Electro Circuit 2015: Bloggers Work and Play

I haven't partied in ages. Figures what would make me cut that streak was a geek community event in my hometown. Bohol Bloggers' Society, being as young as it is, partnered with Proudly Titans, a proudly Boholano production company,  for the Electro Circuit 2015: a EDM party held in lieu of Sandugo Fest 2015.

The young and young at heart members of the blogging community were thrilled to have the event as the organization's debut, and a major part of that was how well the organizers of the event set everything up.

We were given all-access passes to the venue; both on the field and backstage. It was secure, with various checkpoints, and a number of security personnel littered across the area. Pretty classy and well thought out. We checked the place out hours before the actual party started and we were well received by many of the organizers.

I found it really impressive that they kept everyone in check and aware of who was who and which tags mean what. The organizers did an awesome job of keeping everyone happy. Now if only it would stop raining...

As the drizzle passed, a few early birds started coming in so the bloggers and myself decided to hang around the registration booth to bug more of the organizers and took the opportunity to regroup.

They were methodical, with stations that catered to a specific event attendee and to which freebie to give. It was organized chaos when the crowd arrived later that evening and it was that atmosphere that earned a huge thumbs up to the organizers from me.

It was also cool that they prepared the different tags and bands that would tell the on-site crew which ticket you got _{(regular, VIP, organizer, guest, media, etc.)} and had more or less got everything down. Plus they gave out free glow-stick bracelets, and even some confetti poppers. Way to hype up the event!

Heyyy guyssss!! :D

After the initial hubbub of the crowd's entrance, it was all jumping, singing loudly out of tune to the songs I recognized, and running around with my camera for a good three hours before I burned myself out.

I especially liked the MC they picked for the event as he got things going and flowing and just someone to get the crowd riled up. Whenever he made announcements it was coherent and, despite him morphing his voice a bit to fit the mood, we always totally got what he said and there weren't at all any lapses or strange entrances during the entire program.

And did I forget to mention the cool confetti canon they set up at the side of the stage?! It was like a huge reverse vacuum cleaner that spit out confetti. It was awesome to see.

And of course, bloggers were in the fray.

The whole event also had free WiFi sponsored by smart. It was a good move for them as everyone wanted those selfies up on facebook fast.

It was super cool too that we got to meet one of the top DJs of the night _{(and possibly of the country)}: DJ Nina. I read about her a bit during my initial study on the event but boy was she more different that i expected. 

She was confident and charismatic, that much I guessed, but she was funny, took her time with us, genuinely got to know us, and was very involved in what she was doing. One of the highlights I remember in the conversation we had was that she had a thing for adding new beats to old songs, and that she was a drummer once which helped her perfect the skills needed in her DJing career.

Girl power, yo.

It was a wild night, from DJ after DJ, my calves were burning at the end and I think I lost some weight. Besides all that rowdiness though, the whole event was pretty under control, the people were happy and the organizers were still in one piece, which was super.

We shared a few shots of the Bacardi they gave us for free towards the end of the event, as a few videographer-bloggers turned in early since they had a wedding to shoot a few hours later at 5 am. Talk about dedication. 

There wasn't really an end to that night, with the organizers still operating and the crowd still roaring. My respect for both DJs, party-goers and production companies increased tenfold as the event unfolded and Electro Circuit 2015 was a huge success thanks to these people. Kudos to you guys and congratulations to the BBS! Woot!

FabLab's Maker Fest 2015 this Wednesday

FabLab, or Fabrication Laboratory, is Bohol and the country's first fabrication facility. They have been active in advocating the importance of innovation and it's integration, and have been monumental in supporting small businesses and those affected by disasters in the province.

As Sandugo plays a very important role in Boholano culture, FabLab partnered with DTI and other local chapters to celebrate innovation this week.

The Maker Fest will be held at Island City Mall, showcasing various experiments, creations, and products that embody a Boholano's creativity. Apart from the exhibit will be talks and workshops from reputable speakers and mentors that touch the topics of green living, entrepreneurship, and engineering.  

The opportunity for Filipinos to embrace their natural born instinct for innovation is here. For those Filipinos that are tactile learners, and for everyone who has a heart for creation, join us in the Maker Fest starting this Wednesday at Island City Mall and share with us your crazy idea, join the free workshops, or just hang around and talk to the creatives at the event.

It is also important to note that during the Makers Fest, the Bohol Ideas to Innovation Competition will be happening and will be constantly updated after every talk. 

The Competition will be about individuals presenting the best and innovative idea (hardware, software, industrial). The chosen ideas will then be supported by the Department of Trade and Industry and their partners for the prototyping. The prototyping will be done at Fablab Bohol - a prototyping and idea generation facility working with digital fabrication tools such as 3D Printers, Laser Cutters and CNC Routers.*

Follow their Facebook page for more updates and their website for more details. See you there!

all photos © FabLab Facebook Page

Bohol Bloggers Debut at Electro Circuit 2015

The Sandugo Fest is being celebrated in Tagbilaran City, Bohol this July 21 - 26 with different attractions within the city. A Young Entrepreneur's Talk, Maker's Fair, El Gamma Penumbra Shows, and this one: the Electro Circuit.

Bohol Bloggers' Society, being as young as it is _{(along with its members)} wanted to be a part of the celebration. We started hashing ideas out through our Facebook group and one of the bloggers, Deejay, told us he had contacts of the organizers of the EDM event on the 24th.

photo © tarsiertimes

We were fortunate enough that the organizers of this event were as accommodating as they were and worked with us to tailor a good proposal for the event. I was pleasantly impressed at the amount of enthusiasm the bloggers, and the organizers, displayed considering our numbers.

Being organized by such awesome people, the Electro Circuit is excited to have the young _{(and feeling young)} of Bohol and anyone who wants to party and celebrate with them at the event on July 24 at the Crabhouse by the Bay _{(the link covers the 2014 event)}.

Tickets are 200 php with a free bacardi. Bohol Bloggers' Society will be doing the photo and video coverage of the event, plus the traditional blogposts of how everything's going to go. Everyone is welcome, from our foreign friends, to the young professionals! So come on and let it all out at the Sandugo Electro Circuit!

Click here to get a chance to PARTY FOR FREE.

#SquadGoals: Cebu Blogging Community Turns 1

I didn't know many people in the Cebu Blogging Community when I first started being an active member. I only ever stalked their group while I was finishing my education in Bohol so seeing all the bloggers I've only met online in person at a party like this was so surreal.

They treated me as if I was there with them the whole time and no amount of unfriendliness crossed my way as I awkwardly climbed the steps to F Cafe in my dress and heels _{(you read that right. heels. ugh)}.

Outside the venue was a photobooth wonderfully sponsored by Capdase which disposed a copy for every person that had their picture taken. If there were six of you in one group shot, then each of you would have one copy of your photo, and if you joined another group, you'd also get a copy of that group shot. So generous!

Not only that but there were also blogger-photographers and sponsors taking pictures of us while we walked in, us while we talked to each other, and us wearing HOOQ glasses! The night was very well documented, I gotta say.

The event floor was sheikh and minimalist which I really liked. We occupied the second and third "floor", if you'd like to call it that, of the venue and begun the program.

Our friends from Yamba, a social networking app developed in Cebu and founded in Europe, were one of the major sponsors of the event and I gotta say they are amazing people. The basic concept of the application is the elimination of noise from your newsfeed. As the internet grows both in size and density, we're often distracted, and most of the time annoyed, by the type of content thrown at us. Yamba aims to filter out that noise and only serve us relevant posts and data according to the categories we are interested in. This ranges from users to ads.

Granted, I immediately thought about Tumblr as their competitor since the site leans heavily on user-defined categories, providing a seamless flow of information according to the tags and users you frequent so I'm excited to see what new quirk Yamba can bring to this market.

HOOQ then followed with their super cool and super fun game + giveaway. It was a trivia of how well you know your TV. And I don't mean that literally. HOOQ is like a Netflix for the Philippines. And it's legal, too! Partnered with Globe, you can watch your favorite Filipino telenovela or Hollywood blockbuster through desktop or mobile for as long as you subscribe to their service. And it's so affordable, too!

Given that, the game was a trivia about movies and tv series and everyone had the chance to win freebies! Despite it supposedly being a take-your-turn kind of game, being the rowdy bunch we are, everybody flung themselves at the stage despite not being a "legit" participant.

At least I won something. haha

Winners got a free USB, HOOQ swag and a bunch of other fun stuff. After that were more contests like "first to follow the HOOQ instagram page".

Those guys won HOOQ hoodies. I couldn't win that. Wasn't able to connect to the WiFi :(

After dinner was a very sweet and tasty dessert by Yoyi's Pastries and Desserts. It was heavenly. They made us a CBC 1st anniversary cake, some choco crinkles, cassava cake, and my favorite: the scrumptious revel bar. Yeah. you could totally tell what I was there for.

The show is located somewhere here. you can also refer to the map shown above by our beautiful promo girls.

One of the most fascinating stories that I've heard that night was the old practice of Cebuanos using real turtle shells to make guitars. They'd cut the shell of a turtle open, eat the flesh and use the shell. Barbaric, I know but that was then and this is now.

The story inspired Turtulele: a company that makes the most durable and high-quality ukuleles. No turtles are harmed in the making of these instruments, mind you. Inspired by the thought of the turtle shells being as strong as they are, the company wanted to create high quality instruments that could withstand the test of time and durability. The end product being the ukuleles used above by the CBC organizers for their tear-jerking rendition of Row Row Row Your Boat. So touch. Much cry.

These ukuleles were given away as contest prizes that could make the best video telling Turtulele why they would want a Turtulele.

Capdase also had their own contest and product demo. I was really impressed on how clear the audio was from their bluetooth speaker. I was thinking of getting one for myself a few days ago. Guess my questions are answered now.

The original CBC Leads then took the stage and took us back for a while on how the community started; what is was, what it is, and what it will be. It was so great to see the original founders smiling and laughing and considering themselves as "alumni community leads" as the organization has matured so much within the year.

Without a doubt the event was a big success. Special thanks to Global Hub for sponsoring the organizers' printing needs and Khublai Khan Mongolian Restaurant for giving us gift certificates to give away during mini events.

The biggest thanks to all would of course go to the Cebu Blogging Community Leads and organizers! Who went through sleepless nights and endless arguments to not only make this event a success but to keep the community going despite hard times. Not only is the CBC my #SquadGoal but so are you, organizers. You're my #LeaderGoals. _{(lol cheesy)}

Win an iPhone 6 with Yamba!

That's right: WIN an iPhone 6!!

Yamba is a European social networking startup that aims to rid your feed of the internet's noise and serve you content you care about. Yamba was founded some time in 2009 but has just recently founded it's Philippine market.

Yamba makes use of the hashtag and follow mechanisms that filters content according to what you love. Think Facebook + Instagram!

I personally think Tumblr would be a good competitor for their brand as UX is king in these types of platforms. Considering they are still toying with their design, finding out what works and what doesn't, and tapping communities to help make their vision a reality, Yamba appears to be a good contender for the social media landscape. I especially like their move of connecting with local blogging communities as they (we) are exactly the type of market they are serving.

Currently, they have the web and iOS platform up. You can see your feed and upload content using either of these platforms.

To qualify for the contest, see details below:

To join the beta testers list, simply go to www.yamba.rocks and fill out the sign up form! Form is only open from June 30 - July 5, 12mn. There will be no extensions.

This is exclusive only to the users who sign up before July 5, 12 mn!

On July 6 - 20, the beta testers can play around the site - post, comment, share. The following people will get to win the prize:

• First winner is the one who has the most views post in yamba.rocks
• Second winner is the one who has the most followers by the end of the test.
• Third winner is the one who uploaded the most number of post (photos, links, quotes, texts, etc).

They'll send an evaluation form to all beta testers on July 20, to mark the end of the testing period.

All winners are rewarded with an iPhone6 and will be announced through Yamba on July 25, 2015. Winners can only claim their prizes IN PERSON.

So sign up today, invite your friends to sign up and follow you, and make sure you’re online from July 6 - 17 to post, post, & post and WIN an iphone 6!

How A Blogger Really Earns

I'll be honest. The selling point of the whole course for me was the fact that the title said "make money". Really. Module 3 of the program is "Make money from Blogging and Social Media as a Service Provider". Another admission is that I had no idea what I was getting myself into, meaning I totally didn't understand what the second half of the course title meant; just that you could make money. Needless to say, I was well educated about the course's purpose and requirements in the first meeting alone so all I could do was dumbly stare at my computer screen after the first lesson with not enough time to process what I signed up for.

I've always been a fan of Digital Filipino's advocacy of spreading and legitimizing E-Commerce in the Philippines, and giving Filipinos a chance to earn and be acknowledged as professionals in the virtual marketing space. And now that the odds were for me, I jumped at the opportunity to finally enroll in one of their classes.

Despite my previous admission, I really did enjoy the course; the thrill of it, not expecting the project to be as challenging as it had been, and the fact that I was able to pull it off with a happy client was a huge plus.

There will be a separate post on my project's case study and how I went about it. This blogpost, instead, will be the summary of the tips and services I've learned while taking the course, their benefits, and a few personal notes. Again, if you want the full thing and even more details, I highly recommend you to enroll as you'll be getting more that way if you do.

HOW A BLOGGER REALLY EARNS

Google AdSense
I automatically added that up on top of the list as I personally have experience the power of AdSense. Google AdSense basically serves ads related to your niche, using the keywords and links in your blog to determine the right kind of advertisements that would benefit you and the advertisers. You earn a few cents (currency is in dollars) every time a reader clicks on the ads. The more traffic you get, the more likely it is that a reader will click on the ad.

Direct Ads
Let's say you are a fashion blogger and have an ad space on the right column of your blog. Brand X wants to advertise their spring collection on your blog so they pay you, depending on your rate and site traffic, an amount every month to keep their banner on the ad space on your blog.

Despite being more difficult, it's these ads that earn you a solid stream of cash as the advertisers themselves make a deal with you and no longer need any third-party to take their share of the profit. Direct Ads basically refer to ads advertisers pay you directly for.

Paid Reviews
Bloggers are brand promoters. Whether thy're a brand's "brand ambassador" or not, if they love a product, they will blog about it, they will tell all their friends and family about it, and, most importantly, they will tell their following about it. The same rules apply if a blogger hates a brand (so don't get into their bad side!). Some brands like going the extra mile and pay bloggers, either with cash or irresistible deals, to avail of their service/product and to blog about them given a few details.

This method doesn't necessarily sustain as you, being a quality blogger, will have to choose which brands you are willing to work with as it is your name on the line if you just take jobs willy-nilly. On top of that, you sill have to keep your blog in trend and updated with unpaid content to keep the sense of trust your following has on you and to keep your credibility (nobody wants to read a bunch of ads).

Affiliate Programs
Or commissions, if you want to go down to it. You basically put a brand's product on sale on your site and if your readers clicks on that link and purchase the product, the blog's owner gets a share of the profit. Other variations of that mechanic exists for many other affiliate programs but that's basically the gist of it.

Direct Selling
Obviously. (you sell something you have in your inventory though your blog)

Consultation and Blogging Projects
This one definitely takes time. It requires you to have a reputation, a sense of credibility to your name, for clients to call for your expertise on helping them run their projects. You can begin as a Virtual Assistant, learning the ropes by standing as the brand by commenting on other related blogs that might leverage the product being promoted, by posting in relevant forums, and creating and managing their social media accounts.

A few helpful guidelines in creating a blog is to take note of its blog name and domain name, description, target audience, and definite keywords for all these factors will lead to the eventual boost of the brand through search engine algorithms.

I personally hadn't thought of any of this when I first started blogging, leaning heavily on the "personal blog" route. Although this one still is, I've realized that my personal musing relate a lot to either of these three topics: art, business, and technology; so I leveraged that and tailored my blog to show that kind of content and not once did I think to "start over" as I hated the fact that I'd lose the following I already built if I did.

Creating Blog Campaigns for Awareness and Engagement
This one probably needs just as much work as the last one PLUS having your very own extensive blog network. Or at least having a friend that does. Contacting this network of influencers gives you more value as its coordinator and brands will recognize that. They will ask you to have their product tested, reviewed, or even give away prizes for the bloggers in your network. In exchange, these bloggers are expected to write about them and spread awareness about them in their networks; your job is to make sure they deliver.

MEASURES OF SUCCESS FOR A BLOGGER

If you're aiming to be a professional blogger, or at least an established one with a network, it helps to have a tangible, or in this case: numeric, goal to base your success on. Here are some metrics I personally found important as I handled campaigns on, before, and during the course.

Sessions
Or Page Views, tell you how many pages a reader visits and how long they stay until they lose interest in your blog. The shorter the session might mean that your landing page is off-putting, or that the content you have simply isn't connecting with the reader, or some other reason.

Subscribers
Obviously if your subscriber number is high, it only proves that the content you are posting is of value to your target market and that they are interested enough to see what content you generate in the future.

Engagement
It can mean the frequency your readers comment, share, or like your posts. How many of them ask relevant questions on your topic and how fast and sincere you are in responding to them. A blog with a healthy number of engagement

Links
More specifically Referral Links, are links from different websites that redirect back to your blog/site. The more referrals you get not only increases your audience and credibility but also tells you which type of content would prove most beneficial to your audience and what type of people you are reaching.

There are many more points in the course proper and they'll be discussed in detail either by the provided reference material or by simply talking to the instructor about it. The best part for me is that not only do you get to explore these points theoretically but are eventually able to apply them during your final project. You'll be made to interact with bloggers and other social media entrepreneurs, and brands that want to work with you.

It's a good opportunity to hone your skill, with curated content designed to help you improve, learning to become a CBSME won't be too hard. In closing, a blogger earns money according to their diligence and persistence to broaden their network and reach. The larger their network and influence, the more opportunity to earn will be brought to them. Engage with readers and serve updated, quality, and curated content. That is how a real blogger earns.