Blogopolis 2015: Shifting Gears

If there was ever something that I didn’t see coming when I started blogging on Tumblr in 2010, that was me & Ponggo appearing in public and talking about our blog.

True to my introverted nature, I enjoyed being able to post stuff online and bask in the anonymity that goes with posting nothing but web comics.  Then, through the years, I finally learned to go out of my shell (more often than not tagging along with Ponggo) especially when meeting new people.

Last Saturday, Nuffnang Philippines invited us for the third time to speak at the Blogopolis! It’s a gathering of social media personas and bloggers.  We weren’t actually expecting to have the chance to speak this year since we already did our stint the last two years.  In 2013, we shared something about content creation & in 2014, we showed to you guys our Media Kit.  This year, the theme is all about Shifting Gears which is just so apt because that’s how I really feel about social networking.  The rules are unwritten and once you figure it out, the game will change!  It’s like you’re pretty much in the setting of the movie The Maze Runner but it’s less scary. 🙂

This year, our topic was all about Venturing Global & Delivering Local. We just thought that as bloggers & social media addicts enthusiasts we can all increase our audience by tapping the international market. 🙂

The days leading up to the Blogopolis reminded me so much of my college years.  Here I was battling a jet lag but my mind can’t stop writing with my old trusty & brushes on pages and pages of paper at 5 in the morning.

Above is step one when I write everything. Step two is when I digitize all the stuff I’ve written (below).  It was a really quiet morning and here I was for the first time finally having some appreciation for black concentrated watercolor ink.  But, as soon as the sun rose, I colored everything in anyway. *Woops!* I simply cannot undo my love for colors I guess. (You can’t force people who and what they want to love!?!?! *Now where did that come from?*)

When we went to the Dusit Thani Hotel, I was already done with our presentation but as soon as Ponggo opened his laptop, we found out that the video he put together got corrupted. *Doingk*

The night before Blogopolis, I was reminiscing how Ponggo & I were marketing groupmates back in college and how we would always find ourselves furiously typing and editing hours before our presentation.  After more than a decade, we found ourselves in the same situation.  Although I was a bit paranoid that our second video won’t make it, I told myself something the following 20 times:

“We were built for this!!?!?!?!” (while having a dilemma on whether or not I should eat the pasta beside my laptop)

“Fingers, don’t fail me!”

The presentation is only 10 minutes and I’m pretty sure the graphics look easy breezy but my fingers were already shaking because I was working from 6am-11:30am that morning and the days before that. #WhatIsAProfessionalCrammer It totally felt like a workout.  Now, I must search for defined muscles that might already appear on my fingers.

Above: Going back to “tapping the international market” (before I rudely interrupted mysefl), The Googly Gooeys initially got picked up by a couple of blogs in Canada, UK & the US.  Eventually, it made its way to a book in Brazil, the US, a newspaper in India and a magazine in Singapore before it made its local appearance in print. 🙂  So, go ahead & use your social media & the www to connect with kindred souls around the world! ❤

I’m very grateful for this opportunity to share our ideas and get the chance to look back where we started. Apparently, it feels good to see how the webcomic, brand & website have evolved.  I always tend to hurry from one project to another and I never really get the time to sit down and look back at everything.

I can finally see the body of work we’ve amassed in the last 5 years or so and how many hours (and lots of heartfelt thoughts) have been put into creating each blog post!

If I were you, even if it’s not a New Year or something (oh wait, it is the Chinese New Year!), try doing a “Looking Back” entry. It’s like some slideshow they play of you since your childhood until the time you turn 18 or get married…except that this time it’s for the blog.  😉

So, thanks again to everyone who attended the Blogopolis!  Thanks for the sweet Tweets and the smiles from the readers I’ve met.  It’s one thing to see your comments online but it’s really encouraging to hear from actual human beings that they enjoy reading the blog. *Oh gosh, I just sounded like a cyborg.*  Blogging can be a solitary activity (which probably why it makes it easier for me to bare my soul and thoughts here) so meeting people through the blog is always refreshing. 😉

But of course, I won’t leave you without more photos from the fun & crazy night. 😀

It’s a wrap!  One of our friends told us that this is such a misleading photo because it doesn’t give anyone any hint of the funny dancing that happened an hour before this photo was taken. 🙂  I wish I could claim I danced really well but I’m the oh-my-gosh-are-you-my-friend-why-are-you-dancing-like-that dancer when it comes to any genre outside ballet & figure skating. Haha. 

Above: You can always count on me to share with you photos of the love of my life and the reason why I all the calories I put into working out always get cancelled–chocolates! 🙂

Earlier that Day: Probably one of our most decent photos because either one of us is always caught mid-sentence or doing some funny hand gesture.  I was looking at the prompter & Ponggo looks like he’s about to bust a dance move, don’t you think?  I swear, I tried speaking while smiling (and remembering to suck my tummy in).  Operative word: TRY. 😀

Above: Chico Garcia & Delamar Arias of RX 93.1 with Abe Olandres, the General Manager of Nuffnang. So happy to have met my radio idols again!  I’ve been listening to their show for more than a decade.  Gahh…I was the most awkward person while talking to them.  I really tried acting normal. (Then again, that’s just not my thing…Normal? What normal?)  I’m just happy that I was able to say something like a paragraph-long piece to them.  I just usually give them a sheepish smile.  But, after that, I suddenly wished I had some invisibility cloak to protect me!

Above: During the panel session I wasn’t able to stop myself from saying, “Thank you for that wonderful question” a la Bb. Pilipinas. 😛 It felt so gewwwwd! Hahahaha. You should try it once! 😉 P.S. Thanks for holding our camera for us Vic!

You can always count on Chuckie Dreyfus to be goofy when Yen is busy looking at the camera! 😉

Clei Salvador, one of the project heads of Blogopolis this year.

L-R: Vic Basa of VictorBasa.net, Jackie Go of GoJackieGo.com, Jeff Lo of Pinoy Fitness & yours truly. 🙂

Pretty much what the night was all about!  L-R: Marianne Matic, Abe Olandres, Dianne San Pedro, Arianne Munar & Gicel Libiran of Nuffnang Philippines & yours truly *curties*

L-R: Eco, the host of the night, The Girls of The Soshal Network: Faye, Camille & Vivian with Abe Olandres.  A shoutout to the bloggers who won the Reader’s Choice Award!  I swear, you have to check out their blog.  These lawyers are hilarious. 🙂

L-R, Old & New Nuffies: Thei Palijo (We miss you so much!), Ritz Aguspina, Eason de Guzman, Sir Jay Singson, Earth Rullan, Nina Fuentes, Ponggo & Mommah Gracie Montefalcon!

Above: Blogopolis hosts Justin Quirino & Carla Aguas.  I have so much respect for hosts! They’re literally thinking on their feet and always totally composed while I need to plan everything I say!  Now, where can I buy those skills?

Above: I rarely get to see these two but it’s always nice to catch up with them!  They always inspire me to travel despite my crazy schedule.  Hello Nina Fuentes & Ivan Henares! 🙂

With the Nuffies & the boys of Yugatech:  Light’s On!  Show’s done! Everyone is ready to go home and sleep….Then again, maybe not. 🙂

Gahh… It’s so hard to choose which photos to upload.  I have something like 50 edited photos from this night.  Anyway, congratulations to the whole team that made it happen and to a fraction of them awardees you see above: Clei Salvador, Jel Directo, Arianne Munar, Marianne Matic, Abe Olandres, Jona Loren Atienza, MC Go, Denise Cua & Jamon Martin!

‘Til the next Blogopolis & Nuffnang Birthday Bash! 🙂

XOXO,

Tipsy & Ponggo 🙂

P.S. As we’ve mentioned in our talk, to those who want to join the Big Blog Exchange, next year, enter your e-mail address in the NOTIFY ME section here.   To those who want to win a free trip to New York and watch the NBA, click here.