I had a great time at VBS2011

Getting wacky with Guest Speaker Chris Drucker. Photo by Ms Kath of USPF.

I was there at 6 in the morning because the organizers said they will entertain walk-ins on a first-come first-served basis. But past 7 o'clock, they were still missing and some bloggers who just came in were already dying to go inside SM City Cebu for the Visayas Bloggers Summit (VBS) 2011, blocking the gates of SM with the early birds squatting on the side.

But this did not hamper me to join the Summit. I patiently waited for my chance to go in. And my patience have been rewarded.

• My favorite bloggers were there in person and giving me tips on how to improve my blog.
• Got a chance to win freebies from sponsors. I got a pack of 3 beauty soaps. I need them, I think.
• Met friends and gained new blogger friends.
• Chance to have photo ops with speakers. Chris Drucker was a nice person who knew how to ignite the audience.
• Seen beautiful ladies vying for the Miss Earth 2011. Ms. England, Ms. Estonia, Ms Guatemala and Ms. Guam stayed for some photo ops. I love Ms. Guam especially when she told the group she has Filipino roots.
• Was moved by the speech of Ms. Lopez from the ABS-CBN Foundation on the effects of mining in Palawan and some parts of the Philippines. NO TO MINING! We never gained financial stability out of this.
• Learned how to monetize my blog. But wait- I hate seeing those adverts competing with my unpolished English. So it would take a while to see nasty and irritating adverts here in my site.
• I did not expect the bloggers summit to be so "peaceful" during the event (with exceptions on the arrival of Miss Earth candidates and the charismatic Ms Lopez), but Twitter was bombarded by tweets of bloggers who were in the site. This only means that bloggers were more engaged in the virtual world. No wonder most of the speakers insisted that bloggers should be out and become a real person.

All in all, my experience at the VBS2011 was a fruitful cause worth the absence from work. To all bloggers out there, be passionate with your new found career. Write for people. Re-write. Edit. Re-write while finding a voice of your own.

Free coffee at the site from Coffee Dream

My favorite photoblogger- Evan Mendoza

The VBS2011 is full of students!

Miss Earth candidates gracing the event and were "attacked" by photomonsters LOL

Miss Guam is half Filipino and Miss England is sweet.

Read this- Chris Drucker on Effective Outsourcing, Virtual Lifestyles and The Entrepreneurial Mindset

My wish: Join the VBS Cebu 2011

I have missed so many opportunities offered by the Cebu Bloggers Society to join them or their activities for the main reason that I consider myself a very amateur blogger and despite my blog site dates back to 2006, I am still struggling with my blog. Reading from the blogs of the members of CBS, I am dwarfed by them. And so my inferiority complex dominated my desire to join in.

Now, a friend of mine invited me to join with her to the Visayas Blogging Summit 2011 on November 26 at the SM City Cebu. I am caught between enhancing my skills on blogging and work. But knowing this is again a missed opportunity if I won't come, I sent her feelers that I may come.

The Summit is, of course, initiated by the Cebu Bloggers Society Inc. Why interested? My interest is fired up again since I know that the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation is a regular sponsor of the event and RAFI has helped many groups and individuals realize their importance in the society, hence, my high expectation from them is also fired up. (Pssst, RAFI has a blogging contest with a big amount of monetary prizes! But sadly, there is an age limit to the contest. I wonder why RAFI is doing this. Blogging has no age boundaries.)

I also heard several speakers coming from the blogosphere are coming to give inputs on how to better improve my blogging skills, skills that are necessary to my amateurish writing style. At least, the event would give me a better outlook on the ins and outs of the blogging world. Perhaps earning money to add to my income.

As of this writing I am still trying to log in at the registration site but could not do so. Perhaps my connection won't allow me to. Damn!

I only wish they would allow me as walk-in participant.