A Well-Engaged Audience at the Professional Blogging Summit

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Thank you to Jeoff Solas of DPop and Janette Toral of Digital Filipino for the opportunity to become one of the speakers at the recently concluded Professional Blogging Summit last October 18, 2014 held at the A. Venue Mall Vibe Live events place located at the 2nd floor of the said mall in Makati Avenue of Makati city.

Your friendly neighborhood pambansang blogger, Ross Del Rosario, and fellow bloggers Azrael Colladila, Jay-L Aquino, Seph Cham, and Sai Montes joined Jeoff and Janette in giving talks related to blogging. Azrael, Jay-L and I were asked to talk about how we started our blogs, and how we managed our networks plus how we dealt with the issues and controversies. Seph Cham talked about his fashion turned lifestyle blogging that later made him as endorser or ambassador of many brands, and Sai Montes shared how she used her blog to sell and earn in an online business. Of course, the two organizers (Jeoff and Janette) also shared valuable inputs that will surely benefit everyone who decides to enter into blogging.

Being among the three bloggers who talked about topics related to maintaining a professional bloggers and social media specialists network was already an accomplishment since the other two have been in the blogging industry for several years already. I on the other hand started Wazzup Pilipinas only last March 2013, but is very grateful for the many recognitions and partnerships it has already achieved.

I appreciate the opportunity to reminisce the past when I first decided to blog and network with fellow bloggers, partners, supporters, clients, and of course our readers, plus the eventual developments that took place as I managed my Wazzup Pilipinas network.

I am hoping I was able to impart to the audience almost everything that is happening within the blogging community. I believe it is but right to share my actual experience so that each and everyone present at the event would learn how to deal with both positive (perks, benefits and privileges), and negative (issues, conflicts and controversies) factors of blogging.

It is well appreciated that many wanted to ask questions after my talk.This means I was able to get through to them. I am hoping that I was able to inspire them with the tested realities that even after all the bashing and failures comes just rewards especially when we truly deserve them. I equally hope that they were enlightened of the fact that blogging is not a bed of roses.

I decided to be a little more creative and made use of animals to represent the characters and acts that I took during my adventure in blogging. From barking (those days when I was all barking at everyone and everything I felt wrong which persuaded me to blog), to the licking (the days when I would do everything to get sponsors and partners), to chasing (becoming more aggressive and going beyond the comforts of my home by reaching out to the businesses for more intimate relationships), to the biting (situations when I retaliate or fight back against controversies being thrown at me).

Our blogging community became a more formidable force to reckon with after all the issues it was associated with. I was able to share that the issues were mere exaggerations orchestrated by fellow bloggers themselves that considered our methods a threat because we were doing something way beyond the norm. Anything strange or unusual for these detractors were branded as unethical because they were still living in the traditional ways of the past, and are guided by rules made by men. We were obviously becoming so influential because many companies are getting our  services.

It is also questionable why these detractors would resort to online shaming using social media to attack people and destroy reputations. It is very obvious what their real intentions are when people avoid meeting up with the accused and do not take the initiative to offer solutions. They are not after the truth when all they do is complain. They are not after the betterment of the community, if they would not offer a resolution for a peaceful existence. They are only after their own personal motives brought about by biased and manipulated thinking.

It is also puzzling that these detractors couldn't concentrate their efforts to attack us using one issue. They have to drag into the equation all sorts of other accusations that they claim we did in the past. If their complaints were truly credible, then one would have been enough to put me down. Yet they had to engage in fabricating other issues just to make it look that we have done so many erring ways.

The community that I wanted to setup may not be perfect. Others may have left because they already benefited from the opportunities provided by the community, or they found more rewarding groups, but still more and more are continuing to join and take advantage of theWazzup Pilipinas branding. In fact, I already lost count because I announced during the talk that we were more than 700 members. I was surprised in finding out we are already more than 800 members in the Wazzup Pilipinas community.

One has to remember that everything we were made to believe in this world were made by our ancestors during a time when Science was still non-existent. Slowly but surely, we are learning and discovering realities with the help of Science and its related fields. Thus, we are slowly in the process of re-enginering our lives to somehow fit and match with the new findings. Therefore, when we see something new, we should not reject it. Instead we should respect it regardless of our beliefs. The blogging opportunities are so vast that everyone can live in a peaceful and bountiful existence if we all learn to get along with each other.

It was nice of Janette to mention about former blogger Azrael's past and how he was like me during the time he was starting as a blogger. Azrael mentioned how he was also accused of perpetrating acts against ethics but look at how successful he is already because he continued to blog no matter what.

What I can say about those false self-righteous prophets who say they bash because they are just concerned about the community? You are barking on the wrong tree. You may be able to fool some people, but eventually truth and karma will take over, and we would always have the last laugh.

I am very glad that a lot listened to all the barking I did that day, otherwise everything can be considered just gone to the dogs if not even one learned from it. I was actually overwhelmed that many raised their hands to ask me questions. Too bad there was limited time to entertain their questions.

I am just so sorry I was not able to finish all the talks as I had a 5 pm event happening that same day. I already missed my 3 pm event so it would be very unfortunate if I miss too many. They were both arranged and committed ahead of the Professional Blogging Summit so it is my obligation to be present at their event.

Thank you to all that sponsored the event namely Best Western Plus Antel Hotel, Pro-Friends, Island Rose, Salad Box and of course A. Venue mall.

Special thanks to Ivan Saldajeno for being my photographer during my talk.

Lots of thanks again to Janette Toral for inviting me as one of the speakers.