Visayas Blogging Summit 2011

Since I entered the blogosphere, I didn't initially think of being serious with it. It was just something I spontaneously thought of starting, though I was inspired by a dear friend of mine, (Issa Perez, fashion blogger - http://www.littleblacksheepfashion.com) seeing her genuine passion and commitment. She invited me to a bloggers meet called Cebu Blog Camp last summer but I wasn't too interested to go cuz like I said, I wasn't all that serious about it yet. But after reading from her blog the events that transpired and seeing how everything worked really well for her, it got me pretty interested so I promised myself to attend the next blog camp I'd know about.

So here was Visayas Blogging Summit 2011 last Nov. 26 at the SM Trade Hall. I was excited to attend this because I was going to meet other bloggers especially in my niche (food) and learn more about blogging.     

It was a whole day affair, from 8 am - 5 pm and I really wanted to catch the key speaker, Chris Ducker, but I had class from 10:30 - 12:00 which was his scheduled slot. I was quite dismayed but I knew I shouldn't miss school for this. So I went to SM early in the morning and left after a short while to catch school. I was actually surprised to see quite a number of people already that morning. I definitely felt the excitement in the air and there were a few familiar faces. 

When I got back to SM, I missed the lunch that the summit provided and I met up with Ejay because I asked him to be my photographer for the day. Hehe. He's a great one and I'm lucky to have had his service for free. Haha. Thanks, Ejay! :)

So when I got back to the summit with Ejay this time, I was delighted to find out that I hadn't missed Chris Ducker. Apparently, they were behind schedule to my convenience. I caught up with Vernon "Iggy" Go, a CAMMA 2011 Awardee for Personal Blogging. His topic was "Getting Steady with Blogging". He talked about how he started blogging, that it was a personal blog where anything goes and without any expectation of anyone actually reading it until he made many other blogs in different niches and now total up to 14. I can't imagine having that much blogs in different niches. He also mentioned social networking etiquette that would definitely come in handy for newbies.

The next speaker was Evanjohnn Mendoza whose topic was about "Finding Your Niche in the Vast Blogosphere" which was quite interesting. He was a good speaker. He is the founder of Cebu Blog Camp which I missed and of course, he is a blogger himself. One particular thing I remembered that he mentioned was the acronym "SHIT" for reasons why one blogs. It stands for:

S - sharing 

H - having a channel for expression

I - income

T - transcribe and immortalize memories

Makes sense right? ;)

I'm sure he was the youngest speaker and one of the best as well. He was pretty organized with his speech. I know I was impressed and inspired. 

And finally, after Evanjohnn, was Chris Ducker - Virtual CEO and Founder of Live2Sell Group of Companies. His topic was "From Blog to Business - Getting Serious Online!" where he mentions creating e-books and selling them online or even putting them up for free which was what he was doing. He also raffled out a cool blogger shirt that says "Bloggers are sexy" for anyone who could ask a good question. He was quite an interesting and animated guy so he was fun to listen to. 

 

 

holding the sexy blogger shirt :)

After listening to Chris, I was really hungry already. As Ejay and I were about to leave, I approached Chris to ask him about owning multiple blogs, if it was a good idea. He was very approachable so we got to chat a bit and he said he'd be interested in my blog because he's been looking for a go-to site for places to eat in Cebu aside from the malls. 

with the cool guy

I also spotted Evanjohnn and told Ejay about him, that he's a photoblogger and was one of the speakers, maybe Ejay would wanna talk to him. Ejay told me to talk to him instead though because "you're a blogger, you're supposed to network, right?". I actually knew his younger brother and wanted to approach him but was taken over by my timidity. Fortunately, Ejay, a natural at PR, worked his magic for me. So we all got to talk and I found that Evanjohnn was very easy to talk to. We ended up chatting nonstop until Ejay had to leave for work and Evanjohnn accompanied me for lunch. He was also really nice to keep me company the rest of the day in the summit and even introduced me to a lot of successful bloggers. Thanks much, Johnn! :)

Ejay, the babe, Evanjohnn

Mary Angeli Bas of foodiecraft.com

babeforfood meets foodiecraft :)

Basically, I didn't get to listen to the following speakers after Chris because I took my lunch and hung out with Johnn but this day was truly inspiring, educational, and fun! The event was well organized. I got to meet  several top bloggers and even got some calling cards. I also made some new friends. I hope to attend the next summit and I hope more people would attend as well. It was truly worth attending. Congratulations to CBS on the event! :)

  

photos by: Ejay Williams <http://www.500px.com/ej6williams>

Babe For Food

- your BFF in Cebu dining!