My WordCamp Philippines 2008 Story

There used to be a time when Kuya Andrew would rant about how jealous he is of WordCamps elsewhere. And I would reply with a “WHAT’S A WORDCAMP?!” There was also a time I didn’t what WordPress is, or that there were even WordPress.com blogs. And also a time when I didn’t even know the difference between Matt Mullenweg and that other famous Matt internet person guy. To me, blogging was all about writing, researching, photos, linking… all the more geeky stuff, I went to Kuya Andrew to fix.

Fast forward to 2007. Blogie became friends (sort of) with Matt M. for a Mindanao Bloggers Summit 2007 (MBS1) thing. Because of the friendship, and the huge success we had with MBS1, Blogie thought of the idea of organizing a WordCamp for Davao or Mindanao. Further inspired by our successful trip to Manila for iBlog 4, Blogie decided to rally the troops and convince me, Kuya Andrew, Migs, and Winston to make WordCamp Philippines happen.

The pressure to move the venue to Metro Manila was surmounting and we just had to give in. Consultations with other bloggers via IM, Plurk, our blogs, and other means, helped us create, organize, and run an event even when we are hundreds of miles away from the event venue. Of course we couldn’t have done it without the support and hardwork of our co-organizer Juned. Really, we couldn’t have done it without him. THANK YOU!

Thank you to the people who joined our first meeting via YM conference! Top of my head, I remember:

Tita Jane who suggested the topics on Blogging 102 and blog statistics;
Jehzlau who is also a WordCamp volunteer;

and

Dave who was instrumental in getting the College of Saint Benilde as a venue.

(If you were part of that conference, comment below.)

After months of planning, consultations, meetings, Plurks, Twits, and blog posts, Kuya Andrew and I finally arrived in Manila last August 29, 2008. First on the agenda, was sorting and mailing the WordCamp shirts. Then we also had to shop for the badge holders and cords, pick up the kit bags, do an ocular inspection of the site, and meet with the volunteers. Most of these we did with Migs, who went above and beyond his tasks to ensure that everything was in place and ready for WordCamp. Plus, I had to finalize my Cebu Pacific video.

September 5, 2008 was a stressful day for us. Winston had arrived from the Cebu the day before, and the four of us — Me, Kuya, Winston and Migs — were at CSB with the blogger and student volunteers for the ingress. Pressure and stress was mounting. The Mini-WordCamp Davao held the day before was a success, and we had to make sure WC Philippines held up to everybody’s expectations. Before going home, we dropped by the hotel to say hi to Matt. It helped everybody relax a bit. We went home at around 12 midnight. After doing more last minute stuff, I slept at 2 am, I think.

September 6, 2008, 430 am, I woke up feeling a lot tired but determined to be at CSB at 6 am. I had repeatedly reminded all volunteers that I was strict with being on time and no way was I gonna be late. Sadly, I arrived at CSB around 6:02 am. But I was the first one there. 😛 Shortly after, the other volunteers and organizers started arriving. And by 7 am, several campers also arrived. But we weren’t able to let them in right away as there was some delays in setting up the barcode readers. A little after 8 am, we were able to let in the early campers. The first four, I think were Robby Cruz, Jerome Locson, Nina Fuentes, and Phoebe Ramos. (Nina also registered as camper 0001.)

I was running around the place like a headless chicken. I wasn’t even able to watch the opening part of the program. While Blogie was giving his opening remarks, Matt had arrived. A in a few minutes, the campers broke out into different sessions. All the while, I was preparing for the mini-press conference, prepping the kits, and lunch, and coordinating the volunteers. The few times I wasn’t too busy, I hung out at the VIP room, to chat with the speakers, and sponsors.

Before lunch, I attended the Vlogging Session of Kring who, as expected gave one hell of a presentation. It was entertaining and educational. I learned a lot! I thought up of that session and of asking Kring for it, by the way. 😀

Other speakers who gave kick-ass talks in the morning were and to whom we owe so much were: Jayvee, Gail, Hans, Markku, Ely, Karla, and Danilo. Also much thanks to Migs who had been in charge of organizing the talks, and bugging the speakers about their topics and materials!!!

Lunchtime, I was happy that the volunteers had taken initiative (as they had many times that day) to have an orderly manner to distribute the delicious Lumpia Lauriat from Chowking. Spot.ph was also there to distribute the yummy cupcakes from Sonja’s which had a secret ingredient. Hmmm… YUMMEH!

In the afternoon, campers went back excitedly to the main theater to listen to the talk of Matt, win some raffle prizes, and learn from speakers Ate Aileen, and Regnard. The highlight of the day was the Question and Answer with Matt, from which we learned,

WordPress.com might probably soon allow Google Adsense to be embedded to its blogs;
BuddyPress will soon be available;
Automattic is an equal opportunity employer; and
Matt will vote for Obama;

among other things.

The event ended with some sponsor talks, and my announcement of the the Cebu Pacific Blogging Challenge. But even as the event was officially ended, people stayed to chat, mingle, and be photographed. A lot also asked for Matt for sign their badges or shirts. We had quite a time camwhoring with each other.

Pleasant surprise of the day was how one CSB volunteer spoke and acted like me. She even camwhored as much as I do. LOL! I christened her RiaJose Jr. She has a bright future ahead of her. I don’t know her real name though.

Again, thank you to the blogger volunteers:

Arbet Bernardo
Sharline Cruz
Rein Langit
Jehzeel Laurente
Arpee Lazaro
ChiQ Montes who flew in from Cagayan de Oro City
Gwen Nava
Fritz Tentativa
Jonel Uy
Paul Villacorta from Cotabato City
Fitz Villafuerte
Melo Villareal

And to the CSB Students the from Computer Business Association and the Association of Information Management led by Angelique De Leon and Luigi Dollosa. The other CSB volunteers were: