Recap: B2.0 Bloggers + New Media Dialogue and Borneo Bloggers Awards 2010.
It’s been a week since the event and I thought it’s time I share the things that went down during the events.
Well the night before the event (29th Oct), we arrived behind schedule as the usual 25mins RBA flight went close to an hour due to bad weather. The flight itself was like a mini roller coaster ride, turbulence galore with air-pockets aplenty. Fun!
The plane had to circle a few times before we could land at KKIA. Anyway, finally we (@d3x, @bruneitweet, @anakbrunei & wifey) did, got into the taxi provided with Cyril Dason (Sarawak blogger) who came a bit earlier than us, checked-in to Imperial International Hotel (official hotel of the event) and freshened-up a bit and then went up to the roof-top restaurant where the dinner hosted by Sabah Bloggers were. We were graciously welcomed by Daniel Doughty, the guy behind BorneoColours. We had our dinner and mingled a bit with the crowd. I even had my first interview with a Sabah Times reporter.
The next day, most of us, the Speakers and Finalist were whisked-off in a van to the venue at 1Borneo. I was very impressed with the venue. Instantly I try to find a venue in my head if we were to host the event in Brunei. I think with our network of bloggers, we can do one easily. Anyway, that’s another story. I was feeling nervous from the moment I woke up that morning as I had been requested to do a presentation about The Brunei Blogging Scene. And things went in panic mode when I was told my presentation would be the first and officially kick-off the event. Super!
Anyway, after a couple of minutes of the tech peeps struggling to hook-up my laptop to the projector, I finally started my Google-Browser-Tab presentation. Yes, I used browser tabs instead of PowerPoint slides. I opened up all the blogs I’ve started, the blogs of the people who I’ve met and become good friends with, the likes of Emmagoodegg, Senor Pablo, AnakBrunei, Maurina, Kurapak, Ranoadidas, Nonnie, BruneiTweet and some more. I talked about how Brunei bloggers got together to help out various charities by organizing certain events and producing two Recipes book. All in all, I talked about the positivity of it all and how Twitter and Facebook can compliment blogging and not be the death of blogging.
After me, Cyril talked about the blogging community in Sarawak and the blogger from Kalimantan talked about the challenges of blogging on their side of the island. After that we had a Q&A session which was moderated by BruneiTweet. I honestly must say it was a nerve-wrecking experience but good fun. And through out the day, I will quote what Cyril wrote;
The next few hours of the whole dialogue was about how to earn money online, building a social network, saving Sabah, engaging in online events, online protection and law and many more. It was very interesting, such as the fact that removing one’s watermark, and using a photo without crediting the source can land you in huge trouble!
Brunei was also presented by AnakBrunei who was also one of the invited speakers during the event. Big Reeds talked about how to brand oneself online and in person. He had quite a lot of questions from his presentation too.
I think most of us of Brunei were quite intrigue about the most controversial political blogger from Sabah. I guess that’s because in Brunei, we have no such person, so it was interesting indeed. Anyway, I believe all that attended the dialog walked-out of the event with lots of knowledge about how powerful blogging can be and the potentials of using it for a good cause or in a profitable manner.
The next day, they had organized a Paintball tournament (sponsored by Area21 Paintball) which I skipped as I was feeling rather restless. Click here to see some of the bloggers in action.
In the evening, it was the highlight of the event, the Borneo Bloggers Awards 2010. It was held at Sam Tsui Club at KK Times Square. Only six of the eight finalist could make it to the event. So to cut the long story short, we had an American Idol elimination process, you know like the names called out was to step in front. And when it was left only me and Irhamna left up there my heart nearly stopped. Never had I thought I would go that far or even imagine earlier this year that I would be in such event.
And even when it wasn’t my name who was announced as the winner, I was still thankful that I had managed to represent Brunei and being the 2nd place winner. I would like to thank all of the Bruneians on Facebook and Twitter who has helped voted and rated me throughout the event. I’m totally flattered and honored for your supported and will be forever indebted by your kindness. Bless you all! *BIG LOVE*
Inshaallah, we hope that we can bring the event next year to Brunei. So far, we’re getting good support already. So stay tuned as we work the logistics of it all. Again, before I end this rather long entry (see, it’s hard to shut me up when I get going), I would like to thank the organizers of the event, BorneoColours, and the sponsors Imperial International Hotel, DiGi, Area21 Paintball and Sam Tsui Club. It has been a privileged to be involved in such and informative event. I can’t wait to see you all for the next one.
Check out the entries by Cyril, VoiceWithin4Me and Webgrrrl. None of the pics are mine - I borrow from various blogs and facebook accounts - so I hope the owners won’t mind me using them, ok bahhh kann? More photos/stories here too.