#Blogapalooza 2017 : The Experience

Something keeps bugging me this year to attend Blogapalooza. It took me several weeks of thinking before finally hitting the register button. I told myself I had nothing to lose and something in me wants to experience how it feels like to be in such event.

Blogapalooza claims as the biggest business to blogger yearly event in the country. This year the theme is Generation Digital. The said event was held last November 18 at the Grand Ballroom, City of Dreams Manila. 

Since the schedule is 10 am and there are still no free City of Dream buses that early in MOA, rode a taxi from the airport road to City of Dreams - guess what for a whopping P90. It was P100 at first sabi ng lolo taxi driver then I made tawad to P90 buti naman pumayag. Since I was in hurry to be there on time I was not in the mood to argue with the kontrata rather than usage of meter in his taxi.   

And its the holiday season na.

I always find fondness watching the moving objects in the ceiling LOL

Registration Booth 

Photo Booth

Upon registering at the booth this is what I got... 

A can of Coca-Cola for a huge bag LOL. Two gift certificates from Kim Store and Zalora plus an ID.  

 Got there exactly in time for the customary ribbon cutting.

 The game area which young bloggers went crazy at.

Cool and interesting board games. Ang dami !!!

However entering the venue only saw about a dozen of booths - ang konti !
Roaming around the booths was a disappointment.
All are service booths and there's barely any single food booth !!!!

I don't do online shopping either so I didn't register for PayMaya either.

When I was browsing previous year's Blogapalooza there are always a few food booths so I as hoping this year there would be more but - NADA. Lucky me!

Majority of the booths are giving away ballpens and what will I do and blog about ballpens LOL So I was thinking what is the purpose of this bag when it is basically empty and there is nothing inside to shop in those booths. 

This year's theme is Generation Digital.

Opening remarks by Ace Gapuz, CEO Blogapalooza 

Asec. Kris Ablan 
Government's Digital Efforts

According to Mr.Ablan the government target is to finished speeding up the internet first quarter of 2019. 

Weh di nga? Sana totoo?

Niccolo Cosme, Anna Oposa, Justin Joyas, Jane Uymatiao 
Social Media for Social Good

 The topic and this group was not interesting. I got bored. 

Since there is no seminar break I need to choose which seminar I will skip so I opted to skip two topics. One was with Lloyd Cadena and company. I'm not interested in vlogs and online personalities and went to MOA to have lunch.  

When I came back I saw Lloyd Cadena playing outside.

Donald Lim, Norman Agatep, Jane Villa, Jason Cruz 

Moderated by Raffy Pekson 

The Agency-Business-Influencer Relationship

This is my favorite group of speakers.

My fave quotes from this topic:

"Always stay true to your craft and passion" - Mr. Donald Lim

'You can buy the followers but not the engagement" - Ms.Jane Villa

Ramon Bautista, Joyce Pring, Louise Delos Reyes, Kim Cruz 
Moderated by Rose Fres Fausto
Internet Rockstars: Stories of Building Influence in the Digital Space

Intermission number is about mentalist. Entertaining but the time should have been given instead to the remaining speakers. Sadly the remaining were those with more interesting topics but was pressured with time. They talk in a hurry and skip some topics. 

Daniel Meyer : Using Analytics in Influencer Marketing

Mr. Carlo Ople : Digital Transformation

Mr. Ople was the best and sulit speaker of the event. I could listen to him talking whole day and be inspired. Sharing the entire talk video c/o: Blogapalooza

Atty JJ Disini : Data Privacy and Cybercrime Law

 Unlimited Wilkins juice

Two more speakers before the event ended, cartons of milk tea came and I saw bloggers getting. I got two. Only to find out later it was supposed to only be one box. Others are taking so many boxes because the distribution was disorganized. Then they also gave Blogapalooza ballpens.  Sana sinama na ito sa loob ng bag sa registration para di magulo. I also noticed around 90% of the bloggers are all carrying another bag full of chips so I ask the registration area when I came to claim the certificate before the event was almost over. They told me it is only for VIPs but not for pre-registered like me and walk-ins - uhm okay.

I didn't finish the last speaker and waited for the two Sony Xperia raffle. While waiting for the City of Dream bus to MOA I got a tweet saying if one is still in the event area, one can win 1k gift check from Shopwise. Parang kung kelan nagsialisan maority saka magpaparaffle. Sana middle portion man lang. Inside the City of Dreams bus I was seated beside a lola na halos kasabay ko palabas carrying not only 6 but I think 8 chips bag from the event na pinagkasya sa 2 bags. I highly doubt she is a blogger. According to her, sinama lang siya duon ng kasama niya and she even showed me one canned drink inside the bag which I said I'm not familiar of the brand. She told me lahat daw pwede kumuha ng bag. So okay anyone can get chips bag as many as she/he likes diskarte lang pala ang katapat ahahay.

Overall, the venue was superb but the event proper is just okay. If weren't for the inspiring yet very short talk of Mr. Carlo Ople na inabangan ko talaga and Joyce Pring na naghanda talaga ng sasabihin sa event. The aim of the Blogapalooza event is good but the way it was organized needs a lot of improvement. Here are some suggestions:

- Better Speakers (Quality over Quantity)
- Categorize the bloggers and have at least 5 booths for each blogger category
- Free bottled waters and coffee
- Food inside the venue to buy if there will be no breaks
- More Sponsors



#BlogaGenerationDigital
#BlogaXCityOfDreams
#Blogapalooza