Ang Dabawenyo

The party got off to a rather slow start due to some unforeseen glitches, but when it got going, boy, did we have fun! What’s great was, we had so many bloggers all in one place — the registration sheet isn’t with me right now, but I believe we had more than 40 boys and girls.

We had entrepreneurs, professionals, students, media practitioners, hobbyists… It was an exciting mix of people that surprisingly did gel and come together as a community of bloggers.

Jayvee of A Bugged Life, one of our guests from Manila, remarked that the turnout of this 1st-ever Davao blog party was impressive. In Metro Manila, Jayvee says, one of the first blog parties got around 60 people — ratio-wise, Davao’s really did well. It was great too that, aside from the three guests from Manila that we’d invited, Jayvee and Abe delos Reyes also made the trip.

The presence of Janette Toral of DigitalFilipino, Aileen Apolo of Google Philippines, and Abe Olandres of YugaTech lent the affair a genuine blogospheric atmosphere. Aileen, Google’s go-to gal in the country, apprised the audience of the Big G’s popular AdSense product. She also brought goodies! But only two of the much-coveted Google tees…. (hint! hint!)

Abe, possibly one of the most looked-up-to bloggers in the Philippines, gave the audience a healthy dose of blogging best practices, especially in ethics and a bit of legalese. A bonus was Abe’s take on problogging, which really inspired quite a number of the Davao bloggers. Janette, who has been very supportive of Davao’s IT industry since 1998, talked about the DigitalFilipino Club. There are currently only six members here, and hopefully more will join from Davao.

The party was held at Netfront Internet Café and Coffee Shop, which generously sponsored the venue. It’s a new place in Davao, along C.M. Recto street, right in front of the Aldevinco Shopping Center. They have an array of terminals with comfortable furnishings, and a coffee-shop setting in the middle. Oh and wifi is free! Just bring your notebook and park yourself in one of their cozy couches. What a life huh?

Click to view the album!

The Google-ympics could’ve been more fun, but alas! I wasn’t able to prepare for it. We almost didn’t do it, but we did get a handful who wanted to play, so off Googling we went! I got the idea from my bro-in-law JC. Janette and I just came up with hard-to-find info for the players to search online. Winners went home with neat giveaways from Aileen.

We also gave away more of Aileen’s treats to the blog awards winners. The "cutest blog" (Cherry’s Comfort Zone) got the most raves! Someday soon I believe we are going to come up with a serious blog awards event.

It was really satisfying to see that the bloggers were mingling and getting to know their fellows. I’d asked my co-organizers to make sure that we helped things along, but it turns out we didn’t need to. Link-love doesn’t only exist online, I guess.

Speaking of my co-organizers, I must say I’m really proud of them! I couldn’t have been with a better set of people. Their enthusiasm for the project was simply there. Ria Jose took care of the food arrangements (catered by the HRM students of Philippine Women’s College — the deviled eggs with mint was superb!). Kim Castillo handled the sounds… but the stereo at the venue wouldn’t work… too bad, I was looking forward to Kim’s brand of music. So Andrew dela Serna rushed out to get a karaoke machine. Andrew’s the team’s troubleshooter, and he also donated the pancit palabok, which garnered oohs and aahhhs.

Marc Javellana and Jun Macarambon did the promotions — or noise-making — for the event, and Jun also volunteered to man the registration desk during the party.

It was Marc I approached first with the idea of a blog party in Davao, and the discussions and planning never stopped since then and until it all came together yesterday. For those who weren’t able to attend, make sure you attend next time! And there will be a next time.

The winner of the Davao Blogspace logo design contest is Eric Clark Su. Congrats, Eric! When the logo was unveiled, it was clear the bloggers liked it. So, aside from his cash prize, Eric now has bragging rights to the new logo of the Davao Blogspace.

The get-together lasted till midnight for most of the participants, although I went back to Netfront after durian-cappuccino nightcaps with Aileen et al at Blugre Café. My friend Aldrin and new friends from Bisaya Bloggers were still there, and we had beers, arguments, pseudo-philosophical discussions, and lots of laughs till the wee hours.

This post is getting too long already…. Make sure to check out www.davaoblogs.com for future blogging-related events in Davao!