The Cebu Blog Camp 2011 experience.

I had first heard of the Cebu Blog Camp from Hendri, who had attended last year's blog camp. I got pretty curious about it, and part of me wanted to go, because, hey, I've been blogging for 10 years already. And, this is also a good excuse to visit Cebu. Heck, the last time I was there was when I flew in with Ate Sally to surprise the Doubt cast and crew, and we only spent quite a short time so I didn't really get to enjoy much of the place.

It took me quite a while to decide whether I really should go to the blog camp or not, because of course, I also have to think of my own budget for this trip. Thank goodness my referral incentive at work arrived, even though it was a little bit late. Once I got the incentive fee, I was off. I sent my registration and started checking airfare (though the rates got higher because the event date was pretty close).

I arrived at Cebu on Friday evening. Checked in at this guest house that mostly catered to backpackers, and it was pretty close to the venue of the blog camp.

I'm an early bird by nature, so even though it took me a while to have breakfast at a nearby fast food place in the opposite direction, ask around about how to get to Sacred Heart Center (despite my lack of knowledge of the dialect), the people behind the event were still setting up by the time I reached the venue.

For some reason, I felt like an alien just sitting there by my lonesome. It seemed like everyone was in a group or at least with a friend, and most were chatting in the local dialect. Thank goodness that by the time the venue had filled up with people, I didn't look like a loser sitting alone at my table, hahaha. Anyway, it amazed me how many bloggers there are out there, in varying backgrounds, interests and ages.

After kicking things off with a meet and greet (complete with own shameless plugging of blogs), on to the topics discussed.

First up was Photography 101, by Paul Gotiong. He discussed pretty basic stuff, really. I realized it was mostly things that were covered in photography class back in school. It was amusing how the die-hard photographers in the camp were suddenly tinkering with their DSLRs while the speaker was talking.

Next was Travel 101 by Estan Cabigas. He talked with such conviction, and I loved what he said that "Travel broadens the mind and enriches the soul." And of course, I totally agree that "bloggers blog for themselves and not for an audience." This really applies to me because I always find blogging therapeutic, and it's one of the primary reasons why I blog. I'm not really conscious of readers. If you read my blog, I appreciate your dropping by. If you don't, I don't mind.

There was a topic on Google and blogging by Aileen Apolo (who, I believe, is Philippines' Google country consultant). She discussed some stuff, or "cool tools that add oomph to your blog." Now there's a thought. Why am I not using those tools? Hahaha. Maybe because I still blog the old school way?

One of my favorite topics came up next. Bloggers' Etiquette 101, by Janette Toral. I love her. She was perky, she was so nice, and her points made so much sense, so here's a link to her own site about bloggers' etiquette. It's what every blogger should know when it comes to attending events. I especially liked what she said during the open forum about not blogging something that could possibly be a bad review. It's all about contacting the person privately bout your feedback, should you prefer not to publish something you didn't like. Tact is something bloggers (well, any human, for that matter) should be conscious about.

Another favorite topic in the camp followed this. Food and Restaurant Review 101, by Chef Anton Gomez. He spoke with so much passion, and I can't help but quote him on what he mentioned at the beginning of his talk. "It's an irony that the more you know, the more you don't know." And I liked that he said that chefs are open to criticism, so you have to be honest, which matters a lot.

Coy Caballes, the social media manager of Globe Telecom, then discussed Social Media Marketing 101. He talked about having a social media "diet," which consisted of its own appetizer, drinks, main course and dessert. They all made sense, and despite the fact that I was scribbling away during his entire talk, I suddenly find out that his talk is posted online on his Tumblr site and you can check it out here.

The final talk of the day was Social Media Marketing Via Facebook, by certified internet marketing expert Ruben Licera, Jr. My goodness, I didn't realize how much you can do on Facebook other than all that trivial stuff. It's a pretty good means of adding more traffic to your own website or blog.

I have to admit, I was pretty focused on the talks the whole time, and I guess because of that, I came off as too quiet or serious. At least that's what a couple of them had told me the day after, hahaha. They said that I looked pretty serious, also looking so prim and proper in a dress, and taking notes the whole time. Hahaha! That's a new first impression that I got. I had never seen myself as the prim and proper type. I think I'm actually the opposite.

In between the talks, there were freebies given away during open forums, and even though I got a freebie (courtesy of AirPhil Express) as one of the early birds at the beginning of the day, I wanted to take a shot at one of the Q&As. Haha, I ended up getting a Mozilla Firefox T-shirt as a prize, and wound up getting another one during the raffle.

After the entire thing, all of us posed for a group photo (hmm... who has a copy of the whole group?), then some people started mingling before they decided to leave. I shyly went up to Janette and asked for a photo op with her, and was too shy to gush about how I liked her talk. I did the exact opposite when I came up to Chef Anton next. I found out during his talk that he was originally from Manila, and then the world suddenly got smaller. As it turned out, not only was he from Manila, he was also from the South! We're actually from the same high school, hahaha! We ended up talking quite a bit about how to go about doing blogging reviews, considering I sort of do the same when it came to theater events.

Speaking of blogging theater events, I was actually surprised that not a lot of Manila bloggers came to the event. I was sort of expecting at least one blogger from Joriben's circle of friends to be there, because they are the ones I always see at blogging events (or at least at the press conferences that we attend).

I have to say, I enjoyed every bit of the blog camp, though I did regret not mingling that much. But the day that followed totally made up for it, and I'll blog about that later today.

Photos of the blog camp can be found at this album, so do check it out.