over 200 up to now so some of the things pointed out during the talk, I learned the Hard Way..I'll just highlight the important ones and for the rest, visit Ms Janette Toral's Blog post on it which is quite detailed:
  • RSVP only for yourself and use common sense
  • Research, Prepare and document
  • Prepare to pitch (Who are you? What do you do? What is your blog about?) & be confident [Marketing na yan]
  • Respect events (Attire, Listen, Eat, On time) & when getting freebies (Don't Brag, Don't Hoard)
  • Post Networks (Add new friends in Facebook and Twitter, Leave comment in blogs, Send organizer a message)
  • Get over the VIP attitude
  • Be careful what you say against other blogger/organizer


Google and Travel by Ms. Aileen Apolo – de Jesus.

Google was, and still is a useful tool with their new products and awesome existing ones! Very useful information for newbie Bloggers!


Food Review and Restaurant by Chef Anthony Gomez

He was the most interesting speakers I have ever listened to. His delivery was very great and enticing, the same way he may serve his food. Somehow while we were eating our afternoon snacks, we suddenly had the urge to actually feel and understand how our food is getting in us, absorbing the food in every detail. Food Stimulates All Senses, which is what needs to be captured as well in a blogpost
-Visual
- Aroma
- Fuel
- Flavor
- Sound

Follow this simple rule~"Be HONEST with your judgment."

Social Media Marketing by Coy Caballes

This was one very useful topic for me being also a Social Media Specialist myself. And I totally agree with his presentation (Affirmation of my assumptions as well) that the plight of social media marketing/management can make everyone go crazy, and sometimes, confused. Add to that, being misunderstood by local companies big and small. Thank You for this Coy! Here's an outline overview:

Social Media Diet: Today's Menu

Appetizer
  • Facts and Statistics that will build your Social Media Marketing (SMD)
  • Is there a social media demand for branchs?
  • Blogging is not enough to gain fame.
  • Aside the Philippines claiming the Texting Capital of the World, we now also have the bragging rights to call our country the Social Networking Capital of the World
Drinks
  • What is the right mix of channels for your campaign?
  • The drinks you serve will depend on the party.
  • When social media came it's way, campaigns are converted to conversations
  • How do you choose the right mix? (What is the party? Who is coming? What are the drinks?)
Main Course
  • Social Media Content
  • Content is the King
  • Content is available on the following: Videos, photos, etc.
  • Your content must starts conversation, create links, be viral, provoke INTENSE emotion
  • Who creates? Publish industries, brand companies, YOU!
Dessert
  • Reward your followers to build loyalists
Measure Your Waist
  • How many followers and subscribers?
  • How many responded?
  • What is the interaction rate?
  • The sentiment ratio? ratio of positive to negative comments
Tips
  • Experiment
  • Be your own benchmark
  • Always think that there is no real standards
  • You must improve each of your campaign
Social Media Marketing by via Facebook by Ruben Licera B., Jr.

This guy right here is my PR/Social Media/Internet Marketing Idol Ruben Licera Jr.! I found his presentation useful as well and I will definitely be using some of his data for my own research, ventures and projects! Success in this new industry boils down to research, learn and relearning then making your mark (Blue/Footprint) as he said it!

There are 234 million online websites but there is a decrease in the number of viewers, hence, Social Media Managers are needed. Facebook users reached to 500 Million and is still increasing up until now. Don't just generate traffic to your main site but engage with your target readers/clients

Mozilla Firefox version 4 by Ruffy Heredia

I had attended before Ruffy's talk during the Cebu Mozilla Firefox Community launch and YES, FIREFOX 4 is awesome especially the Panorama and Firebug!!! Nuff said..Download HERE

This is what happens when you put a foreign, creative, never-before seen Photo-Wall (Courtesy of Airphil Express):


Camwhoring ~ in Philippine Terminology it means, people that are quite fond of, likes to take picture of themselves or would not miss an opportunity where his/her picture shall be taken~vernongo.com terminology


Lastly, THANK YOU to those of you who answered my emails, SPAMs, invitations and the like by passing by the event! Good to see Familiar Faces and New Faces: Honey, Issa, Kristine, Kirby, JAM, and for those I forgot to mention (No seriously, I was all over the place and still having a hangover and memory lapse). Photo Credit: Jam, Miong, mekyoo, yoshke

Despite the crazy stress of event organizing, everything went well nonetheless and oh to hear good feedback from your peers is priceless as well. It’s an irony that the more you know, the more you don’t know..all we can do is move on, enjoy and keep on improving!
Kick@ss Cebu Blog Camp Lessons Kick@ss Cebu Blog Camp Lessons Reviewed by Vernon Joseph Go on Sunday, May 29, 2011 Rating: 5

5 comments

  1. Next time, u'll be the speaker. haha. Gratzie! =)) 

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey a big hand shake to you all. Thanks for the event. I'm from CDO and it did give me a good glimpse of where Filipino bloggers are right now. 

    ReplyDelete
  3. ahhahaha ambot lang kirby, laayoo pa kaayo ang next camp! Thanks for joining btw..Happy Blogging! XD

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for dropping by, glad that you learned something as well ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow, detalyado kaayo ba. nice to meet you again mr vernon :)

    ReplyDelete