Honey Goes to the First-Ever ‘Blogapalooza’ Event!

Last September 17, I attended the highly-anticipated Blogapalooza event at the Fully Booked Function Room, Bonifacio High Street, Taguig! It’s the first of its kind here in the Philippines where bloggers and businesses get to connect and network with each other. Sounds interesting, right? Wait till you get a glimpse of the day’s festivities!

Now how did I get to be part of this exclusive invitational event? I was fortunate enough to somehow lend my assistance to the organizing committee, namely Vince Golangco and Francis Simisim of Wheninmanila.com, and my friend Anna Lampa. I got to see everything from the planning to execution, and it proved to be challenging at times. But on the day of the event, I felt more like a blogger, taking pictures, listening at the presentations, and mingling with some of the bloggers and business representatives. For instance, I met Ninay Versoza of Healthy First (she’s a really sweet and soft-spoken girl), some of the girls at Polecats, pro photographer Shayla Sanchez of  The Boudoir Dolls (she also writes for When In Manila),  people manning the booths, and lots more. I also saw some of the bloggers I look up to in the flesh, like Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet and Azrael Coladilla of Azrael’s Merryland. They’re so cool and nice in person; they even gamely posed with me for a photo op!

Lunch was served prior to the start of the event. Italianni’s served something like a tuna pasta with tomato sauce (?), while the people at Healthy First gave out bite-sized servings of their sinaing na bangus, mini carrot cupcakes and bottled carrot-and-fruit juices. I personally loved the carrot-strawberry juice because it’s palate-friendly (not that all of them aren’t actually) and it contains real fruit bits. Aquabest provided bottled water for the event while Coca-Cola gave out Coke in cans.

Healthy First Carrot Juices

Then off to the businesses’ presentations. Everyone was in high spirits as both bloggers and businesses had a good and lively interaction. Even with the fast-paced atmosphere, businesses managed to come up with creative presentations, and bloggers are gamely responding to the presenters. There’s never a room for dull moments.

Lingerie on a keynote presentation? Not so common, eh? The Boudoir Dolls =)

There are breaks assigned after a certain number of presentations, otherwise known as ‘networking time’ Old friends got to see each other, new partnerships and acquaintances are formed, and connections are made. There were also breaks in between presentations for people to grab a quick snack and freshen up in time for the next batch of presenters. Easy-Phamax provided Wheatgrass shots and a free live blood testing analysis; meanwhile, Lipton served warm tea drinks. Size Matters handed everyone their very satisfying Sausage Burgers (a crowd favorite!)

Just when the bloggers’ energies are starting to dwindle from all the fun they had earlier, out comes a sexy pole dance presentation from one of the girls at Polecats! The dancer executed her moves smoothly and flawlessly that men (and women) can’t help but marvel. And the crowd was pumped up once again!

Werk it, girl!

There were also raffles drawn during the course of the event.  Lucky bloggers got to win a bunch of cool swag such as BlueWater Day Spa gift packs, rubber shoes from the Primer Group of Companies, bags from Jake Brothers/Tripologie, Human Nature gift packs, gift certificates from sponsors, and so much more!

All in all, the response was overwhelming! Businesses were really glad to have joined the event and reach out to around 130 bloggers present on the event, while bloggers got an exclusive first look and feel of the products launched/promoted by the businesses. With everything that’s happened, I can say Blogapalooza was a huge success. And as if the event itself wasn’t enough, the bloggers got to take home a big bag full of goodies from the generous sponsors!

I was happy to have attended Blogapalooza Part One. And I can’t wait for Blogapalooza 2: Online Christmas Gift Guide coming this November! I’m sure it’s also going to be a blast!