My Wordcamp Philippines 2008 Experience

September 6, 2008 is an memorable day for the Philippine Blogosphere. It is the day of the First Wordcamp in Southeast Asia!

I woke up at around 6:30AM and rode with Tita Jane to De Lasalle - College of Saint Benilde. I didn’t bring my laptop with me because I failed to register with the ingress form and I was scared LOL so I printed my campers pass, the class schedule and all the emails sent by the Mindanao Bloggers.

I saw familiar faces in the gate entrance - Jeric with his Mom, Doc Tess, Juned, Arbet, Winston, Arpee and more. I am not sure if the pins were given exclusively to the early birds, but I am happy because I received one with the Wordpress sticker.

Photo Credit: Tess Termulo

Once we went inside the “big classroom”, everyone was plurking through their laptops. In my case, I used phPlurk. All the lappy people were looking for outlets and thank God someone provided one near our place.

The bloggers wholeheartedly sang “Lupang Hinirang” and there was a short introduction after. The bloggers were divided into two groups in a bit:

I attended the class of Ms. Gail Villanueva about Creating WordPress Themes & CSS Power.  It was in this lecture that I learned about the importance of proper CSS and php coding stuff that will affect the rest of the pages. Too bad I wasn’t able to take down notes because the lights were turned off but I heard that the copy of the presentation will be uploaded at Kutitots.com soon weee In the other room, Jayvee Fernandez lectured about Blogging 102 — Basics & Beyond.

I went to Blogie Robillo’s talk about Building A Blogging Community. I was particularly looking forward to this discussion because I know that the things I’ll be learning from the lecture will be a big help for my job. I felt like a student once more since I patiently took down notes (though Blogie said that the presentation slide is included in the CD).Now I know the importance of having a community blog, a blog directory that is divided into many categories or subgroups and yup, events! Other professors in other rooms were Hans A. Koch (Wordpress for Corporate Websites), Markku Seguera (Developing Wordpress Plugins) and Ely Apao (Organizing and Optimizing your Wordpress Blogs).

The last morning class I attended is the lecture of the funniest and sexiest professor of all time - Kring Elenzano! Funnysexy taught us about Video Blogging - taking videos (dapat hindi sumasagad sa taas yung ulo or dapat alam mo din anggulo mo), being resourceful in making your videos (lamp shade is good kapag gusto mo ma-achieve ang makaluma effect), editing tools and some of the popular internet celebrities. She also gave us some pointers about TV Production, which I find useful because I still have one pending short film to do yay! We also learned that the TV Network executives are the ones who actually dictates on who is going to make it big in the biz (diba Marian Rivera? Awww!) and there’s this one blooper hehehe

Jane, Doc Tess, Alan, Joy, Mica, AJ and Faith

Photo Credit: Doc Tess 

Thanks to Chowking for providing our lunch and Spot.ph for the cupcakes! I saw Karen and Karl once again.

Matt Mullenweg talks about the Future of Wordpress

Photo Credit: Jehzeel Laurente (ay wag na pala.. I’ll claim it as my own later LOL )

The plenary sessions started with a bang when the young and softspoken Wordpress founder Matt Mullenweg went onstage and discussed about The Future of Wordpress.Everyone was paying attention to his talk. He answered some of the queries of the bloggers later on and had a photo session with the other bloggers.

Next in line is Jed Disini, the CEO of i.PH - The host of my blog! He showed the features of i.PH and raffled ten dotph domains. Sayang hindi ako nabunot

 Ms. Google Earth Philippines Aileen Apolo discussed about Demystifying Google Analytics - the heaven of marketers. Ate Aileen gave some Google Shirts and Mugs to the lucky bloggers. Pwede kaya akong humingi na lang? hehe sige na ate pls

Wordpress and Web Standards was discussed by Regnard Raquedan. The “Bloglord” J Angelo Racoma gave us an idea on How To Make Money with PerformancingAds. Last but not the least, Maria Jose launched the Cebu Pacific Blogging Challenge! I’m going to join!

The class picture, jump shots, group shots, emo shots, taray shots, eklavu shots and shots with Matt were taken. I was lucky because I got the chance to have a photo taken with Matt. He told me that I am the tallest girl in the group

No Credits to Jehzlau for the Photos :p 

 I wasn’t able to take much photos because I was coughing. I ended up listening to the conversation of Jehzeel and Fitz about Adsense. Later on, I was introduced to Gwen, Paul and Chiq.

We had dinner at Market Market and later on proceeded to Mag:Net Cafe at the Bonifacio High Street. I saw Kuya Peter, Jen and Helga. Ang seseksi ng mga Ate ko!

While waiting for the rest to arrive, Jehzeel bought four boxes of Krispy Kreme and gave two to the bloggers yay! 

 
Krispy Kreme = Love

Only a few bloggers went to the afterparty but i had fun! Bonding with new bloggers and meeting some of the Nuffnang staff made the night really memorable. Too bad I was coughing hard so I failed to sing my favorite Madonna song haha and yes, kinikilig ako at alam niyo na kung bakit :p

So what’s next? I’m looking forward to Wordcamp 2009 weee

The New Media Coverage:
0. The Best and Most Memorable Blogger Event in the Phils by Jehzeel Laurente
1. I Got Wordcamped! by Tess Termulo
2. The First WordCamp in Southeast Asia by Adrian Jeric Peña
3. My WordCamp Experience by Master Betong
4. WordCamp Philippines by Hannah Rika Villasis
5. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Nina Fuentes
6. Matt at WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Binary Silver
7. Matt Mullenweg Highlights from WordCamp Phils by The Bachelor Girl
8. WordCamp Philippines Report by Fear the Spork
9. WordCamp Philippines Shirt Please by Evenly Piece
10. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Alrenz Cabasa
11. WordCamp Philippines 2008: A Success!
12. WordCamp Phils, 1st Southeast Asia WordCamp by Ana Katharina Pena
13. WordCamp Philippines 2008 Aftermath by Zero Blade
14. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Mae Paulino
15. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Green Bucks
16. Matt Mullenweg by Charmed Mom
17. WordCamp PH 2008 and Afterparty by Carlo Reid
18. WordCamp Philippines After-Party by The WordCamp Philippines Blog
19. WordCamp Philippines 08 by Project 365 Days
20. WordCamp 2008 Philippines by Karla Redor
21. Live Blogging from WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Spilled Lustre
22. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Aja Lapus
23. Experiencing WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Here’s to Life!
24. WordCamp Manila Blow-by-blow by Jonel Uy
25. Just got home from WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Jayvee Fernandez
26. Bloggers’ Event: WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Ada Lajara
27. WordCamp Philippines 2008 Winners and Bloopers by Funny Sexy
28. WordCamping 2008 by Billycoy
29. Ernie Meets Matt Mullenweg by AJ Matela
30. Matt Mullenweg, Volunteers, and WordCamp Phils by Misteryosa
31. The WordCamp in Philippines by Mark Aethen Agana
32. Matt Mullenweg by Animo Hosting
33. WordCamp Manila 2008, I was there! by Sha Ang
34. On WordCamp 2008 and Meeting Mr. Wordpress by Diventare.org
35. My WordCamp Philippines 2008 Experience by Regnard Raquedan
36. WordCamp Philippines Status Report by AWB Holdings
37. Live from De La Salle CSB, Marocharim is at WordCamp! by Marocharim
38. For the Love of Wordpress by Kristina Ana Matanguihan
39. WordCamp Pilipinas Success by Ikabon
40. WordCamp 2008: For Healthy and Wealthy Blogging by Hitokiri Hoshi
41. WordCamp 2008 Philippines Success by Arvin’s Thoughts
42. WordCamp, Meeting Matt Mullenweg by Miss Wicked
43. Meeting Matt at WordCamp 2008 by Urriza.net
44. Finally, WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Estan
45. Toothache Vs. WordCamp Philippines by George Putong
46. Notes and Photos, WordCamp Philippines a Success by Tonyo Cruz
47. Some WordCamp Philippines Afterthoughts by Undercover
48. Live Blogging in WordCamp by Pageman
49. My WordCamp Experience by Junele Malaga Caravana
50. WordCamp Philippines A Success! by Sophia Lucero
51. Bakla Goes to WordCamp Philippines by Bakla Ako

52.  My Wordcamp Philippines 2008 Experience By Mica Rodriguez

The Old Media Coverage:
1. Wordpress developer previews new version in RP by Alexander Villafania
2. Wordpress enthusiasts meet for WordCamp by GMANews.tv

Some WordCamp Photos from WordCampers:
0. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Jehzeel Laurente
1. WordCamp 2008 Photos by Jayvee Fernandez
2. First WordCamp in Southeast Asia by Hannah Rika Villasis
3. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Tess Termulo
4. WordCamp Philippines by Ada Lajara
5. WordCamp 2008 by Regnard Raquedan
6. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by AJ Matela
7. WordCamp at Benilde by Normz

8. Wordcamp Philippines 2008 By Mica Rodriguez