Businesses and Bloggers Connected at

Blogapalooza Manila Networking Event

When In Manila, the bridge that unites 50 businesses to 150 bloggers happens only here

at Blogapalooza!

Blogapalooza aims to connect big and small businesses to the online community. Blogapalooza send

invites to influential bloggers of different genres, social/media influence-rs and businesses that have

something cool to offer, put them all in a room and VOILA! The connection starts there!

Businesses will have to present their products/services in the most unique way they can, preferably

without slides to bring out the creativity within them. A maximum of 5 minutesper presenter is allotted.

Bloggers on the other hand, get to see, feel or even experiencethe

products/services/others FIRSTHAND. They also receive promotional items/freebiesfrom the

presenters. This way, they are free to blog about the experience, the event, the details of the businesses.

Brilliant and simple isn’t it?

I was one of the lucky people to be able to witness the launch of this awaited event

organized by Vince Golangco, founder of WhenInManila himself, on September 17,

2011.

As early as 6am, Vince, together with some staff were already at the back-doors of Fully

Booked at Bonifacio High Street, unloading the repacked “freebie/loot bag” for the

expected 150 bloggers and getting the place ready for the crowds.

Located at the 5th floor of Fully Booked, I had the

chance to help out and carry these loot bags up to

Fully Booked’s Top Shelf function room , and let me

tell you that those loot bags were the biggest I’ve

EVER SEEN!

Hannah Villasis of Flair Candy, Cheryl Golangco,

the Little Running Teacher and Philippe Villareal

of Yajapa were also there to help out.

The function room was set up with about 10

tables for the business booths near the entrance of

the room.

The whole function room had a FREE wi-fiaccess

courtesy of some friends of When In Manila.

Early birds were Easy Pha-Max Wheat grass,

Unilever’s Lipton Iced Tea

and Shopinas.com.

Right next to the registration and right when you enter the Fully Booked function room,

you’ll immediately see the giant photo-wall. The photo-wall was very personalized in that

all the bloggers’ URL addresses, of the 150 bloggers, were included.

The Registration was located just

in front of the elevator. Pre-

printed name tagsnumbered

accordingly was already prepared

to facilitate faster registration.

The first 50 bloggers to register

got to choose additional items

like shirts and water

bottles fromAquabest, umbrellas

from HTC, notebooks, pens and

others from some business

presenters. PLUS, they get to

have their numbers included for

the raffle TWICE! The name tags

also entitles the bearer to a 10%

discount for the day at Fully

Booked, BGC.

From the blank space, chairs were

arranged in 10′s to avoid

overcrowding. At the right side the

sound system/media booth was

located.

A projector screen was also set up

at the stage beside the

Blogapalooza backdrop.

At around 10 am, bloggers started arriving and signing up for registration. Some mingled

with other bloggers, took photos with the POLECATS and tried to spin and get up their

pole.

12 pm, Lunch was served for all attendees courtesy of Italianis. Drinks were sponsored by

Aquabest and Healthy First. Bloggers started lining up at the counter to get their share of

food. Vince Golangco personally recommended the drink provided by Healthy

Firstspecifically the mango-lychee flavor. Too bad I was not able to try it because it ran out

of stock too fast. Although I had the chance to taste the carrot-strawberry and the carrot-

four seasons flavor, which I can say is yummy! :)

Exactly 1 pm, everyone was settled on their seats. Tweets with the hash

tag#Blogapalooza started to flood twitter. Thanks to Chef Tonio for the Free internet

access. Officially, Vince Golangco opened the event with a few reminders for everyone. He

also thanked the sponsors and the people who contributed to the event itself. After he called

the presenters up on stage one by one. Like what was agreed, 5 minutes was given to each

presenters, in that span of time, they should be able to get the attention of the audience

and convince them to write something for what they have presented.

Out of 50 businesses, 30 of them gave their presentations, from antivirus to gadgets to food

to quality Filipino products, surely the bloggers were enriched with new updates to blog

about. Here are the preview of presenters as seen on Blogapalooza.wheninmanila.com.

1. Avira Antivirus

Avira antivirus has been on the market for 25 years now and has entered Philippines just

last year. They believe that without quality, no superiority can happen, thus encouraging

customers to avail of premium antivirus software instead of settling to free ones. They

campaign for intenet freedom and can only be acquired with premium software.

2. Lay Bare

Lay Bare talked about the the advantages of waxing over shaving. They presented

drawings to make the audience see the difference, they surely had creative minds prepare

for their presentation.

3. 360 Fitness Club

360 Fitness Club is circuit training facility that promotes faster and more effective means

of workout. Complete workout consists of 5 levels and is to be completed in a span of 30

minutes. Alternating 30-second workout and 30-second rest makes this workout effective.

During the break, we were able to roam around and mingle with other bloggers, I even saw

a familiar face. At first I was too shy to approach her but as our eyes caught each other, I

smiled and told her that I think I have seen her somewhere, but I can’t remember where

and when I saw her. Later did we realize that we come from the same school in college. She

was a nursing student, Marianne Maric, who is the beautiful face behind NYOQ. She

happens to be an active fashion blogger too.

As Vince called on the next presenters, bloggers hurriedly went back to their seats because

it was Sofitel‘s turn to present what they have. Being a known luxurious 5-star hotel in

the metro, surely they were able to catch the audiences’ attention easily.

12 more presenters like the new entrepreneurs of Freestyle Ballers, the sassy and sexy

photographers of Boudoir Dolls, the amazing Pocholo Gonzales of CreatiVoices and of

course, the big and tasty burgers of Size Matters were introduced on the second batch.

Snacks were served after the second batch courtesy of Size Matters ! I got the Hungarian

Sausage Burger, which really was tasty and BIG. Size does really matter! :)

I also had the chance to try Lipton Iced Tea’s Almond Calamansi Tea. It was soothingto

the throat and tasted really good.

The third and last batch of presenters started around 4 pm. It included the unique buying

and selling strategy of Shopinas.com, the relaxing and pampering services of Blue Day

Water Spa, with performance from the Polecats Manila, and the innovative technology

of HTC.

I personally got excited with the performance of Polecats since I have been wanting to

enroll to their classes.

http://www.wheninmanila.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/078wim.jpg

The event closed as Vince Golango THANKED every blogger and business presenter who

contributed to the success of the event. Moreover, he promised everyone to stay tuned for

the next Blogapalooza sometime in November. He ended with the raffling of items from

the sponsors. BIG Bags from Tripologie, USB flash drives and speakers from Avira

Antivirus, and giftpacks from BlueDayWater Spa. Followed by the distribution of the loot

bags! Faces of bloggers overwhelmed upon receiving their lootbags! Congratulations to

raffle winners!

Truly Blogapalooza is something every blogger must look forward to. For it does not

only give them something to blog about, but also it is a great experience to meet with

fellow bloggers, possible business partners and maybe meet more friends! PLUS who

doesn’t wantFREEBIES? :)

So WHEN IN MANILA, you wouldn’t wanna miss BLOGAPALOOZA! It’s where people

getconnected :) Stay tuned for Blogapalooza 2 this November!

Source: http://www.wheninmanila.com/businesses-and-bloggers-connected-at-blogapalooza/